JAZZBO SMELLING OB NOODLE HOUSE

On the way home a wiff of Asian food while stopped at a stop sign reminded me of San Francisco in my twenties. I had a reggae mix playing in my car and coupled with the smell, I flashed on an apartment building I lived in when I was there. Now that I think about it, all of the SF apartment buildings smelled like Asian food when I was there. Nevertheless, the smell tonight and the music that happened to be playing, led to a flashback of sorts. It was about that time that I was just starting to discern different reggae sub-genres. You wouldn't think it would take roughly five years of listening to reggae to figure out that King Tubby is in a different universe than Alton Ellis but I was green, very few of my friends listened to reggae, and there was no internet. Yadda, yadd, yadda, and now you get some reggae.

Prince Jazzbo's "Crab Walking" was one that I wanted to post because it sort of combines different sub-genres of reggae. The riddim is from Horace Andy's "Skylarking", a classic early reggae cut from Coxsone Dodd's Studio One. Jazzbo toasts over it, and being an eight minute disco mix, there's a little dub in the middle of it. That's three cuts with the same riddim on the same label. Andy's original, Jazzbo's version and then the extended version and whoever did the dub part. That's nothing. There were at least five records on Studio One using that riddim. Riddim Guide lists over fifty on various other labels. There's three other unrelated favorites below too, because they were handy but are also the shit. Yadda, yadda, yadda, noodles.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
Burning Spear - Social Living mp3 at Internet Archive 12" version, with a couple minutes of the version on the flip.
Horace Andy - See A Man's Face mp3 at Kazo Wailers
Gregory Isaacs - Poor and Clean mp3 at Kazo Wailers

NOTHNG TO DO WITH THE DATE.

Wow, that went fast. Gregory Isaacs has be gone for twelve years already. I was reminded of that when I ran into a few cuts that I haven't posted before. So it's clean up time. The new links are down there along with others that have been posted before that still function. Oh, wait. Maybe you don't know who Gregory Isaacs is. He was a reggae singer, so smooth he was referred to as the Cool Ruler. I can attest to his Cool Ruler-ness. I saw him live back in the day and the ladies swooned. It a more laid back version of the sort of reception Tom Jones would get back in the sixties. Okay, so there were no panties thrown on stage but there was audible sighs and such from the ladies.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Gregory Isaacs - Rock On mp3 at Internet Archive
Gregory Isaacs - Loving Pauper mp3 at Internet Archive
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse Dub mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Cool Down the Dub mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Poor and Clean mp3 at Wailers Discography
Live stuff:
Gregory Isaacs - Live at the Roxy at Fresh Bread 1982, Los Angeles. Twelve individual mp3s

COOL DOWN? THAT'S IT?

Oh yeah, "Cool Down Mr. Cop". That ties right into current events. Not really. It's a song about getting hassled for licking the cup, getting stoned. And cool down is not nearly strong enough language. This is about where things become more about Gregory Isaacs. The song itself, well shit, Gregory Isaacs is Gregory Isaacs. Or was. He didn't do harsh. And harsh is what's needed these days.

But there's room for Isaacs, who had social commentary in his songs, along with the lady killers. If you are already familiar with him, check the interview/profile linked below. It's good, in depth and long. Learn some new shit.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Gregory Isaacs - Mr Cop (steaming) at YouTube
Gregory Isaacs - Mr Cop Dub (steaming) at YouTube Lee Perry
Gregory Isaacs - Slum Dub mp3 at Earmilk Prince Jammy
Gregory Isaacs with Carlene Davis mp3 at Tumblr
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Feems (?)
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse Dub mp3 at Feems (?)
Gregory Isaacs - Substitute mp3 at Lavachequilit (?) 
Live stuff:
Gregory Isaacs - Live at the Roxy at Fresh Bread 1982, Los Angeles. Twelve individual mp3s
Visit:
The Tarnished Genius of Gregory Isaacs at Reggae Vibes By Roger Steffens

TONIGHTS EARWORM CHAMP

This would be one of those nights that I don't feel like sitting in front of a screen. A few weeks ago I'd take the opportunity to just walk around the neighborhood, maybe down to the beach, and just chat with the people I know when I run into them. No agenda, just cruise around. Now the streets are just about empty. I live by myself and this day after day of the same thing is getting groundhog day-ish. "Social living is the best", so repeats Burning Spear in his "Social Living". The song, rather repeated lyric, has been stuck in my head for days, like a fucking mantra. I found a download of it, so here's that and a couple other cuts, unrelated but also reggae and also good.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Burning Spear - Social Living mp3 at Internet Archive 12" version, with a couple minutes of the version on the flip.
Burning Spear - Social Living (streaming) at YouTube
Horace Andy - See A Man's Face mp3 at Kazo Wailers
Gregory Isaacs - Poor and Clean mp3 at Kazo Wailers
Prince Jazzbo - Crab Walking mp3 at Snuhthing Anything

"COOL RULER" FOR A REASON

It doesn't happen that often, hearing music, music that I like enough to own, in a public setting. Not a club, a record store or a friend's house, but just going about my business somewhere. That's the reason, as my recent posts about Sister Nancy and Althea and Donna attest, that I wig out. And it's happened again. I was making a regular stop in the corner market picking up a bottled water on my way to the beach. The market, curiously called Newport Farms despite the fact that they carry no produce whatsoever, has been a regular stop for years. It's owned and staffed by guys from the Middle East, I forget the actual country, Iraq or Iran I think. They sell alcohol, sodas, snacks and smokes. Not even a proper corner market really, unless having packaged snacks and toilet paper make you a corner market. So I walk in and there's Gregory Isaacs blaring away. This was a real life, honest to goodness, what-the-fuck moment. So I ask whose playlist it is, expecting it to be the younger guy behind the counter. Lo and fucking behold, the selector was the older guy, someone who I've seen, talked with, and bought crap food and water from for years. The dude is probably in his forties or fifties, from the Middle East and not at all what one would expect a person cognizant of Gregory Isaacs to look like. What is going on here? I didn't want to ask any questions. When any possible scenario would be pleasantly unlikely, I'd rather walk away imagining the least likely. Count my winnings. But it was a comforting few minutes, like we shared something. a thread of a wavelength, even if only an appreciation of one of the smoothest singers in the history of reggae. Isaacs was the shit.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Gregory Isaacs - Poor and Clean mp3 at Kazo's Wailers Discography
Gregory Isaacs - Let's Dance  mp3 at Kazo's Wailers Discography
Dirty Harry and The All Stars - [Let's Dance] Version mp3 at Kazo's Wailers Discography
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Earmilk

ANALOG, YO

I heard an awful reggae cut a few nights ago. I'll have to track it down and post it here. It had all sorts of digital shit going on, dripping in Autotune. It fucking rattled me, it sounded so phony. So, to get it out of my head I made a bee-line to my safe harbor, the roots/DJ/lovers rock era roughly mid-seventies, early eighties. I ran into a few I hadn't heard, including a different version of Burning Spear's "Creation Rebel". Yee haw. I'll post that shitty song later.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Big Youth - 6 Dead 19 Gone To Jail mp3 at Wailers Discography
Burning Spear - Creation Rebel mp3 at Wailers Discography
Gregory Isaacs - Tide Is High mp3 at Wailers Discography
Dennis Brown - No More Will I Roam mp3 at Wailers Discography

COOL DOWN MR. COP

A day or two ago, an old friend posted Gregory Isaacs's "Mr. Cop" on her Facebook page, as a response to the situation in Baltimore. It is a perfect simmer down song, and a lot of it is Isaacs's delivery. It's sort of like Pops Staples, nothing flashy, just enough this side of mellow to suck you in. I don't even know if that makes sense. But it was good hearing his voice. This is what I wrote five years ago, right after he died:

"I had been listening to him for a few years by the time I first saw him live, but I was unprepared for how he would absolutely own the audience that night. The whole room swayed, ladies swooned, and the entire club had a unified vibe, including the bartenders and staff. He reminded me of Al Green, with his laid back style and impeccable appearance. Like Green, he sang love songs, but he also sang of social injustices and songs for the downtrodden. I remember thinking that night that there was no more fitting moniker than the one I had heard so many times before it had real meaning. I got chills. I was witnessing 'the Cool Ruler.'"

Okay, now that ending sounds a little overly dramatic. Corny. But you get the idea. He was cool. He did rule, albeit within the confines of a live venue. By ruling I mean in both ways. His music has always ruled, but in that setting he was absolutely, literally, ruling the room.

Here's a mess of stuff. A word of warning to the synth-phobic: There may be some synth in some of these, but just a little bit. You can tune it out, or succumb. I don't care. But I'd start with the Prince Jammy dub version of "Slum". Though there's hardly any vocals, and where there are they're just background vocals, it'll get you in the mood. It did me. And dig the live set down there. Pretty clean for the Roxy.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Gregory Isaacs - Slum Dub mp3 at Earmilk Prince Jammy
Gregory Isaacs with U Brown - The Border mp3 at Grounds For Appeal Nine minutes!
Gregory Isaacs with Carlene Davis mp3 at ATumblr (?)
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Feems (?)
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse Dub mp3 at Feems (?)
Gregory Isaacs - Substitute mp3 at Lavachequilit (?)
Gregory Isaacs - Mr Cop (steaming) at YouTube
Gregory Isaacs - Mr Cop Dub (steaming) at YouTube Lee Perry
The live stuff:
Gregory Isaacs - Live at the Roxy at Fresh Bread 1982, Los Angeles. Twelve individual mp3s 

DUB JACKPOT!

Okay, casual dub people, this is for you. If you don't have much of any dub in your collection, you ought to start where it all began. Reggae. Dub. Analog. Before it became all that digital laptop nonsense. I ran into three fine mixes on a blog by someone named Vampyreverdi. This guy has a pretty good collection, and although there may be some songs on the three mixes that originated from the same LP, they're all pretty strong mixes. This isn't a case of me being too lazy to do my usual round up of mp3s. These collections are solid enough that if you don't have the wherewithal to download mixes, it's high time you learned. They're worth it. I've put the artists below, but not the titles. The complete listings are at his site. Dig in.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Heavy Heavy Dub Serial Killers at Vampyreverdi's Blog

Volume 1:

Carlton Patterson & King Tubby, Scientist, Augustus “Gussie” Clarke, Drum Bago & The Rebel Group, Mighty Two, Tappa Zukie, Soul Syndicate And Niney The Observer, Michael Rose, King Tubby, Aggrovators, Glen Brown & King Tubby, Joe Gibbs & The Professionals, Key All Stars, King Tubby & John Holt, Revolutionaries, Lee Scratch Perry & Prince Jammy, Niney The Observe, Scientist & Jammy & The Roots Radics, Sly & Robbie At Prince Jammy’s, Zoot Sims & the Aggrovators, King Tubby, Clint Eastwood

Volume 2:

Lee Perry & The Upsetters, Impact Allstars, Augustus “Gussie” Clarke, Barrington Levy, Rico Rodriguez, Scientist, The Upsetters, King Tubby, The Mighty Two, The Jahlights, The Revolutionaries, Carlton Barrett & Family Man, Augustus Pablo, Gregory Isaacs All Stars, Joe Gibbs & The Professionals, Junior Delgado, Keith Hudson, Lloyd’s All Stars, Soul Syndicate And Niney The Observer, Ranking Dread, King Tubby & The Aggrovators, Bottlehead

Volume 3:

Revolutionaries, Augustus Pablo, Bunny Lee & The Aggrovators, Gladiators, King Tubby, Bigger T, Gregory Isaacs, Herman, Silvertones, Impact All Stars, Johnny Clarke, Mighty Two, Sly & The Revolutionaries, Morwell Meet King Tubby, Observers, Inner Circle, Joe Gibbs, Santic All-Stars, Tommy McCook & The Supersonics, Scientist, Tappa Zukie, Roots Radics Band

THE COOL RULER RETURNS

I just had to post Gregory Isaacs' "Write Myself A Letter." The instrumentation on it is a little unusual. Me dig. And I couldn't leave it at one. Gotta say, I favor the early stuff. There was a defining moment, later, when reggae started getting a little nutty on the synthesizers.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Gregory Isaacs - Write Myself a Letter mp3 at Starmaker Machine
Gregory Isaacs - Reform Institution mp3 at Undomondo
Gregory Isaacs - Loving Pauper mp3 at Undomondo
Gregory Isaacs - My Number One mp3 at Muzzle of Bees
Gregory Issacs - Night Nurse mp3 at EarMilk
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse Dub mp3 at EarMilk

THE COOL RULER IS GONE

Now it's getting personal. Gregory Isaacs, the Cool Ruler has passed away. He died yesterday of lung cancer. I had been listening to him for a few years by the time I first saw him live, but I was unprepared for how he would absolutely own the audience that night. The whole room swayed, ladies swooned, and the entire club had a unified vibe, including the bartenders and staff. He reminded me of Al Green, with his laid back style and impeccable appearance. Like Green, he sang love songs, but he also sang of social injustices and songs for the downtrodden. I remember thinking that night that there was no more fitting moniker than the one I had heard so many times before it had real meaning. I got chills. I was witnessing "the Cool Ruler."


Gregory Isaacs - Tune In (1978). It doesn't get any smoother than this.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse mp3 at Muzzle of Bees
Gregory Isaacs - Night Nurse Dub mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - Cool Down the Dub mp3 at Earmilk
Gregory Isaacs - My Number One mp3 at Muzzle of Bees
Gregory Isaacs - Reform Institution mp3 at Undomondo
Gregory Isaacs - Loving Pauper mp3 at Undomondo
Gregory Isaacs - Can't Get Over Losing You at 27 Leggies
Gregory Isaacs - Raving Tonight mp3 at 27 Leggies
Gregory Isaacs - Gi Me mp3 at 27 Leggies
Gregory Isaacs - Slow Down mp3 at 27 Leggies
Gregory Isaacs' obituary at the New York Times