WHY NOTHING EVER GETS DONE, PART 46

Well, there goes an hour of doinkin' around. I was browsing Cover Me and ran into a cover of the Wailers' "Slave Driver" by a quartet of banjo players, Our Native Daughters. It could suck, that's what I was thinking. It did not. It's great, a completely different song. I mean, the same song, but the feel is completely different.

Our Native Daughters

I thought I'd round up the Wailers version for comparison and all hell broke loose. I ran into all sorts of versions that I hadn't planned on. But, hell, since I ran across them, might as well pass on the links. If you know the version of "Slave Driver" that most people know, it's the version on the first big Bob Marley and the Wailers LP, Catch A Fire, and probably the Island Records version that has overdubs of session musicians on top the Wailers. I'm not sure where one of the versions below is from. It sounds like a regular recording session, but the instrumentation is more sparse and there's a handful of people clapping at the end. It definitely sounds unfinished. But I dig it, it's not as spit shined.

I went looking for a discography that might show all of the different versions to see what version I might have been listening to. I made the mistake of going to Wailers Discography. Makes sense right? Problem was, I ended up checking out stuff other than a definitive list of all of the versions of "Slave Driver". Then I ran into an "alternate weed mix" of "Stir It Up" and listened to it a few times. After that I was no longer in the mood for any of this nonsense.

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Listen:
Our Native Daughters - Slave Driver (streaming) at Bandcamp
The Wailers - Slave Driver (alt) mp3 at Majalisna (?)
The Wailers - Slave Driver (Peel Session) (streaming) at YouTube 1973
The Wailers - Stir It Up (alt. weed mix) mp3 at Wailers Discography
Video:
The Wailers - Slave Driver (live) at YouTube 1973, Edmonton

LETTS MEETS PEEL IN HI-FI

Every so often I go back to the John Peel site to see the most recent posts. It's hard to beleive that it's been ten years since he died. And the interesting shit just keeps coming. One thing added since the last time I checked it out is the Record Box, a series of posts with different notable music types pullimg favorites from his massive collection and explaining the reasons why the records were chosen. One of the posts features the picks of Don Letts. (You should know him by now.)

Letts starts with regggae, King Stitt, Big Youth, Augustus Pablo, and the Congos, then inexplicably changes directions and goes to the Idle Race (Jeff Lynne's pre-Move, pre-ELO band), then Led Zep, Bowie, the Who, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown and Funkadelic. Then onto punk rock related stuff. Back to reggae, then the Slits and PiL. You get the drift. Cool, no brainer stuff, right? But Letts was there way before you, and may actually be, in a butterfly effect, part of the reason you first heard some of the songs. He was a stealth tastemaker. Peel himself was a tastemaker supreme. So, to have Don Letts picking through John Peel's records is worth checking out. There's also an eighteen minute video of Letts talking about the records.When you get to the page, click on the first one and go about your business while they play in succession. Here's just two of them, these two because they're smack dab in the middle of the Letts/Peel Venn diagram.

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Listen:
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Punky Reggae Party mp3 at Pixie Radio
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In the UK mp3 at Ebaums World
Visit:
Don Letts at John Peel Archive Letts's picks from Peels stash
John Peel Archive Home page

IF IT'S A ROCKER, I'LL ADMIT IT

A few days ago I picked up a Bob Marley CD, which is unusual for me. I love reggae, and I do recognize the quality of Bob Marley's work. He deserves the recognition, but the amount of praise his body of work receives is so out of whack compared to other reggae artists that are every bit as deserving, that it's always bugged me, to the point that I tend to hold it against him. That's a bit unfair, I know that. But knowing that his music will always be the go-to reggae for people with just a cursory interest in the music bugs nonetheless.

So why did I buy a Marley CD? It was in a record store bargain bin, marked down to a four bucks because it was without the cover and that's what got my interest. The artwork on the disc itself was a reproduction of the Upsetter record label. Some of you will know what that means. Yessiree, produced by Lee Perry. How could I not? Perry produced Marley for less than the price of lunch? 

Marley worked with several producers early in his career. Then, early in the seventies, Chris Blackwell, owner of Island Records, came knocking. He licensed Marley's material that would become his first Island LP. Catch A Fire. He had British session studio musicians record tasty licks over it, and then threw the bank at it, practically gambling his entire label on his hunch that he could market Marley to a rock audience. Obviously, that hunch paid dividends. But the rawness of Marley's early work would be forever lost. All Marley on Island would follow the same formula, not necessarily with session musicians, but in slickness and marketing intent.

When Marley became a global phenomenon, the older strictly Jamaican stuff started seeping out, including the Perry produced material. To hear the difference, here's a couple versions of "Sun Is Shining". The first is the Perry produced version, with some really nice melodica. It was released in 1973, but was likely recorded a few years earlier. Sparsely produced, it fits the song. The second version is from Kaya, his 1978 LP, all glossy 'n' shit. To mix things up, there's another no-so-reggae version by French singer Lizzy Mercier Descloux, a criminally under-appreciated artist, but I'll get into that at later date.

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Listen:

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Sun Is Shining mp3 at DKuseni (?) 1973 Produced by Lee Perry

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Sun Is Shining mp3 at AADTCP (?) 1978
Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Sun Is Shining mp3 at Dusted

SOCIAL STUDIES

Some of you casual reggae listeners may just know of Trench Town from the title of a Bob Marley song, without giving much thought to it. If so, this documentary is one you should see. It's a violence ridden place, not at all the reggae epicenter you might imagine it is between puffs on your giant ass bong. Even if you're a reggae fiend and know the reputation of Trench Town, you should find this interesting.

The songs below are just a few early pre-Island Records Bob Marley oddballs. The first two are Marley with the Upsetters (!), produced by Lee Perry (!). The third was produced by Leslie Kong and released on Jad Records.

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Listen:
Bob Marley and the Upsetters - Mr. Music mp3 at Club Cortez Produced by Lee Perry
Bob Marley and the Upsetters - Rainbow Country at Club Cortez Bass heavy version of above, produced by Lee Perry
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Concrete Jungle (streaming) at YouTube Produced by Leslie Kong. Jad Records release

I'M A BETTY MAN

Lest we forget, even highly revered singers and songwriters, no matter how righteous and universally heralded, had to start somewhere. That goes for Bob Marley with the early Wailers, as well as Darby Crash and the Germs, both of whom covered the Archies' "Sugar Sugar." Really, wouldn't you have loved being a fly on the wall in the Wailers band practice when that discussion came up? Or the Germs' band practice [sic]? I was actually looking for the Alex Chilton version last night when I ran into the Wailers' version, and the Germs' version was really just an afterthought. (The "Germicide" live set from the Whisky, where their version originates, wasn't their first gig as commonly thought, it was their second. Just setting the record straight.) Here's those two versions, along with a couple others. The Go Home Productions thing, "Velvet Sugar" is a mash-up of the Archies and the Velvet Underground. (You can nab the full length set of twenty mash-ups that includes it here. A link to page with complete listing below.) Wilson Picket's down there because, I don't know, because of the odd intro I guess. Nitpicker bonus: One thing that I found weird is that the two Archies versions down there are different. Even if they sound much the same, the "We're gonna make love so sweet" singers, towards the end of the song, are completely different. I believe the first version to be the one that was on the radio. At any rate, that's the one that has the only singer that sounds like they really could possibly make love so sweet.

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Listen:

The Wailers - Sugar Sugar mp3 at A Barrel of Nails
The Germs - Sugar Sugar (live) (streaming) at YouTube
The Archies - Sugar Sugar mp3 at Vdweijde.nl Original version. (File incorrectly labeled as the Monkees)
The Archies - Sugar Sugar mp3 at LZCenter Re-recorded (cover?)
Go Home Productions - Velvet Sugar (streaming) at YouTube
Wilson Pickett - Sugar Sugar mp3 at Libsyn.com
Full length download:
Go Home Productions - This Was Pop (2002-2007) at Go Home Productions Twenty mash ups including Velvet Sugar, in a zip. Scroll about a third down the page.
Visit:

The Archies at Wikipedia

JUST LIKE UNCLE FREDDY

This was going to be a quick one song post, just because I found an mp3 of the Jamaicans' "Ba Ba Boom," a laid back rocksteady cut that's, to put if softly, remarkable in its unremarkableness. That's not to say that it isn't a great song, it's just so laid back that nothing really hits you in the face. It's been in periodic rotation on my turntable since I bought a bargain Duke Reid compilation many years ago. The artists weren't even mentioned on the cover, so it was a gamble. It turned out to be my introduction to rocksteady, the early form of Jamaican music (mid 60s) that was the link between ska and reggae. It was an important moment in Jamaican music, because it was when their music started moving away from the earlier R&B influenced blue beat and ska, and towards reggae, an uniquely Jamaican sound. The training wheels were coming off.

After traipsing around looking for other rocksteady cuts, I found a trailer for a rocksteady documentary that I didn't even know existed. "Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae" looks like a humdinger. It follows a reunion of sorts, of the legends of the genre. There's quite a few familiar names (U Roy!), and if you dig early reggae, you would do good to check it out.

To the untrained ear, the differences in the styles of Jamaican music are sometimes subtle, particularly in the music of the 60's. It can be tough to peg what exactly it is that you might be listening to. Making the distinction is humbling, but worry not. I ran into a video of Bob Marley (who, one would imagine, knows a thing or two about Jamaican music), describing the evolution of the sound, in an incredibly succinct manner. If you like Jamaican music, consider it mandatory.

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Listen (inna haphazard chronological stylee):
The Duke Reid Group - The Rude Boy mp3 at Cubik Musik
Stranger Cole - Rough and Tough mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Paragons - The Tide Is High mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
The Jamaicans - Ba Ba Boom mp3 at Popop
Justin Hinds and the Dominoes - Carry Go Bring Home mp3 at Everybody Taste
Alton Ellis - Rock Steady mp3 at DJ No DJ
Phyllis Dillon - Remember That Sunday mp3 at Kiss Brooklyn
The Melodians - Sweet Sensation mp3 at Renan Maitre
Errol Dunkley - Black Cinderella mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Cornell Campbell - Ten to One mp3 at Daniel Johnson Writes
John Holt - My Sweet Lord mp3 at Slang Editorial
Watch:
The Difference Between Ska, Reggae and Rock Steady -As told by Bob Marley This is as concise as they come. Recommended.
Further digressions:
Earlier reggae related posts here

WHO CHARTED?

Here's an oddball, and a few others. Because I never heard of a half German version of Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", it's reasonable to presume that some of you haven't either. So it's down there, along with the original. It led to the connecting of a few dots, which in turn is why there is this post. If you're not familiar with the significance of "My Boy Lollipop", recorded by Small when she was 15, the original all-English version was the first reggae related song to be played on AM radio in the U.S., reaching #2 on the charts in 1964. (It's actually bluebeat, but you catch the drift.) It's also the first single that made a ton of loot for Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who would use the dough for the big Bob Marley push in 1973. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Fuck, I love the moves in this one. Really. The coolest thing I've seen in a while.

To give you an idea how barren the U.S. charts were (and still are) in regards to reggae, the next time reggae would appear would be 1968, when Johnny Nash's "Hold Me Tight" charted. Nash's reached #5, prompting a cover, with rewritten lyrics, used in a commercial for Score after shave (believe me when I say that the commercial was inescapable). The song was released on Nash's JAD Records, the same year that Nash had turned his ear toward Jamaican music, leading to his signing of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Nash had hoped to break rocksteady in the U.S. but wouldn't quite get there (which is why the Wailers were available when Blackwell came calling). Another four years would pass before reggae appeared on the U.S. charts again, with Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now", and Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion". Nash's album, also titled "I Can See Clearly Now", contained four Marley penned songs, including "Stir It Up". Simon's song, "Mother and Child Reunion", was recorded with Jimmy Cliff's backing band, the guitarist and bass player of which also backed Toots and the Maytals. (Marley must have been busy that day.)

Bob Marley and the Wailers - Stir It Up

Two years later, in 1974, Eric Clapton covered Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff", and it went to #1. (Marley's original was released in '73, on his second album album under his contract with Island/Blackwell.) That was about the time that the AM Boss Radio began fading, giving way to the looser formatted FM radio, which was where Bob Marley would make his name in the U.S., though with limited airplay (back then). So there you have it. The complete history of U.S. AM radio reggae hits, in four artists, five songs, and ten years..

If I was 15 years old in 1964, I would have been obsessed.

As I mentioned above, Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop" was the first song that made any real money for Blackwell. He had put out 26 singles up to that point, none of them sticking to the wall. Small's song was a huge international hit, and came at a time when the label was struggling; it kept the label alive. When it came time to sign Marley, it was done with a hand shake deal, and Blackwell paid for the first recording sessions. The hand shake deal was enabled by Blackwell's trust in rastas, the result of a beach rescue at their hands, when he was 19 (in 1958). So, in a stretch, it's conceivable that if it weren't for a 15 year old girl, and some kind rastas, Marley never would have made it big. Like I said, it's a stretch, but I'm big on "what if" scenarios.

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Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop (English) mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop (German/English) mp3 at Dust On the Stylus
Johnny Nash - Hold Me Tight mp3 at Playa Cofi Jukebox
Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now mp3 at Sveinbjorn.com
Johnny Nash - Stir It Up mp3 at Playa Cofi Jukebox
Paul Simon - Mother and Child Reunion mp3 at Idaocao.com (Japan)
Eric Clapton - I Shot the Sheriff mp3 at MilwaukeeBay.com

HACKY SACKERS BE GONE

Here's a quick handful for your reggae quiver. First, the reason for the post: Linton Kwesi Johnson's classic "Sonny's Lettah" which was inescapable when it came out (about '77 or '78). Really, it's more spoken word over reggae (he was , after all, considered a reggae poet), but you forget about that once the rhythm hooks you. Following that is Bob Marley and the Wailers, who I'm usually hesitant to post because it attracts the hacky sack crowd, but I dig "Punky Reggae Party" because it's one of very few reggae songs to acknowledge the punk/reggae intermingling of the late 70's UK. Plus, I've always loved the line "no boring old farts will be there." The last link is one by Alice Russel, a cover of the White Stripes "Seven Nation Army," which I've posted another version of before, but this is a reggae version (probably a mash up). Damn, I forgot that she had such a great voice.

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Linton Kwesi Johnson - Sonny's Lettah mp3 (right click to save) at Mustard Relics
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Iron Bar Dub mp3 (right click to save) at Mustard Relics
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Punky Reggae Party mp3 (right click to save) at You Sound Like a Robot
Alice Russel - Seven Nation Army (Reggae Version) mp3 (right click to save) at Audio Muffin

WELL, YOU TELL ME. IS IT?

A few weeks ago I posted a remix of a Billie Holiday song, that had her singing over reggae tracks, and it sounded, if not surprisingly good, at least interesting (depends on which side of the purist fence you're on). Then a few days ago, I just ran into a mash-up of Bob Marley and Soft Cell that works remarkably well. I normally hate it when someone fucks with reggae with mash-ups or remixes because I think of seventies reggae as too organic. But the Marley/Soft Cell thing caught me off guard. So here's the source material and Glories Jones' original version of Tainted Love.
.

Gloria Jones - Tainted Love mp3 at Balarama Music
Soft Cell - Tainted Love mp3 at Aunt Charlie's Lounge
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Is This Love mp3 at {Some Russian site}
DJ Zebra - This Tainted Love (Bob Marley/Soft Cell Mash Up) mp3 at Popbytes
Billie Holiday - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Yesking remix) mp3 at Life Signs Project

WANT TO SEE A GROWN MAN CRY?

Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer cover Bob Marley. All three are gone. Play this sucker a couple of times in a row, and reflect. Because a little reflection won't make you a wuss, and it might do you some good. Motherfucker.

Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer - Redemption Song mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu