Tag Archives: 2 tone ska

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 15, 2014 (Stream + Tracklist) – Best of 25 Years (CD era)

smilejamaica
Celebrating 25 Years of Reggae Radio

Greetings,

Celebrating 25 Years of Reggae Radio with the Best of Smile Jamaica: CD Edition 

<Records come from vinyl; what are CDs made of? Aluminum? 5 sec.>

Jump straight to the Jah-vember 15, 2014 Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive. Read below for the Tracklist

I pulled 50 tracks from my early days of Reggae collecting (1986-1990). Then I put those 50 in chronilogical order and started juggling the Disks from 4-7 PM.

Essentially: I am trying to recreate  what my first show would have sounded like: Jah-tober 1989: Smile Jamaica.

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Prince Buster – Nyabinghi drums from 1967. Earliest selection from Smile Jamaica’s Top 50

<Best of Smile Jamaica 25 Years High-lights; 77 sec.>

Probably the first time in a decade no Black Wax on Smile Jamaica

<Vinyl Free edition; first time in a decade; 17 sec.>

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 15, 2014: Best of 25 Years.

Annotated playlist (soundbytes, Reggae History Lessons, photos, captions.)

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25 years of the Red, Gold and Green. Africa: Red (blood); Gold (riches); Green (harvest)

Set 1:

  • Black Uhuru – Solidarity; Anthem (Mango) ‘84

<Anthem: The album that made me a Reggae fanatic; 29 sec.>

  • Jah Shaka Meets Aswad – Addis Ababa; In Addis Ababa Studio (Jah Shaka) ’84: Dub Album of the Week; 15 sec.
  • Prince Buster – Chubby; Original Golden Oldies vol. 2 (Blue Beat) ’67; nyabinghi drumming
  • Bunny Wailer – This Train; Blackheart Man (Mango) ‘76

<Woody Guthrie’s – This Train; 25 sec.>

  • Burning Spear – Red, Gold and Green; Marcus Garvey (Mango) ‘75

<Significance of Red, Green & Gold; 45 sec.>

  • The Diamonds & the Upsetters – Talk About It; Open the Gate (Trojan) ‘75
Unknownbu
Michael Rose meets Sly & Robbie. This album started a 28 year journey into Reggae & Dubwize

Set 2: 

<Smile Jamaica used to air at 1pm when I started in ’89; 28 sec.>

  • Jacob Miller – Keep on Knocking; Who Say Jah No Dread (Greensleeves) ‘75
  • Judy Mowatt – Black Woman; Black Woman (Shanachie) ‘76
  • Dillinger – Ragnampiza; Bionic Dread (Mango) ’76; 17 sec.
  • Max Romeo – Smokey Room; War ina Babylon (Mango) ’76; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; 17 sec.
  • Peter Tosh – Till Your Well Runs Dry; Legalize It (Columbia) ’76; William Bell cover

<Blues Reggae hybrid; 10 sec.>

you-aint-gonna-miss-your-water-until-your-well-runs-dry

Set 3:

<Smile Jamaica Best of 25 Years; 15 sec.>

  • Junior Murvin – Roots Train; Police and Thieves (Mango) ‘77
  • Marcial Griffiths – Melody Life; Naturally (Shanachie) ‘78
  • I Roy – Tiddle le Bop; Heart of a Lion (Virgin Front Line) ’78 nursery rhyme
  • Wailing Souls – Jah Give Us Life; Very Best of (Greensleeves) ‘78

<First song back after being in the hospital; Nov. 2012; 35 sec.>

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The perfect song after surviving 5 days in ICU with blood poisoning and six weeks off air to recover. Blessings

Set 4:

<Saturday Volunteer History on KRCL 90.9FM: 120+ years of Radio volunteering; 23 sec.>

  • Earl Zero – Please Officer; Visions of Love (Epiphany) ’79 herbtune

<4 down, 46 to go!; 10 sec.>

  • Errol Dunkley – A Little Way Different; Darling Ooh (Attack) ‘79
  • Itals – Don’t Wake the Lion; Early Recordings (Nighthawk) ‘79

<Tiger loose in Eurodisney; Paris; 11 sec.>

tiger-in-france-seine-et-marne
As if the ticket prices at Disneyland weren’t bad enough. Tiger on the loose. Not looking for Mickey or Minnie

Set 5:

<Smile Jamaica Best of 25: From 50 cuts to 33 gems: diamond ruff; 13 sec.>

  • Bob Marley & the Wailers – Forever Loving Jah; Uprising (Tuff Gong) ‘80

<When Bob Marley CD’s were first released; 54 sec.>

  • The Beat – Mirror in the Bathroom; I Just Can’t Stop It (Go Feet!/IRS) ’80 2 Tone ska
  • Linton Kwesi Johnson – Fite Dem Back; Forces of Victory (Mango) ’80 UK dub poet

<Skinhead shoelaces: Red laces – anti-Racist skins; White laces – Racist skins; 37 sec.>

Unknownupr
When Island finally got around to releasing the Marley catalog on CD, I took part of my student loan check and bought every one: From Catch a Fire to Rebel Music. Ronald Reagan was a great supporter of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives via the Pell Grant and Loans. Give thanks!

Set 6:

<Smile Jamaica: 25 years of Bass in ur Face! 18 sec.>

  • Rita Marley – One Draw; Big Blunts vol. 1 (Tommy Boy)  ’81 herb tune

<Wailers Family Tree: Bob, Bunny, Peter, Rita, Marcia, Judy; 22 sec.>

  • Dennis Brown – If I Had the World; Foul Play (A & M) ‘81
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One draw. Draw is a verb. To inhale, draw, smoke from a smoking utensil or spliff. Probably comes from draft. As in pour me a draft of Heineken while I take a draw off my spliff. 4 down, 46 to go!

Set 7:

<25 Years!; 13 sec.>

  • Toure’ Kunda; E’mma; E’mma Africa (Celluloid) ’81; Senegalese West African reggae

<Weaponized Ebola got loose in West Africa? 18 sec.>

  • The Selecter – Celebrate the Bullet; Celebrate the Bullet (Chrysalis) ’81 2 Tone ska w/ Pauline Black on vox
  • Culture – Lion Rock; Lion Rock (Heartbeat) ‘82

<Put HIM on the currency: Lion Rock; 13 sec.>

  • Gregory Isaacs – Night Nurse; Night Nurse (Mango) ‘82
Unknownebola
Summer of 2014: ISIS, downed Malaysian airliner, Gaza and ebola all happened in the same week. Google weaponized ebola. Conspiracy theory? No, conspiracy fact!

Set 8:

<Smile Jamaica 25: From my hands to your ears!>

  • Mutabaruka – Intro + Check It!; Check It! (Alligator) ‘83 dub poet
  • Clint Eastwood & General Saint – Stop That Train; Stop That Train (Greensleeves) ’83; Melodians cover
  • Prince Far I – Survival; Umkhonto we Sizwe – Spear of the Nation (Tamoki Wambesi) ’83 posthumous deejay release

Prince Far I: him don’t drink Schweppes, just the Heineken!

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The guerrilla army of the Zulu Nation fighting apartheid in South Africa. Army of Mandela’s African National Congress

Set 9:

<Out of 50, who didn’t make the cut list for Best of Smile Jamaica; 25 sec.>

  • UB40 – Tyler; More UB40 Music (DEP) ‘83
  • Don Carlos – Jah Jah Hear My Plea; Prophecy (Blue Moon) ‘84
  • Ini Kamoze – World a Music; Mini LP (Mango) ‘84

<Rutabaga Reese: My mentor on Smile Jamaica>

 

bless, robt

IniKamozeLP1050
One of the earliest additions to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives.

 

 

Smile Jamaica Preview: Jah-vember 15, 2014: 25 Years of Roots Reggae Radio – Aluminum Coaster Stylee

 

Black-Uhuru-Anthem-531529
This album changed my life and led to 25+ years of Reggae Radio on Smile Jamaica

Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:

  • 90.9FM in Utah
  • Stream:  Tune In Radio
  • Ark-Ive. Here on Smile Jamaica blog; without commercial interruptions
  • Twitter: SmileJ_KRCL for live alert and stream upload/blog posts

Greetings,

I invite you to listen to KRCL’s Radioactive tomorrow:

Sunday, Nov. 16; 6:00-6:30 Mtn Time. 90.9FM (local) KRCL.org (world wide + intergalactic).

Myself (KRCL vet since 1988); Brian Kelm blues savant since 1980 and Renee and Dawn, Drivetime Imposters, 2002-2008 talk about how we got involved at KRCL. Your station that rules the nation!

Radioactive was KRCL’s listener call in show that ran from 2003 Labor Day until summer 2012.

I did the very first hour long interview on Labor Day 2003. The show was born from the 3 hour call in we did on Smile Jamaica when the 2003 March Iraq Invasion went hot. No music. Just listeners calling in with their thoughts on the war and me talking about Middle East politics which I have two college degrees in.

I probably did 400 interviews. Nick Burns, who was there the nearly nine years the show aired, interviewed us on our history at KRCL. Nice.

RadioActiveLogo_OnBlack
Radioactive Progressive Interviews. Sept. 2003 – July 2012. I did 400 of them: Howard Zinn, Amy Goodman, Ralph Nader

That Black Uhuru album above pretty much lit the fuse on nearly three decades of collecting, listening and promoting Roots Reggae and Mutant Dubwize.

25 years of Reggae Radio on Smile Jamaica.

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Since Jah-tober 1989: krcl.org 90.9FM SLC

So to celebrate that legacy I am going to try and recreate what my first Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive show might have sounded like: Jah-tober 1989.

i did this back in September with All Vinyl: Best of Smile Jamaica – 25 Years

Now I am going to do the same with those antique aluminum by-products things which can serve dubble duty as a drink coaster:

Best of 25 Years of Smile Jamaica: All CDs.

Rare that I don’t bust out any Black Wax, but today I’m going through what I was deep into, Roots and Dubwise, back in the mid 80s (Oct. 1986 is when I first touched down on Black Uhuru – Anthem) up until 1988 when I started early mornings on KRCL (3 o’Clock Roadblock) and then primetime Saturdays on Smile Jamaica: Jah-tober ’89.

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Dub Album of the Week: Early addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives

So I spent the week jotting down tunes and artists that I would have really played in the first two years of being on air. Year 1: 3 o’Clock Roadblock, learning how to do radio. Then a little more than a year later doing Saturday Afternoons to a bigger and loyal Salt Lake Reggae audience on Smile Jamaica.

  • Wailers Family Tree: Bob (Uprising); Peter (Legalize It); Bunny (Blackheartman); Marcia – Naturally; Judy – Black Woman; Rita – One Draw
  • Heavy Roots: Spear, Culture, Israel Vibration
  • Seven Leaf: Rita, Max Romeo
  • 2 Tone Ska: The Selecter and The Beat
  • Deejays and Dub  Poets: LKJ, Mutabaruka, I Roy, Dillinger
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Early addition to the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives

 

So I get 3 hours and that means about 33-35 songs. I pulled 50 and then put them in chronological order. (As a Librarian I have a database of my music.) “Year” is one of my data entry cells.

From the earliest (1967) Prince Buster to 1990 (African Head Charge). Tune in to see how it all sounds.

bless, robt

Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:

  • 90.9FM in Utah
  • Stream:  Tune In Radio
  • Ark-Ive. Here on Smile Jamaica blog; without commercial interruptions
  • Twitter: SmileJ_KRCL for live alert and stream upload/blog posts
Unknownbm
When Island released the entire Marley LP catalog on CD, I bought every one on the first day of release. Graywhale CD – SLC. Thanks to Ronnie Raygun’s student loan program.