THIS ALBUM COVER RULES

Several months ago I was told that my favorite record store here in San Diego had closed. It was my favorite because it was well rounded. I really don't give a shit if a record store gets the latest release first, if they have all sorts of Record Store Day bonanzas or is a hipster hub. What I value in a record store is their overall selection and how well they know the music they're selling. The store nearest my house is big on new releases but either don't know music or are really shitty at curating. Their reggae section absolutely blows and they have nothing good in jazz other than the Miles Davis or Coltrane records that you already have. It kills me because they used to have a much better selection. (One of the buyers went to another record store.) So, yeah, I was bummed about the good record store closing. Even though they were a hassle to get to, I always left with multiple selections.

Last night I thought I'd see if I could find out why they closed. Within minutes I found out that they hadn't closed, they moved. Even better, they moved to a spot that's between me and the grocery store that I go to, so I don't even have to go out of my way or plan a half day excursion. Fu-huck yeah. I went there today and was in heaven. One litmus test for me is to check for lesser known artists. Today I checked for Fela. They had eight different Fela LPs on vinyl. That was a good sign. I move to the reggae. They had a shitload of good reggae, probably the best selection I've seen locally outside of a specialty reggae record store (RIP). I had to limit my time because I had plans but I still left with three solid keepers, all reggae. One was a compilation of Sound Dimension, the house band at Studio One (the cream of the crop in reggae studio players), for seven bucks. Another was a reggae DJ collection (U Roy, Prince Jazzbo, Big Youth, I Roy, and a few that I never heard of (!). That one was eight bucks. The killer deal was one I couldn't pass up. Dr. Alimantado's Best Dressed Chicken In Town, one of my favorite reggae albums of all time. For whatever reason, the album has gone out of print and then reissued a couple of times. When that happens I don't take chances, I have to have a back up copy (see also the Monks' Black Monk Time  and Gene Vincent's first two LPs). I already have it on vinyl and CD, so this was a CD I already had, but it was only six bucks. I couldn't pass it up, if only to push it in a friends face. Here are a few from the LP, these recorded in the mid-seventies at King Tubby's. Those of you that know reggae will recognize a few of the riddims. Man, I can't wait to go back to that record store. This could be dangerous.

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Listen:
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - Just the Other Day mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - Plead I Cause mp3 at Internet Archive
Dr. Alimantado - I Shall Fear No Evil mp3 at Internet Archive

LIKES TO SAY "LOOK AT THAT"

Out and about today, just about all the music I heard was holiday music. It's way too early for that shit. I can deal with it for a week or two, and then only intermittently. I know I lean on it as it gets closer to the day, but that's really because I'm lazy and holiday music, be it Halloween or Christmas, is easy to find and it keeps the party planners satiated. But not yet.

What I was listening to at home was Dr. Alimantado. He'd been on my mind after reading (again) that John Lydon was a fan and seeing him on a Paul Simonon playlist. Nothing new to me, but it had been a while. Lydon mentions a fondness for "Born For a Purpose" while Simonon goes with "Poison Flour", an all time favorite within these walls. Simonon wins.

"Poison Flour" is on the Best Dressed Chicken In Town LP, as is "I Killed the Barber". That LP is awesome all around. Great title and one of the best cover photos of all time.

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Listen:
Dr. Alimantado - Born For a Purpose mp3 at Surrepptitious Music
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour (streaming) at YouTube
Dr. Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Full LP:
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town (zip) at Compartilhando Reggae

THERE GOES THREE HOURS

I just ran into a riddim rabbit hole. The riddim (reggae speak for rhythm) is from "Ali Baba" a John Holt song recorded at Duke Reid's in 1969. The blog 27 Leggings posted Dr. Alimantado's "I Killed the Barber", paired with a version of "Ali Baba" by Jackie Edwards from 1973, the version of the riddim that was used. Edwards's version was recorded at Bunny Striker Lee's, and was used as a riddim on a shitload of other cuts, King Tubby's "I Trim the Barber" among them. Yeah, this is just the beginning. I was curious if Holt's version was indeed the original, so with trepidation I decided to check. These sorts of inquiries usually end in a riddim click overload and tonight was no exception. In fact this rundown was more fruitful than usual. In addition to the full rundown at Riddim Guide (yeesh!), I ran into a mix with a shitload of "Ali Baba"/"Trim the Barber" versions, all mixed one to another, sometimes two playing at once (in separate left/right channels). Roland Alphonso, U Roy, King Tubby, I Roy, Tommy McCook, .. . a lot of heavy hitters. There's other riddims in the mix too, notably "Wear You to the Ball" and "Tide Is High" by the Paragons (both also Duke Reid product) with variations by Dennis Alcapone, Lizzy, and U Roy among others. It's massive, three fucking hours of versions based on a handful of riddims.

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Listen:

John Holt - Ali Baba (streaming) at YouTube
Dr, Alimantado - I Shot the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit

Jackie Edwards - Ali Baba mp3 at 27 Leggings Go there to get it.

The mix:
Algoriddim 20160118: John Holt Part 1 at Internet Archive Three hour mix (streaming and download) of songs derived from riddims of John Holt songs (including his work with the Paragons) The first version of Ali Baba at 3:58.

Visit:
Ali Baba riddim at Riddim Guide

DANCE WITH THE DREAD THAT BROUGHT YOU

Back when I was twenty years old I knew very little about the different types of reggae. I knew I liked reggae, but I didn't have many friends who knew much about it, the internet didn't exist and there were few books on the subject in book stores or record stores other than Bab Marley bios, I had to go by gut instinct, what looked like it could be heavy, and the photo above of U Roy was all it took to take a chance on his Dread In A Babylon LP. I mean, look at it. "Three Little Birds" it ain't. That lead to road testing other reggae DJs, Two others among the earliest of my reggae albums were Big Youth's Hit the Road Jack LP, and Dr. Alimantado's Best Dressed Chicken in Town. I've been listening to all three for over half my life and they still never get old. Toe tippers start here.

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Listen:
U Roy - Dreadlocks Dread mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Dr, Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Big Youth - Hit the Road Jack mp3 at PashPash

BAD SONG ERASER

Man, I was walking near the beach today and someone drove by blasting UB40's cover of "Red Red Wine". I hate UB40. I hate them a lot. A few minutes later I was going in the water, and it was cold. Colder than I expected, so I did what I often do. I tried to distract myself from the water temperature by singing a song in my head, the first one that came to mind. Trouble was, it was a UB40D. I had to think of something else, stat. Thankfully Dr. Alimantado's "I Killed the Barber" came to mind quickly, the result of a recent spin. Just about the polar opposite of UB40. Kinda. Enough.

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Listen:
Dr, Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour (streaming) at YouTube A favorite
Dr. Alimantado - Born For a Purpose mp3 at Surreptitious Music
The full LP:
Dr. Alimantado = Best Dressed Chicken in Town (streaming) at YouTube
Dr. Alimantado = Best Dressed Chicken in Town (zip) at Compartilhando Reggae

BUBBLEGUM? WHAT'S THAT?

How the fuck did that just happen? One minute my interest is piqued by an Archies cover by Big Youth, then six clicks later I'm digging through the catalog of Pressure Sounds, a UK label, They specialize in obscure and never released reggae, much of it from the golden era. I think you know what that means. About Big Youth. the cover is great, it's him with Junior Byles, from 1977. It's on a post with nine songs, a good cross section, a couple of which are below. There's some even you hot shots might not recognize (Pluto? The Eagles?). 

Looking for more info about the Big Youth cut, I ended up on the page for his "Town Without Pity" 45 at Pressure Sounds. A nice 45 I may purchase one day. A couple clicks later I ran into a compilation of versions, all from the Micron label, and deep with heavy hitters. Holy jeez, add that to the list. Looks like this fantasy shopping trip is gonna take a while. The song snippets sucked me right in.

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Listen:
Big Youth with Junior Byles - Sugar Sugar mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
U Roy - Dreadlocks Dread mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Dr, Alimantado - I Killed the Barber mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Big Youth - Hit the Road Jack mp3 at PashPash
Big Youth - Cool Breeze mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Visit:
Pressure Sounds  

RIDDIM DEPOT. YEAH, WE GOT THAT.

Garret Mimms's "A Quiet Place" was just a slow tempo soul song when it was released in 1964, making it to #78 in the charts. Hardly a smash hit. But when it crossed the water over to Jamaica, boy, did it ever get legs. The Paragons recorded it at Duke Reid's in 1968, and the riddim (rhythm) that it was laid over has been mined for the past four decades. Usually referred to as the "Man Next Door" riddim, it's been used by U Roy, Doctor Alimatado, and I Roy, to toast over, and the song itself, with the riddim (as opposed to Simms's original version), has been covered by everybody from Horace Andy and Dennis Brown to the Slits. My personal favorite (which you should rightly not give a shit about) is Dr. Alimantado's version, "Poison Flour", because he incorporates Horace Andy's vocal tracks as well as the riddim, and, of course, his own spouting off . He must have like the song, because he used it twice, as did U Roy, John Holt (solo and with the Paragons), and Horace Andy (solo, with the Paragons, and with Massive Attack). And you just know the session musicians that came up with the riddim probably got the paid for the session, but squat for coming up with the very part of it that has proved so enduring. I've no clue if you can be paid royalties for just playing a song differently, but that opens up the biggest can of worms in reggae, who did what? It's like a damn free for all over there.

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Songs:
Garnet Simms - A Quite Place (streaming at YouTube
The Paragons - A Quiet Place mp3 at Essentially Eclectic
Horace Andy - Man Next Door (streaming) at YouTube With dub version.
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
I Roy- Noisy Place (streaming) at YouTube
U Roy - Peace and Love In the Ghetto (streaming) at YouTube
Dennis Brown - Man Next Door mp3 at Essential Eclectic
The Slits - Man Next Door (live) mp3 at Essentially Eclectic

SOUND AND STYLE

The album above is one great package. I don't know what the consensus is outside my front door, but within these walls it's a bona fide classic. First off, how do you beat that cover? There aren't enough words. The Doctor takes the piss out of any and all fluff. The music is top shelf DJ stuff, and the backing riddims include repurposed tracks by Horace Andy ("Poison Flour") and Gregory Issacs ("Unitone Skank"). The third down there, "Best Dressed Chicken In Town" is obviously from the same album. It's killer as well.

One more thing: Check the link to ten great reggae cuts, including "Unitone Skank", at For the Sake of the Song, which is what began tonights diversion.

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Songs:
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Dr. Alimantado - Uinitone Skank mp3 at For the Sake of the Song
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Mix:
Unitone Skank mix at For the Sake of the Song Ten reggae cuts with "skank" in the title. 

BUTTERFLY EFFECT

If you've ever wondered why the hell there's reggae all over this place, along side rock 'n' roll and other seemingly disparate types of music, there's a reason probably only obvious to old punk rockers. For a lot of us geezers, even here in the states, it can be traced back to DJ Don Letts. He worked at the Roxy, a London night club, back in the seventies, spinning records between punk bands.  There was very little punk rock on vinyl at the time, so he turned to the music he knew, and that was reggae. Like punk rock, a lot of it was rebel music, and that loose connection essentially all it took for early UK punk bands to embrace the music. Many became well versed in reggae, even if it wasn't necessarily absorbed into their music. But the influence was there, most notably with the Clash, who covered reggae songs like "Police and Thieves", wrote their own versions ("Guns of Brixton", "White Man in Hammersmith Palais") and recorded with Lee Perry producing.  But the Clash weren't alone. Generation X's "Wild Dub", the B side on their "Wild Youth" single, was a somewhat feeble attempt to bridge the dub gap (before it became commonplace). The Slits, who wholly embraced reggae, brought a whole new low tech/high imagination hybrid to the table. 

Some of the UK bands would mention this person or that, and that's when it the sound really spread in punk circles. For instance, when Johnny Rotten name dropped reggae toaster Dr Alimantado in an interview, UK record sales for Alimantado spiked. But it wasn't limited to the UK for long.  As UK punk zines slowly reached the U.S., a whole other crowd was turned on. Hell, my very first reggae 45, "New Star" by Tapper Zukie, was bought via a recommendation by some long forgotten punk taste maker (Poly Styrene?).  In the second issue of my short lived zine, contributors submitted Top Ten lists. Mine included Tapper Zukie and U Roy records, both of which were bought at the same independent record store that had the hot punk shit.  To put this into period context, it all happened before Bob Marley became a household name around hippie flop houses and college dorms. He was pretty much just another reggae artist. That said, his song, "Punky Reggae Party", celebrated the unlikely alliance, name dropping punky reggae party attendees, starting with his own band name, followed by the Damned, the Jam, the Clash, the Maytals and Dr. Feelgood. (Well intended as it was, Marley, in an slight case of randomized bullshitting, picked a few there that don't quite belong, eh?) The lines that follow the name dropping verse were music to punk ears, "No boring old farts, no boring old farts, no boring old farts, will be there!" Punky reggae party. OK.

  

It's really pretty remarkable when you think of how many people were tuned onto reggae via this very real butterfly effect. Letts himself cites the film The Harder They Come, punk rock, and Bob Marley, in that order, for the rise of reggae. And the whole punk rock part of the equation came about because Don Letts didn't have any punk records. 

Notes:: Letts later began film making, and was a member of Big Audio Dynamite. In  2005, he produced Punk: Attitude, what may be the definitive documentary of punk rock. Really, he gets it right. It's good, and it's authentic (highly recomended). About the music below, it's a smattering of related stuff, all worthwhile hot ass shit. Read the little blurbs for the reasons. I could have hunted for more, but I gotta sew this thing up.

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Listen: 
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Punky Reggae Party mp3 at You Sound Like a Robot 
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Stir It Up mp3 Original JA version 
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Soul Rebel mp3 at Review Stalker Produced by Lee Perry 
Jimmy Cliff - Guns of Brixton mp3 at Groove on Fire Clash cover 
U Roy - 006 mp3 at Groove on Fire Produced by Lee Perry 
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose 
Live set: 
The Clash - Live at the Palladium (1979) at Captain's Dead Complete set as a zip and individual songs as mp3s. Good quality soundboard recordings, for those who care. 
Video: 
Don Letts interview at Red Bull Academy "The cultural revolution of two spliffs and one beer, told by the man who unified punk and reggae" (Text version below) 
Visit: 
Don Letts - Interview at Red Bull Academy 
Don Letts at Wikipedia 
Don Letts - Radio show at the BBC

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Just look at that album cover. Could it be any more enticing? The slipshot appearance, laceless shoes, cut-offs, fly open; none of that stops the good Doctor from making like he's something special. Even the title (which refers to a popular phrase in Jamaican chicken joints) seems to scream "like I really give a shit." It was an easy gamble back in the day. To think that this dubious portrait graces the cover of a great LP, undoubtedly Alimantado's best, is almost laughable. But a great LP it is, recorded between 1972 and 1977 at King Tubby's, Channel One, and Lee Perry's Black Ark. To top it off, some of it is over vocal tracks by Horace Andy (on "Poison Flour" below) and Gregory Issacs, among others. It's no wonder that Greensleeves reissued it as part of their Reggae Classics series. But now, even that one seems to be out of print. As my brother would say, you really should get this one.

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Songs:
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town mp3 at Le Blog de la Grande Chose
Album:
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town (full LP via Megaupload) at GPS Sonoro (Note: Click on album title right under song list)
Alternate album link:
Dr. Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town (full LP via Multiupload) at My Little Bubble (Note: Click on album title above album image)
Video:
Dr. Alimantado - I Killed the Barber (live) video at YouTube
Dr. Alimantado - Poison Flour (live, with long intro) video at YouTube
Visit:
Dr Alimantado's Keyman Records
Dr. Alimantado at Wikipedia