4 days to climb into the Top Ten! Yes I! Get the Fever! O.J. Fever!
3 hours of All Killer, No Filler per usual on Smile Jamaica
Been harvesting nuff Roots to my iPod. Gathered up enough for a likkle set devoted to Neoliberal hit man James Bond.
Dr. No filmed in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I always root for the villain in the Bond movies
But wait! There’s more!
4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement plus bonus set devoted to the Seven Leaf
Roots Dawtas: Sister Aricka Militant Steppers, American Blues-Reggae from Jessica Burks; trance dubbers Alpha & Omega; Bob’s girlfriend Martha Velez Reggae-rock high-brid; Maybe even some Sly & Robbie meets No Doubt. Last song World-dub via Al-jaherian songbird Natacha Atlas
Debut from Mutant Dubstress and Lovers Rocker Hollie Cook Twice
Absolutely perfect album: dubby riddims, sexy and dreamy female vox, contemporary mutant dub. Smile Jamaica Grades this an A+
Wailers Family Tree: Tracking Bob’s last show in Pittsburgh, Jah-sylvania. More rarities for sure-ty off Peter Tosh’s Equal Rights. Finishing up Bunny Wailer Rootsman Skanking
Vinyl is Vital: Black Wax World Tour
Mutant Dub: Last half hour. Bassgasmic!
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:
1994 White Ford Bronco: #1 stolen car in America 20 years ago
So here is what is on tap for Smile Jamaica this afternoon
June 13, 1994 started the O.J. Simpson murder saga that riveted the nation. My family was just as sucked in as everyone else. My brother thought he was having a panic attic as they read the verdict.
A friend of mine owned a 1994 White Ford Bronco fetishized in O.J. and Al Cowlings feeble run for the border.
In the black and Caribbean communities there was a definite belief that O.J. was innocent. Wounds from the Rodney King riots two years previous were still raw.
We are gonna hear an oldie but a goodie defending The Juice at 4:30.
Juicy V – O.J. Fever; 7″ at 30 min marc. of Ark-Ive
Here is what else you can expect to hear this afternoon:
Dub Album of the Week: Prince Fatty Presents Hollie Cook in Dub (Mr. Bongo); Dawta of a Sex Pistol dub bliss
Vinyl is Vital midway
Extended mix 10″ and 12″ featuring female vox
4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Wailers Family Tree: Bob’s last live show: Pittsburgh 9/23/80; Peter Tosh rarity from Equal Rights ’77 dubble disk; Bunny Wailer – Rootsman Skanking ’86
Mutant Dub in last half hour
Dub Album of the Week: So the music never has to stop!
Summer Time and the living is easy: “Ice wata for ur dawta, here comes anotha scorcha!”
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:
This is the first Saturday of the month. For about the first decade of my 25 years hosting Smile Jamaica, I used to do a special feature every first Saturday musical episode: The Reggae Album Side of the Month.
My Reggae mentor, John “Rutabaga” Reese – who was hosting Smile Jamaica when I moved to town – started the Vinyl showcase. It was mainly so he could step out for a cigarette and get caught up on the monkey-butlering we deejays have to do at KRCL
Monkey Butler – someone forced to do annoying, menial tasks of useless purpose in addition to, and at the same time, as their regular job
In tribute to my spar Rutabaga, I continued the Album Side of the Month. Smile Jamaica is mostly a Jamaican Jukebox of singles, (i.e. a single selection off an album or 7,10, or 12″ piece of vinyl singles). I wanted to play an obscure and top rank Reggae album from Side A or B: Tracks 1-4 or 1-5, usually. A roots Reggae album not re-issued on CD. Gems from my 30 year collecting Ark-Ive. Vinyl is Vital, of course. Sink into the riddim. Relax, stay awhile. Jus’ cool, dreadie.
Album Side of the Month: rare, vinyl only, top rank
Then a piece of bullshit legislation came into law that made my Album Side of the Month illegal. The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). No more than 3 songs in a row off an album. I couldn’t do a whole 3 hours of one artist, like Bob Marley, anymore. No bootlegs. A bunch of other twaddle that did absolutely nothing to stem the tide of illegal downloads.
Clinton signed this in 1998 and it will be the reason I don’t vote for his wife in 2016. I wrote to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch to try and stop this bill from becoming law.
I basically told our Senator for Life my tale of woe, “Hey Dread, I’m a radio deejay in Salt Lake City, Utah. The state you supposedly represent. My show is called Smile Jamaica. I have this tradition of focusing on one album by an artist to hear what Reggae sounds like on a long player piece of wax. Rather than my usual habit of juggling individual songs, featuring different artists, on a variety of formats. A little context. Part of my tradition of Reggae History Lessons. I’m trying to educate while I entertain. I’m showing off the fruits of my Ark-Ives. I have zero interest in aiding and abetting song theft. I want people to buy this music. Begging you a ten cent, Senata Haatch!”
“I volunteer my time on a non-commercial radio station. I am committed to public service in the community.I don’t get paid. Don’t want to get paid. How about a non-profit exception for what I do?”
I basically got the International Symbol of Ill Will
<Orrin Hatch 1; Smile Jamaica 0; 40 sec.>
The International Symbol of Ill Will
So that brings me back to Johnny Cash. In the immortal words of Bob Marley, “When one door closes, another will open.” Somewhere in the last decade I have started a different, legal, tradition for the first Saturday edition of the month on Smile Jamaica.
Rockers do Reggae
Yoko Ono makes her debut on Smile Jamaica this afternoon
Last month I gave you Billy Idol’s maiden voyage on Smile Jamaica. This week I have: Johnny Cash (debut), Taj Mahal (perennial) Wayne McGhie: Canadian-Jamaican soul/reggae hybrid and Yoko Ono (debut).
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive: June 7, 2014 sets:
Rockers do Reggae (above)
Bonus Rockers: Version galore on Bob Dylan’s Man in Me: Matumbi vs The Clash; Morcheeba (mutant dub with female box) and I will end the show with Lords of Acid: mutant dub herb tune (debut). Yes, hard techno comes to Smile Jamaica in the same show as Johnny Cash. Selah!
Dub Album of the Week: More rock/dub crossover: The Mad Professor Meets Ruts DC: Rhythm Collision Dub (ROIR). Punkdub
Wailers Family Tree: Bob Marley’s last live show in Pittsburgh, Jah-sylvania: Sept. 23, 1980; Peter Tosh rarities & obscurities from Equal Rights ’77; Bunny Wailer – Rootsman Skanking ’86
Vinyl is Vital: (midway). All female artists laying down the crispy black wax attack.
Mutant Dub: (last half hour): Even more Rockers: downtro-dubby cover of Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay”.
Smile Jamaica debut: mutant dub swings off its axis into post industrial: Unholy Trinity: mutant dub(ish), female vox, Seven Leaf: “Marijuana in my Brain”
Good luck to Collie-fornya Chrome. It is going for the triple crown today at the Belmont Stakes. If he wins, I am going to play a Jamaican horse race tune with Dreadlocks versus The Pope around 5:00 PM
Jah Guide Collie-fornya Chrome. First horse since ’78 to win the Triple Crown? 4:52 Mountain Time we’ll find out
Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:
Happy Anniversary to Me! 25 years playing tasty Vinyl on Smile Jamaica!
Greetings,
Mixcloud hosts my Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive Streams. If you don’t want to read my vinyl cratedigging story below, just go deh!: May 31, 2014
I don’t know why last week was different, but I hit 3 charts on Mixcloud’s weekly uploads
5th in the Vinyl chart
15th in the Dub chart
17th in the Reggae chart
Yes I! Give thanks and praise to you if you made it a priority to listen to Smile Jamaica so it could chart. Maybe it was the cannabinally (did I just invent a word?) inspired Milton Glaser photo of birthday boy Bob Dylan:
Milton Glaser’s famous Bob Dylan poster mock-up
So I was very happy with that and decided to celebrate the next week’s Smile Jamaica edition with an All Vinyl Show. Been committed to vinyl from Day 1 on KRCL 90.9FM. I have relentlessly championed vinyl for 25 years now. It is a rare show that I don’t play at least a set of black wax or a dozen vinyl records in 7″, 10″, 12″ and LP format spread over 3 hours.
Every once in a while I get asked how much longer I plan on programming Smile Jamaica. 25 five years every Saturday afternoon. Quite a significant time commitment, eh? I answer the same each time: “When the station de-commissions the two turntables, I will retire.”
I doubt that will happen, but without being able to play Vinyl, it would be like listening to your Hi Fi with only 1 speaker working.
Smile Jamaica: Your Jamaican Jukebox
I feel fortunate that I have been able to apply my cratedigging for a Radio purpose. Most record collector addicts either don’t have a media outlet for their archives or disseminate their artifacts with other collectors. Like trading baseball cards.
In my case, the lion’s share of my record haul was funded via student loan easy money from Uncle Ronnie (it took me 15 years to pay off my 80’s record haul plus 3 University degrees.)
The period from about 1985-1995 coincided with a period of cheap Vinyl titles being sold in brick and mortar record stores to clear space* and gain seed money for these new fangled thingees called the Compact Disc.
*Did you know the size of the CD was made to exact specifications: 2 CDs could sit, perfectly, side by side for every record bin. Thus, doubling the potential inventory.
I would drive to the Bay Area from Utah and scour San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose, El Cerrito, Hayward, San Mateo, Carmel/Monterey, Santa Cruz and dig for Reggae Vinyl.
If I couldn’t couch surf with a relative for ten days, I would stay at the Travelodge across the street from the San Francisco Tower Records within walking distance of North Beach, Chinatown and the Bay.
This looks a lot like my living room at the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives World HQ
I would make a special trip across the Golden Gate Bridge to shop at the excellent roots music store: Village Music in Mill Valley. I found some really rare Reggae 45’s and the first five years of The Beat*magazine there once. Once you get a nice cache, it’s worth the drive and I will make the time to dig in the crates. Village Music was my favorite Bay Area store on my circuit. I was really bummed when I read they went out of business in 2007.
*The primary Reggae and World music magazine published in the US. I wrote Mutant Dub reviews for them for about 5 years. They didn’t survive the digital era either when ad revenue dried up as Reggae labels went out of business.
Village Music; Mill Valley, Collie-fornya: casualty of the digital era.
On the return drive, I would hit Auburn Collie-fornya (the old state capitol; home of Cherry Records), Sacramento vicinity and Reno. I have even stopped and perused the Yellow Pages in Winnemucca and Elko Nevada looking for a little record shack.
The good times came to an end. Ebay and Amazon dried up the source records for inventory as collectors could piece out their rarities for top coin, one title at a time.
Chain stores like Mall Wart, Beast Buy and Circus Shitty stocked a boring, narrow selection of titles. They would purposely undercut the sales markup as a loss leader to get you in to buy a toaster or computer. The indie stores couldn’t buy on that volume to get the wholesale price break much less afford to sell titles for less than cost.
With digital preferences, iTunes legit, tube sites and outright online theft, the other shoe dropped on the physical record (and video) stores and more than 3000 have gone out of business in the past decade. The biggest of them being Tower Records, Virgin Records and HMV. Brutal.
It’s really depressing for a professional cratedigger like me when I pull into a town and see my familiar haunt closed or replaced by some sort of Dollar Store or Title Loan company.
RIP: Columbus and Bay location; San Francisco. Spent thousands of dollars here over a decade of shopping
Thanks for listening to these Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive streams and, by all means, puff, puff pass the links to anyone you think might like the cool breeze of musical rotation inna Irie meditation at 33 and 1/3 and 45 RPMs! Vinyl snack crackle and pop is real. Digital is just a figment of your reality.
Playlist below the Mixcloud embed
bless, robt
Dillinger – Reggae Beat; Badder Than Then (A & M) ’81 US; All Vinyl Show
UB40 – Present Arms in Dub; Present Arms in Dub (DEP) ’81; Dub Album of the Week
Chalawa – Jah Collie Weed; Capture Land (Green Weenie) ’78 Jah-tario, Canada; 420 Seven Leaf Set
Crucial Bee – Cocaine; Just a Sting (All Starr) US Virgin Islands
Tinga Stewart – Give Me a Puff; Key to Your Heart (Calabash) ’83 Florida
Toyan – Chalice; Toyan (Channel One) ’82 JA
Sugar Minott – International Herb; 12” (Hammah) ‘83***End of Set 1
Jah-ntario, Canada. Green Weenie label
Sophia George – Girlie, Girlie; Fresh (Winner) ’86 JA; version galore (1)
Charlie Chaplin – Boyie, Boyie; 12” (Winner)’85 JA; version galore (2)
Barry Brown – Come On Natty Roots Man; Stand Firm (Justice) ‘78 JA
Natural Roots – Influence; Natural Roots (Only Roots) ’84 FR***End of Set 2
A huge hit Year 1 Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives (circa 1988)
Casselberry – DuPree’ – Positive Vibrations; City Down (Iceberg) Jah-waukee, Wisconsin; ’86 female folk duo on Marley
Peter Ranking & General Lucky – Farmer; Jah Stand Over Me (Razor Sound) ’82 JA
***Interview with NRG Rising; Maori reggae family out of New Zealand
NRG Rising – Journey; From Darkness to Light***End of Set 3
NRG Rising – New Zealand Maori Reggae mother and dawtas
Mikey Dread – Heavyweight Style; 10” (Dread at the Controls) ’82 UK
Sena – Natural Woman + Strictly Woman; Juvenile Delinquent (Clappers) ’81 Brooklyn***End of Set 4
Lillian Allen – Conditions Critical; Conditions Critical (Redwood) ’87 Emeryville, Collie-fornya; Canadian dub poet***End of Set 5
Canadian female dub poet. From Year 1 Smile Jamaica (circa 1988)
Sister Carol – Black Woman; Liberation For Africa (Serious Gold) ’83 NYC
Enforcer – Bad Boy; 10” (Narrows) ‘80
Roots Uprising – No Doney (Get High); Beautiful Music (Top Ranking) ’81 FL***End of Set 6
Paid $50 for this record in Washington DC ’98. Worth every penny!
Solo Banton – Chalice Haffe Blaze; 10” (Reality Shock) 2011 UK mutant dub herb tune
Idred Natura & Seventh Sense – Sip a Cup; 12” (Jah Works) 2007 mutant dub herb tune***End of Set 7
Smile Jamaica’s Holy Trinity: Mutant dub, Vinyl, herb tunes
Singers & Players feat. Brent Dowe – These Eyes; Vacuum Pumping (ON U Sound) ’88; Melodians singer on The Guess Who tune; mutant dub vinyl set
Basement 5 – Immigration; 1965-1980 (Island) ’80 UK; members went out to Big Audio Dynamite
Bim Sherman & Lion Youth – Happiness; Hits From the House of Shaka (Jah Shaka) UK ‘85
New Age Steppers feat. Ari Up – Some Love; Foundation Steppers (ON U Sound) UK ’83; feat lead singer of The Slits
Smile Jamaica’s vision of The Afterlife
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3 bags of Vinyl. A rare glimpse into the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. Located in the Fortress of Dubitude
Greetings,
Don’t know what happened, but last week’s May 24 Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive is the first time I have popped up on any social media charts in the deejay world. I park my Ark-Ives on Mixcloud
Living in Utah for nearly three decades, you become familiar with the missionary concept one way or another. I certainly am a devotee of the vinyl over the digital on Smile Jamaica from day 1 of 25 years now. Preaching the black wax manifesto and now it is Vinyl’s time. The only format of musical sales that is growing, not shrinking.
The Church of Smile Jamaica – Save your soul for half the price. Selah!
So to celebrate 25 years of Vinyl Saturdays on Smile Jamaica. Here is another 3 hour Vinyl is Vital (rhymes with Ital) show to usher in Summer.
Smile Jamaica: The Soundtrack to your Summer BBQ
I’m gonna fire up the turntables and feature these Black Wax delicacies
Gonna start with a celebration of the Reggae sound by Dillinger – Reggae Beat
4:20 Cannabliss Vinyl set to start the show
A Deejay clash of the sexes: Sophia George vs. Charlie Chaplin
Plenty of female roots and chanters
Extended mix singles to sink into the riddim
Mutant dub vinyl to close the festivities
Plus we will have an interview around 5 o’clock with a New Zealand Reggae group in town called NRG Rising and our Dub Album of the Week between the Vinyl: UB40 – Present Arms in Dub (DEP)
Smile Jamaica live every Saturday 4-7 PM Mtn. Time:
Here is the Bob Dylan 73rd Birthday Ark-Ive of Smile Jamaica (May 24, 2014)
First set devoted to Bob Dylan on his birthday: 2 Bobs, 2 vinyls
Wailers Family Tree: Live Bob, rare Peter, 80s Bunny, 70s Marcia, Marley cover
Vinyl is Vital: Jah-ronto, Canajah by way of Emoryville, Collie-fornya, Ja-High-O Seven Leaf, Live Sunsplash to Bob, Rockers Soundtrack, Inner Circle covers Rupie Edwards
Mutant Dub World Tour: France, Jah-many, UK
11 of 33 Vinyl. Coincidence? I think not!
bless, robt
MAY 24, 2014 PLAYLIST
Don Carlos – I Love Jah; 10” (Negus Roots) ‘80
4th Street Orchestra – Higher Ranking; (Scientific) Higher Ranking Dubb (EMI) ’77 Dennis Bovell: Dub Album of the Week
Bob Dylan – Don’t Ever Take Yourself Away; Hawaii Five-O Soundtrack (CBS); Happy Birthday Bob Dylan Set
Matumbi – Man in Me; Best of Matumbi (Trojan) ’76 UK vinyl roots update of Dylan song from New Morning
Arthur Louis – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door; This Is Reggae Music vol. 2 (Island) ’75 US vinyl from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Soundtrack
Bob Dylan – Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright; Live at Budokan (Columbia) Jah-pon 1979; ***End of Set 1
Also ran to Cheap Trick in Best 1979 Budokan, Jah-pon live album
Abja – Good Sensimilla; Mahogany Road (I Grade) 2006 US Virgin Islands; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Horace Andy – Problems; 10” (Glimmer) ‘78
Pato Banton – Absolute Perfection; Never Give In (Primitive Man) ’88 UK toaster
Marcia Griffiths – Steppin’ Out in Babylon; Steppin’ (Shanachie) ‘79***End of Set 2
The Aretha Franklin of Reggae
Bob Marley & the Wailers – The Heathen; Live Forever (Tuff Gong); last live show: Pittsburgh, Jah-sylvania; 9/23/80
Peter Tosh – Blame the Yout (sic) (Dub Version); Equal Rights (Columbia/Legacy) ’77 dubble disk of rarities
Pluto Shervington – Natty Dread; Jah Love (Music Club); **End of 3, Wailer Family Tree
Aswad – Roxanne; Big Up (Gut/Mesa) ’97 The Police cover
Johnny Clarke – Don’t Let Jah Down!; 10” (Sip a Cup) 2007 UK militant steppers
Aisha – Downpressor; High Priestess (Ariwa) ’88 Mad Professor prod’n
Bedouin Soundclash feat. Vernon Buckley – Higher Ground; Street Gospels (Sideondummy) 2007 Jah-ronto, Canada; lead singer of The Maytones; ***End of Set 4
1988 foundation record in the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
Lillian Allen – Rub a Dub Style in a Regent Park; Revolutionary Tea Party (Redwood) ’85 Canadian dub poet; Vinyl is Vital set
Satta – Ganga Bongo; Light of the World (Satta) ’87 Beechwood, Ja-high-O herb tune
Inner Circle – Irey Feelings; Blame It on the Sun (Trojan) ’75 UK Rupie Edwards herb instrumental
The Wailers – Them Belly Full; Live at Reggae Sunsplash: Tribute to Bob Marley (Elektra) ’82 US
Burning Spear – Jah No Dead; Rockers Soundtrack (Mango) ’79 Jah-maica***End of Set 5
Vinyl Is Vital rhymes with Ital!
Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door; Live at Budokan (Columbia) ’79 in Jah-pon
Gregory Isaacs – Rock On (Horns Version); 10” (Observer Gold) Niney prod’n
Black Uhuru – Plastic Smile; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Heartbeat) ’87 rmx “don’t show I your teeth, your plastic smile nah work”***End of Set 6
“Don’t show I your teeth, your plastic smile nah work”…Michael Rose, Black Uhuru
The Selecter – Red Reflections; Celebrate the Bullet (Chrysalis) ’81 2 Tone ska w/ female vox
Robert Emanuel – You Can’t Push I Over; 10” (Main Line) ‘77
Easy Star All Stars – Money (Mad Professor rmx); Dubber Side of the Moon (Easy Star) 2010***End of Set 7
Botom Botom – Something Divine; This Is Not a Stereotype (Hammerbass); Mutant dub: France w/ female vox
Manasseh Meets the Equalizer – Angry Dub; King Size Dub vol. 10 (Echo Beach) Jah-man label
The Chosen – Mash Down Rome; Rhythm & Sound w/ the Artists + Versions (Asphodel) Zion Train – Hovercraft; Get Ready EP (China) ’95 UK
Zion Train – Hovercraft; Get Ready EP (China) ’95 UK
Robert Allen Zimmerman: b. May 24, 1941; Duluth, Minnesota
Greetings,
All my heroes are named Bob*
Bob Marley (natch)
Bob Dylan (Happy Birthday Bob!)
R. (Bob) Crumb – cartoonist and fellow crate digger extraordinaire
*(mere coincidence that I am a Bob as well. Known as Bobby to my family and friends in Montana. Son of a Bob, grandson of a Bob. I became Robert when I moved to Utah in 1986)
Today at 4 PM on Smile Jamaica: 90.9FM KRCL or live stream
Happy Birthday Bob Dylan: covers and woozy Reggae originals by Bob in livication for his birthday. Brilliant Roots updates of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “Man in Me”
Dub Album of the Week: Dennis Bovell’s 4th Street Orchestra – Scientific Higher Ranking Dubb ’77; UK dubwize
Wailers Family Tree: Bob’s last live show in Pittsburgh, Jah-sylvania (9/23/80); rarities from dubble disk upgrade of Peter Tosh’s Equal Rights ’77. Bunny Wailer – Rootsman Skanking ’86. Bob cover disk
Vinyl is Vital: Half way through. I give you one extra in every Vinyl set. Female dub poetry, herb tune, Sunsplash Live
Mutant Dub Files: Last half hour acoustic levitation inna Irie meditation! Heavy bass downtro, lounge, echo, dub step
Plus music from the sistren, 10″ extended mix vinyl, Seven Leaf tributes.
Interstellar overdub!
bless, robt
Sandra Bullock, “Houston! I need more bass for re-entry”
Been really homebound at the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. Allergies for sure-ty. Cold wet weekend made me an invalid. Dayquil, Nyquil. No dice.
Called my beloved mother, Jeannette, wished her a happy Mother’s Day in a Jah-tana blizzard. Chatted up my best pal Tristin. And watched my beloved Giants spank the hated Dodgers in extra innings.
Being homeward bound made me plow into the treasures of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive.
So I am a Librarian by trade. And like Sanitation Engineers mop floors, Librarians are Information Engineers. We organize information into searchable format.
I am in the perpetual state of cataloging and creating discographies of my collection by format. Right now I am in the mood for the most esoteric of my Reggae formats* (10″ vinyl extended mix single.)
*other than my treasured Bob Marley 8 Tracks
From the Dead Formats Shelf of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
I have an Excel database that tracks A side: Artist, Song; B side: Artist,Song; Record Label; Producer; Year (very hard sometimes to find); Reggae Band laying down the riddims. Other metadata like: herb tune, Marley tribute, soul cover, etc. Then I give each side a grade.
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Grade: B+/A-
Here is what I cataloged and listened to on my Hi-Fi. Vinyl Sabbath (May 11, 2014: Mother’s Day and 33 Years of Bob Marley’s tragic passing)
10″ vinyl: Dirty Dub Dozen
*b & w = backed with or the B side
Boney ‘L’ & Vibronics – Babylon Children b/w* Vibronics – The Return (Jah Tubbys); A side is female roots on a good militant steppers riddim. Militant Steppers is the martial Euro dubble time stiff drum and spongy echo. B side is cool instrumental by the Dub group Vibronics.
Grade: A/A-
Dennis Brown – Tenement Yard b/w Open the Gates. Part of a latter-day reissue series of vinyl classics from Niney’s Observer label. Revive/Reissue Label: Observer Gold. Dennis at his roots best. Sufferers A side with Rasta imagery B side
Grade: A/A+
Johnny Clarke – Dreader Dread + Clint Eastwood – Dread Lion b/w Horace Andy – Guiding Star + Tappa Zukie – Jah Is I Guiding Star (Attack Gold); cut ‘n’ mix using Bunny Lee’s production of King Tubby mixing the flying cymbal attack of the Aggrovators. Version rides recycling hard riddims. Both jams are high impact examples of early 70s Rasta commercial roots.
Grade: A/A
The Congos – Some are Having Fun b/w Mad Professor & the Robotics feat. Michael Walters – Jungle Vibrations (Ariwa) 2002. Gorgeous A side featuring the falsetto of Cedric Myton. B is a great ricochet echo mostly instrumental jam with that trademark Mad Professor sound
Grade: A/A
Mikey Dread – Heavyweight Style b/w Rub-a-Dub (Dread the Controls) ’82 picture sleeve. Spongy riddims featuring the singjay. Studio craft with false starts, trombone melodies and sticky downbeat. Mikey’s cartoon vox celebrates the tough riddims. B side is a notch better. “Music is my butter, music is my bread.” Rub a Dub: the excuse needed to grab your gal and wind up her waist on the dance floor. Deliberate one drop, more measured, where the twisty groove pumps bass at your groin.
Grade: B+/A-
Gregory Isaacs – Cool Down the Pace b/w The Stranger (Island) ’82 picture sleeve. Mixed by Groucho Smykle who updated Black Uhuru’s contemporary sound. These are inverted tracks where it is mostly dub riddim where Gregory meanders in and warbles over an early 80s digital drum sound.
Grade: A/A-
Carlton Jackson – Only Jah Will Do b/w Jonny (sic) Osburne (sic) – The Love of Music (Ital International) ’82. Wow what a great roots record. A side is sublime Rasta celebration. While Johnny or Jonny celebrates the philosophy of celebrating Reggae music
Grade: A+/A
Purchased at Streetlight Records in San Francisco circa 1989
Jah Mason & Robbie Valentine – Ganja afe Free b/w Mike Anthony – Culture Calling (Sip a Cup); 2005 Militant Steppers powerhouse produced by Gussie P with riddims by Mafia & Fluxy. A side is a combination style herb tune. B side is a great roots and contemporary dub jam.
Grade: A-/A
Keith & Tex + Scotty – Tonight + Children Children b/w Pablo & Fay – Bedroom Mazurka (Trojan) UK reissue of some classic Derrick Harriott productions. A side is the great slinky riddim moving into Scotty toasting a nursery rhyme. B side is Pablo’s melodica dreamscape over Fay’s come hither seduction. Jamaican novelty update.
Grade: A/B+
King General – They Say b/w Centry – King of Kings (Lovedub Music) 2006 Conscious Sounds Bush Chemists militant steppers mutant dub mashup. A side is a great high voiced singjay herb tune, “They say Sensimilla can’t smoke”. B side is a different riddim instrumental. I used this one to test out my new stereo setup since I had to upgrade my TV/entertainment center over the weekend.
Grade: A/A-
Love mi Dubplate: “They say Sensimilla cyaan smoke”
Barrington Levy – Mr. Money Man b/w Super Chick Me a Champion (Hit Bound) ’83. Trademark Barry warble over a subtle rub a dub groover. Very atmospheric protesting against the banksters vexing the working poor way back when. B Side is female sing jay. Very off key on the singing while stepping it lively on the deejay toast ‘n’ boast. Psychedelic extended mix once Chick steps aside.
A/B+
Derrick Morgan – Conquering Ruler (2002 Re-Visit) b/w Martin Campbell – Old Time Dance (Channel One UK). Featuring the Hi-Tech Roots Radics. A is a Rock Steady classic update. B side is better as a celebration of Reggae inna dancehall style. 3 versions per side: vox, vocal/dub, dub. Bonus beats are always a treat!
Grade: B+/A
Good day to celebrate His Imperial Majesty with roots ‘n’ dubbers paying tribute!
bless, robt
Praises to Jah: Truly the Conquering Lion
Smile Jamaica is hosted by Robert Nelson on 90.9 FM KRCL in Salt Lake City, Utah (Saturdays, 4-7 p.m. MT). Ark-ives available weekly here at the Smile Jamaica blog.
![Aston Barrett - Juvenile Delinquent -=[ Vinyl [Front]](https://smilejamaicakrcl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/aston-barrett-juvenile-delinquent-vinyl-front.jpg)
Smile Jamaica 