Okay, so this is the 3000th post here. Rather than muttering about any imagined significance, a milestone that really isn't, blah, blah, blah, I figured I'd just crack my knuckles and post an all-time favorite of a random genre. It wasn't hard to come up with a handful. More than a handful to be exact. Maybe it'll turn into a series of posts, but before that gets decided let's just start with one. Horace Andy's Skylarking LP, his first, from the golden age of reggae, top shelf stuff, beginning to end. Released on Studio One with a backing of a band so archetypal that their riddims still being used today. Skylarking is one of my favorite LPs of all time and as good as the music is, there are other reasons that made me re-access it after my first few listens decades ago. It was a couple of roommates and their varied and open minded listening habits that drew me back into it. We were living in a house that would become a hang out for people in the punk rock crowd. (Descriptions of the house and it's inhabitants can be found here.) Despite the huge influence of growing up living among two fellow music freak brothers (more about the listening habits of the boys' room here), it wasn't until these two roommates started dissecting the houses aggregate record collection that I fully appreciated the anything goes mode of listening. All good stuff was on the table, regardless of genre or vintage. Almost a figurative nod to Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie", "If it's a rocker, that'll get it, and if it's good, she'll admit it" with rocker taking on the meaning of any music innately cool, moving, or otherwise worthy of attention. This was one LP that really does stand as a personal milestone, because it was the constant spinning of it almost forty years ago (yikes!) that really changed how I approached listening from then on. Put it in your back pocket. One would hope it's good for another forty years.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Horace Andy - Skylarking mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Horace Andy - Where Do the Children Play (streaming) at YouTube
Horace Andy - Mamie Blue (streaming) at YouTube
The full LP:
Horace Andy - Skylarking (download) at Global Grooves Click on the green download button, fill in the captcha, and you're gold baby.
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