Greetings,

Doing Reggae Radio for three decades, you do what you can to mix it up and stay out of ruts.

About six weeks ago, a listener Stephen – hit me up on Twitter asking me if I had heard of an obscure Reggae album by a traditional jazz flute player, Herbie Mann.

Indeed I had. My sister lives in Albuquerque. So we meet there for Christmas now, instead of me having to make a 600  mile drive through the frozen North to get to Montana.

Whenever I go anywhere, I pick up the Yellow Pages (now have to do it from their app.) Where are the Record stores?

ABQ has a good boutique shop called Mecca. Past downtown as you get to Old Town. I chat up the owner on soul reissues and what I call Mutant Dub: Dubstep, lounge, experimental ambient.

The tiny shop crammed with disks and cds lends itself to a cozy, relaxed atmosphere. Along the lines of the movie High Fidelity

Last Christmas I walk in and he greets me. Reaches behind the counter and pulls out a record. “Now that you’re here, maybe you want this”

It was a copy of herbie Mann “Reggae’. Once I saw the vinyl sleeve and knew it was vintage and not recent, all I had to say was put in on my pile.

1974. Love that era of Reggae and Rock. Everything was real music. Not synthed overdubs.

I tend to buy in waves and so I have a queue of about 100 priorities. Vinyl gets played first.

It took me about 6 months for this to jump from the crate to the turntable. Damn good on the riddims and the flute. Nothing soft or cheesy. I don’t know a lot about jazz. But I know an encyclopedia’s worth of Reggae.

When Stephen inquired about this. I dropped the 18 minutes of Side 2 during this week’s Vinyl is Vital segment. Smokey Robinson’s My Girl.

After Tosh and before Marley, that instrumental gem fit hand in glove with the Roots.

3 decades of Smile Jamaica – It’s Reggae when I say it’s Reggae. Gonna play Ella Fitzgerald covering The Cream inna rub  a dub style this Saturday!

bless, robt

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-ly 29, 2017 Annotated Playlist: 1 min. 50 sec.

Set 1:

• Bunny Wailer – Rockers; In I Father’s House (Solomonic) ’80 JA vinyl
• Augustus Pablo feat. The Crystalites & Big Youth; Melodica Melodies (Trojan) ’81 UK vinyl dub album of the hour
• Ken Boothe – In the Summertime; Freedom Street (Beverley’s/Jet Set) ’70 – Mungo Jerry cover
• Wingless Angels – Rasta Army; Wingless Angels vol. II (Mindless) ‘96 – Keith Richards, Justin Hinds nyah group; 18 sec.

• The Equators – Police on My Back; Hot (Stiff) ’81 UK ska update of Eddy Grant & the Equals
• Prince Alla – Sensimilla; More Love (Jah Warror) 2002
• Christine Miller & Roots Hi Tek – The Light; 10” (Roots Hi Tek) 2009

Set 2:

• Peter Tosh – Rastafari Is; Honorary Citizen (Columbia/Legacy)  Nov. 5, 1982 live the Roxy – Los Angeles
• Jay Tees – Come to Me; 10″ (Music Lab) ’81 JA female duo

Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 27+ Years

• Althea & Donna – Jah Rastafari; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ’78 
• Sylford Walker & Welton Irie – Give Thanks and Praise to Jah + Rolling Stone; Lambs Bread International (Blood & Fire) ‘79
• Wailing Souls – Jah Is Watching You; On the Rocks (Greensleeves) ‘83
• Benjamin Zephaniah – Rasta; Rasta (Workers Playtime) ’83 UK dub poet
• E.T & Randy’s All Stars – Ordinary Version 3; Rough Guide to Dub (Rough Guide) 2005 Dub compilation of the hour

Set 4:

• Mike Brooks – Rum Drinker; Classical Anthology (M-10) herbtune
• Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – 666; Hey World! (EMI America) ‘86
• Christine Adelsi – Babylon Shores; 10” (King Earthquake) 2012 UK militant steppers

Set 5: Vinyl is Vital

Herbie Mann – My Girl; Reggae (Atlantic) ’74 – flute player covers Motown w/ the Tommy McCook Band; Request

<New Orleans Jazz flute + Motown Reggae; 90 sec.>

<Flautist Herbie Mann, Mick Taylor -gits; Albert Lee; Tommy McCook Band: 80 sec.>

Set 6:

• Bob Marley & the Wailers – Natural Mystic; Exodus (Tuff Gong) ’77 original
• Bob Marley & the Wailers – Natural Mystic (Ziggy rmx); Exodus 40 (Tuff Gong) 2017 remix

<Exodus – movement of Bob’s people; 2 min. 45 sec>

<Natural Mystic: Original & Ziggy’s rmx; 40 min.>

• Mikey Ras Starr – Jah Man of Calvary; Fire & Rain (Makasound) 70’s
• Judy Mowatt – I Am Not Mechanical; Only a Woman (Shanachie) ‘82
• Willi Williams & Brentford Rockers– Armagideon Version; Version Dread (Studio One/Tuff Gong) ’82 Studio One Dub Album of the Hour

Set 7:

• Rita Marley – A Jah Jah; Who Feels It Knows It (Shanachie) ‘80
• Dillinger – Crabs in My Pants; Cocaine (Charly) ’83 JA disco
• Tena Stelin – Intelligent Design; 10” (Dub Corner) 2007 UK mutant dub

<Putting the “fun” in Rasta fundamentalism – Tena Stelin, conspiracy theorist/UFOlogist; 40 sec.>

Set 8:

• Thievery Corporation feat. Lou Lou – Time and Space; Temple of I & I (ESL) 2017 DC dubbers w/ female vox: Mutant Dub Set
• Creation Rebel/New Age Steppers – Chemical Specialist (Cherry Red/ON U Sound) ’81 dub to Jah Woosh
•  “Woodpecker Sound”
• Jeb Loy & the Oil Wells – Things that Made the U.S.; Wild Paarty Sounds vol. 1 (Cherry Red/ON U Sound) ’81 UK
• David Holmes feat. Sarah Cracknell – Gone (Kruder & Dofrmeister Session TM); This Films Crap Let’s Slash the Seats (1500) ‘98

Words of Wisdom: