Recommend Me Some Reggae

[RobW]

HAY GUYZ.


I know very little reggae bands, well, just Bob Marley really, and I think I should be recommended some, as I know hardly any, and Bob Marley plus a few others have done some darn great music when they're not going on about getting stoned.

Anyway, all you have to do is recommend me some reggae and I'll appreciate all you talk about. Don't just say the band/vocalist, describe them a bit.
And NO ska. I don't want you recommending Sublime or even the Specials because they're technically not reggae.


Now reply, children of the boards.

[Bisyss]

I'm not exactly sure if you'll like them, but they've apparently been at the top of the US reggae charts for ages, so I'm going to recommend Skindred (www.skindred.com). They play a mix of reggae, punk and metal, and are taking over the US while remaining unknowns in the UK, which is odd because they're from Wales. Their album "Babylon" was re-released a while ago, which you can stream Here (http://liquidbuilder.lavarecords.com/skindred_babylon/).

[Broche]

Well, if you like Bob Marley I'd reccomend Damien Marley. To be honest I've still not gotten around to listening to any of his stuff as my computer is broken, but a friend said he's brilliant.

[RobW]

Yeah, I've heard Skindred a few times before and they're alright, I'll download more stuff by them and Damien Marley.

[Snave]

I dont know wether its still reggae but Damien Marley (Marleys son I think) is a good, young artist. Googelise and you will find more young padwan.

[Mr stabby]

I was going to say Damien Marley, Welcome to Jamrock makes me want to get hiigh.
But drugs are bad.
And you say no "the specials" so i wont mention The Beat.

[Czar]

Toots and the Maytals
Desmond Dekker
Prince Buster
The Heptones

[faragher]

OK then. Beginners guide to Reggae (Part the first) coming up. You said you didn't want ska, but I expect you meant ska from the 80's onward - early reggae was ska, but that was in the 60's.

This is not meant to be listened to in order, but is just a selection of excellent tracks that will give you an idea of what kind of reggae you might like. You should be able to buy/download most of these - I will try not to be too obscurist.

So, from the top:

Pre-reggae. You should really listen to some calypso - this is where reggae came from and some of it is amazing. Most early jamaican music was recorded on a 2 track, with the vocals on one track, and the entire band playing live onto the second track, and this raw approach is amazing to hear.

So, forget your Harry Belafonte, you want to listen to:

Love In The Cemetery - Lord Kitchener
Bam Bam - Maytals
Village Ram - Mighty Sparrow
Nice Time - Phyllis Dillon
Neighbour Neighbour - Lord Kitchener

And now for some early reggae - this is mainly 60's stuff, there are many different genres at this time, so you may hear reference to ska, bluebeat, rocksteady amongst others:

The Clarendonians - Rude Boy Gone A Jail
Desmond Dekker & The Aces - 007 (Shanty Town)
The Ethiopians - Train To Skaville
Desmond Dekker - Israelites
Toots & The Maytals - 54-46 That’s My Number
Lee Perry - People Funny, Boy
The Upsetters - Return Of Django
Dave Barker & The Upsetters - Shocks Of Mighty
The Pioneers - Longshot Kick De Bucket
Toots & The Maytals - Pressure Drop
Bob & Marcia - Young, Gifted And Black
Desmond Dekker - You Can Get It If You Really Want
Niney - Blood And Fire
Toots & The Maytals - Pomps And Pride (this was played at my wedding)
The Ethiopians - Never Get Burned (this is one of my top 5 tracks ever)

This is really my favourite period in reggae, and will take you up to about 1975, when the roots thing starts to take over the shop. So now, we get to where Marley and his contemporaries were playing:

Sons Of Slaves - Junior Delgado
Skylarking - Horace Andy
Jah Jah Dreader Than Dread - Linval Thompson
Temptation, Botheration And Tribulation - The Heptones
No Wicked Shall Enter The Kingdom Of Zion - Barry Brown
Touch Not My Locks - Little Roy
African Herbsman - Peter Tosh
Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear
Police & Thieves - Junior Murvin
War In A Babylon - Max Romeo
Chase the Devil - Max Romeo (another track in my top 5)
King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo

Almost anything by Marley of course.

OK, that's the end of part 1. If I get time I may do part two soon - Dub, 80's and 90's sounds, lovers rock (though I may not bother with this as it is shit).

But to leave you with, some pop favourites - these did pretty well in the charts in the UK:
Everything I own - Ken Booth
Uptown Top Ranking - Althea and Donna
Pass the Dutchie - Musical Youth
My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small
Double Barrel - Dave And Ansel Collins
Wonderful World, Beautiful People - Jimmy Cliff

Peace!

[faragher]

Beginners Guide to Reggae (Part the second). With mid-flow cop out included free of charge.

Time for some Dub. Wonderful stuff. Early dub tended to be instrumental versions of current hits. The producers would use the original tracks recorded, and then drop tracks in and out, as well as add effects (such as echo, loops etc). Newer dub is written as dub. If you are in the right frame of mind, dub rocks. If not, it will just sound like repetitive bass-heavy mush. Some may argue that it is easiest to achieve the desired state of mind with herbal mood enhancers. I will refrain from comment. Here I have listed artists rather than tracks as some tracks are hard to find, and there are always loads of versions out there so:

The Upsetters – Lee Perry’s original band
King Tubby – the original innovator
Sly & The Revolutionaries
Scientist – quality varies a lot.
Mad Professor – outstanding dance dub. VERY electronic
Lee “Scratch” Perry – a God amongst men
Augustos Pablo – Old school, rootsy Dub

I haven’t really kept up with dub more recently, but I still love it when the occasion calls for it. Anything on On-U sound tends to be pretty good, but fairly experimental.

To be fair, I have kind of fallen out with reggae from the 80’s and 90’s. There is a lot of good stuff out there, but very little retained the vitality and freshness that I feel the earlier stuff had. It tended to be heavily produced, and a little bit too clean for me. Perhaps someone else should step in here and fill the gap, as anything I write will be pretty biased.

I rediscovered my love however as reggae began to influence dance music. Ragga, Drum and Bass, more dub. You can listen to a tune like “Black Tarantula” by Pendulum and hear those roots running right the way back to calypso. Or you hear something like “Welcome to Jamrock” by Junior Marley, and all that vitality is back – the creativeness of those early years has been rediscovered.

These 2 posts are not intended to be definitive, and are heavily biased by what I prefer. But it's a start.

Peace!