Enjoy this Spring Time mashdown of Smile Jamaica’s favorite Bob Marley cover tunes. Pulled from deep in the Ark-Ives and stitched up in the Secret Dubratory.
Bless, Bobbylon
0-30 min.
Cedella Marley Booker – Put It On (Lord I Thank You); Awake Zion (Ryodisk) ’84 (Burnin’)
Dennis Brown – Slave Driver; Promised Land (Blood and Fire) ’79 (Catch a Fire)
Dillinger – Check Sister Jane; Top Ranking Dillinger (Rhino UK) ’77 (Waiting in Vain – Exodus)
Hepcat – Hooligans; Out of Nowhere (Moon) ’93 SoCal ska (Studio One 7″)
Judy Mowatt – Screwface; Love Is Overdue (Shanachie) ’87 (Tuff Gong 7″)
Rita Marley – I Know a Place (Shanachie) ’91 (Lee “Scratch” Perry ’77 unreleased)
UB40 – Keep on Moving; Labour of Love (Virgin) ’83 (Lee “Scratch” Perry 12″)
Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers – African Herbsman; Joy and Blues (Virgin) ’93 (Upsetter 7″)
Eric Clapton – I Shot the Sheriff; 461 Ocean Boulevard (RSO) ’74 (Burnin’)
Jah-tober 20th Smile Jamaica, livicated to the late great Peter Tosh – born Oct. 19, 1947.
Jah-tober is Jah-loween on Smile Jamaica,
Peter was at the pinnacle of the masses of Reggae songs devoted to the Halloween menagerie: vampires, ghosts (duppies in Jamaica), witches, mummies, anti-Christs, zombies and general evil. I and I have hundreds of Jah-loween tunes on CD, black wax: LP, 12″, 10″ and 7″.
Peter’s additions to the canon?
Dracula
Vampire
Mark of the Beast – about his brutal beating at the hands of Jamaican cops
Jumbie Jamboree – ska update of a classic soca song about the cousin of the duppy – jumbies.
With the Wailers: Mr. Brown (who drives around in a coffin) and Duppy Conqueror.
There is one more….
My very first Reggae LP was Peter Tosh – Wanted Dread & Alive; Christmas 1981. Thanks mom!
It was only after I got into Reggae that I discovered that was not the intended track list.
For European markets: lose Poor Man Feel It, Cold Blood and That’s What They Will Do. Substitute: Rok With Me, Guide Me From My Friends and Oh, Bumbo Klaat.
Peter’s tale of how a Jamaican spirit (Duppy) had him paralyzed. The only way to free himself from malevolent possession was to scream the Jamaican equivalent of Mother F******: Oh Bumbo Klaat
Bum: coarse word for our four letter “c” word. Klaat as in cloth – menstrual rags, not to be indelicate.
Such a foul epithet would horrify Jamaicans to hear uttered anywhere. But Peter mustered all his energy and burst out: OH BUMBA KLAAT
The duppy was so shocked at hearing such an utterance that he let go of Peter and the Stepping Razor broke free of his paralysis:
<Smile Jamaica story on Peter’s possession: Oh Bumbo Klaat; 102 sec.
[Verse 4] One night, an evil spirit held me down I could not make one single sound Until Jah told me, “Son, use the word” And now I’m as free as a bird
I was very happy to be cratedigging in SLC, at Get In Here Records I scored the above 12″ black wax aboved.
Tosh’s tragic end belied an “Omen”. I had just got into Reggae bigly as 45 would say around Sept. ’86. A year later I was working at Graywhale CD and used my employee discount to buy 2 CDs:
Ramones – Halfway to Sanity
Peter Tosh – No Nuclear War.
I think the Tosh album dropped on Sept. 3, 1987. On Sept. 12, I remember going to the SLC airport to pick up my sister off the plane. On page 2 of the paper that morning:
Reggae singer Peter Tosh killed in Jamaica.
Peter Tosh dead on, …wait for it: Sept. 11.
The other 9/11 tragedy
Peter the mystic did not go quietly to Jah’s Heavenly Choir. He got his “revenge” on his birthday that year: Oct. 19, 1987:
<Peter Tosh murder: Sept. 11, 1987. Black Monday – Oct. 19, 1987; 75 sec.>
Black Monday was the worst stock market collapse since the Great Depression. Only, since, eclipsed by the Great Recession of 2008.
Dow Jones stock market lost 22.6% of its valuation in one day. Peter Tosh exacted his revenge against the “shystem” in A-sad-ica. Because for the poor there is nothing “merry” about America.
Happy Birthday to the Stepping Razor: #PeterTosh. Murdered on 9/11 '87. Crashed the stock market from beyond on his birthday. 10/19/87 #BlackMonday. Chanting down the shytstem in A-sad-ica b/c for the poor, there is nothing "merry" in America pic.twitter.com/QjNWMBvwse
Thinking of the taste, listen to the drum and the bass
Greetings,
Those are the words of Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Two quick stories. There was a big name Reggae group coming to SLC and they had a list of Jamaican and ital juices, salads and other vegetarian delights they expected as part of their rider.
The promoter said, “Sorry guys. There’s no Caribbean market here.” So the group put in as a replacement: 6 bucks of Kentucky Fried Chicken and all the trimmings.
Now KFC is anything but Ital. But I imagine it is like those people who hear about In ‘n’ Out Burger. In Jamaica, something about KFC holds the fascination of the people. Rasta or otherwise.
Story 2: The first KFC franchise is actually in Salt Lake City:
KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky during the Great Depression. Sanders identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first “Kentucky Fried Chicken” franchise opened in Utah in 1952.
So another big name Reggae group came to town. Some way, some how they learned the first Kentucky Fried Chicken (now KFC) was in Salt Lake.
After their soundcheck, they asked to see the first Franchise as if it were a shrine. I wondered did all these dreadlock Rastas go in for Regular or Extra Crispy? My guess is they put their Tams on their head and doubled back through the drive through
bless, Bobbylon
Smile Jamaica Annotated Playlist: Sept. 8, 2018; 47 Sec.
Set 1:
Tyrone Taylor – Live Table; 2 of a Kind (Tuff Gong) ’87 JA vinyl
Soul Syndicate – Ghetto-ology Dub (Black Roots) ’80 JA vinyl: Sugar Minott dub album of the hour
Bunny Wailer – Rasta Dread (Natty Dread); Hall of Fame (RAS) ’95 50 Bob Marley covers for Bob’s 50th birthday
Etana – On the Way; I Rise (VP) 2014 roots dawta
Lee Perry – Kentucky Skank; Double Seven (Trojan) ’73 about Kentucky Fried Chicken
Welton Irie – Bubbling Telephone; One and One = Two (JA) 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
Adrian Sherwood feat. Bim Sherman & Prince Far I – Pass the Rizzla; 10″ (Green Tea) 2001 mutant dub herbtune
Set 2:
Peter Tosh – African; Kentucky Fried Rockers (bootleg) live at the Rupp Arena, Lexington KY
<Tosh opened for the Rolling Stones on the ’78 Some Girls tour; 58 sec.>
Dillinger – Don’t Watch Your Wife; Top Ranking Dillinger (Rhino UK) ’77; dj to Hortense Ellis on Melody Life
Tchiya Amet – Reservtion Ragtime Blues;
Earth Disciples – So Come On; 10″ (Music Works) early 80’s JA Gussie Clarke prod’n
Tosh was booed when he opened on the ’78 Stones tour
Set 3: Best of Smile Jamaica 28+ Years
Third World – Tribal War; 96 Degrees in the Shade (Mango) ’76
Hortense Ellis – Breakfast in Bed; I’m Still in Love With You (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’70 Dusty Springfield cover
Norris Reid – Protect Them; Rockers International (Greensleeves) ’80 Augustus Pablo prod’n
Black Uhuru – Sensimilla; Liberation Anthology (Island) herbtune
Mikey Dread – East Portland Dub; Dread at the Controls (Dread at the Controls) ’79 Dub Album of the Hour
Set 4: 7″ Jamaican Jukebox
<I collect 7″ 45 as an adult. Baseball cards as a youth; 18 sec.>
Danny Ray – Revolution Rock; 7″ (High Note) ’76 Clash original
Bobby Melody – Let It Be; 7″ (Errol T) Melodians update
Steve Baswell – I Am Getting Bad; 7′ (Phase One) ’77
Johnny Lover – Ital Locks; 7″ (Clocktower) ’75 dj to Curly Locks
Cedric ‘Im Brooks – Theme From Shaft; 7″ (Soul Jazz) Isaac Hayes cover
The Clash covered this on London Calling
Set 5: Vinyl Is Vital
The Wailing Wailers – Ten Commandments of Love; Wailing Wailers (Studio One) ’66 JA vinyl is vital set: Moonglows doo wop cover
<Wailers do doo wop; 74 sec.>
I Three – Sing Joy; Beginning (EMI America) ’86 US – Bob’s female back ups
Inner Circle – Tired Fe Lick Weed in a Bush; The Real Thing (Capitol) ’76 US herb tune
Icarus – Land of Tarot; State of Mind (Russian Roulette) ’84 UK
Armagideon – Spiral Galaxy; 12″ EP (Dubhead) ’98 UK mutant dub
Set 6: Rockers do Reggae
Cyndi Lauper – Witness; She’s So Unusual (Portrait) ’83 Rockers do Reggae Set
Garland Jeffreys feat. Big Youth – Graveyard Rock; Escape Artist (Epic) ’81 NYC multiracial rocker
Eric Clapton – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door; Crossroads (Polydor) ’74 Bob Dylan cover
The Clash feat. Mikey Dread – One More Time + Dub; Sandinista! (Epic) ’80
King Jammy Meets Dry & Heavy in the Jaws of the Tiger – Do Dub Up Your Fight (BSI) 2001 Dub Album of the Hour
Cyndi Lauper on Smile Jamaica WTR?
Set 7:
The Wailers – Stir It Up; Live 1973-1975 (Starbucks) live on the BBC; May 24, 1973 at the Paris Theatre; London
<Live on the BBC>
Phyllis Dillon – Woman of the Ghetto; Mojo and Trojan Present Reggae Nuggets (Mojo Magazine) ’72
Jah Rej – Binghi in the Jungle; 10″ (Jah Works) 2002 UK militant steppers
Free reggae CD with Sept. 2018 issue of Mojo Magazine
Set 8: Mutant Dub
Thievery Corporation feat. Shana Halligan – Love Has No Heart; Temple of I & I (ESL) 2017 DC dubbers: Mutant Dub Set
Young Gods – Dub the Sun (Mad Professor Mix); King Size Dub vol. 2 (Echo Beach) 2001
Destroy Babylon – Barriers; Shadow Army (MusicADD) 2008 NY
Tena Stelin – Intelligent Design; 10″ (Roots Hi-Tek) 2006 UK
I have told this story on air many times. I did political interviews on KRCL between 2003 (Iraq War) and 2012 when a new station GM – hired from Clear Channel radio – told me if I wanted to continue doing Progressive Political interviews I had to do two things
Quit expressing opinions
Must be objective.
I said no thanks and quit. I wasn’t going to dumb down my content like the CIA News Network or Washington Compost: being a stenographer of the news.
I quit radio interviews ratherr than being the radio equivalent of a presstitute stenographer
I would put a huge amount of time into that one hour, weekly interview. Post “retirement” I was left with a significant gap in free time.
That’s when I discovered a new time suck: Ancient Aliens on the History Channel.
As an Assyrian-American, a huge part of the show is about the Sumerians who wrote about contact from Astronauts (we humans mistook for Sky Gods.)
Do not scoff! Look to the skies!
I binged watched everything to catch up on all that history/cosmology.
So it wasn’t long before I started combing through the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives “probing” (pun intended) for UFO themed Reggae tunes.
Believe it or not, I could fill a 60 CD suitcase and a record bag full of examples on sets I call UFO-ria (euphoria, get it?).
From the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
Now every July 2 (Roswell UFO crash anniversary) I do 3 hours of Alien fascination that rules the nation!
July 2, 1947 Roswell, New Mexico
just like my traditions of Jah-loween, 4:20 and Bob Marley Tribute shows.
I’ve really gotten into it to the point where someone said, “Do you believe in this for real or is it entertainment?”
I said: I guess I do believe in it. Ancient Astronaut Theory makes the most ‘sensi’. to me.”
From the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives
Ancient Astronauts, mistaken by humans as Sky Gods, created mankind to mine gold to take back to their planet Nibiru: the 12th Planet or Planet X.
Guess what? They had wrecked their home world through environmental degradation (just like Earth) and needed gold to re-generate their atmosphere on Nibiru.
If you are on my Twitter at SmileJ_KRCL. I post 3 topics:
Reggae and Radio
Alt-Left, anti corporate Democratic Party snark
UFOria
Now I tell my friends, forced to endure my proselytizing, that I put the “man” in Manichaean and the “fun” in Sumerian Fundamentalism.
Anu is my Sky God. The Greeks called him Zeus
So I did a radio show last week with a UFO set. Just finished up Season 10 DVD of Ancient Aliens.
Guess what? My beef with archaeologists is that their calculations on when these massive structures from antiquity were built was thousand of years off.
Giza Plateau – Anunnaki Tessaract (space ships) powered by the pyramid energy.
Listen to my clip about the Great Pyramid of Giza that proves my point: Not 2500 BC, 10500 BC.
It’s not Khufu/Cheops’ tomb. It’s a power station for the Anunnaki’s Spaceships when they left and landed at the Sinai Spaceport.
Praise Anu! Bobbylon
<Giza pyramid and archaeo-imperialism; 1 min. 50>
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-vember 4, 2017 Annotated Playlist; 49 sec.
Set 1:
I Roy – Jah Is the Best; Best of I Roy (GG’s) ’77 JA vinyl
Impact All-Stars – Java; Java Java Dub (Impact!) ’74 UK – Vinyl Dub Album of the Hour
July 2, 1988 was when I ‘n’ I debuted at 3AM on a hot summer night late Sunday/early Monday on radio station KRCL. The name of the show was 3 o’clock Roadblock named after the Bob Marley song.
That started a 3 decade journey of 29 years of Reggae Radio. After a year or so I moved from early morning graveyard shift to the big show: Smile Jamaica.
Saturdays 1-4 PM in 1989-1990 and then moved back to 4pm. Planted my flag and never left.
If I figure I average about 45 shows a year (with time away for cratedigging on the weekends). That amounts to 1305 + shows. Almost 4000 hours of Reggae.
I celebrated with all vinyl a couple weeks back. Took last Saturday off and cooked up a CD best of 29 years in my Secret Dubratory.
Thanks for the musical memories!
bless, robt
If I remember correctly: Black Uhuru’s What Is Life was the first song I played on Reggae Radio: 3AM July 2, 1088
0-30 min.
Naturalites – Picture on the Wall; Rub a Dubble vol. 2 (CSA) ’88 UK
Rita Marley – Beauty of God’s Plan; Who Feels It Knows It (Shanachie) ‘80
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Brainwashing; African Herbsman (Trojan) ’71 nursery rhyme
Peter Tosh – Recruiting Soldiers; Mystic Man (EMI America) ‘79
All my heroes are named Bob: Marley, Crumb and Dylan. Congrats to Nobel Prize for Literature, Bob Dylan. The first popular music artist to be chosen. Well deserving.
So I start off Smile Jamaica with a 3 song Reggae Tribute to his Bobness!
<Winner, winner Nobel Prize chicken dinner! 33 sec.>
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-tober 15, 2016: Annotated Playlist – photos, captions, soundbytes, Reggae History Lessons; 51 sec.
Bob Dylan Tribute
Wailers Family Tree
Vinyl is Vital
Jah-loween Stylee
Disco Mix 10″/12″
Roots Dawtas
UFO-ria inna Mutant Dub Stylee
Intro: 33 sec.
Set 1: From one Bob to another: Dylan Tribute – Nobel Winner
<Amazing achievement. Nobel deserving; 52 sec.>
Jimmy London – Ride On; Welcome to My World (Burning Sounds) ’78 UK vinyl
Sould Syndicate – Black Pride – Dub; King Tubby & Friends – Sound System Dub Vol. (Original) JA vinyl, 1975-78: Dub Album of the Hour
Bob Dylan – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door; Live at Budokan (Columbia): ’78 Reggae Tribute to Nobel Laureate, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan – Man Gave Names to All the Animals; Slow Train Coming (Columbia) ’79 Gospel Grammy winner
Bob Dylan – Jokerman; Infidels (Columbia) ’83 Sly & Robbie on the riddims
Peter Broggs – Internaitonal Farmer; Rastafari Liveth! (RAS) ‘82
African Pearl – Zion Bound; 10” (Ariwa) 2005 UK: female roots
Set 2: Wailers Family Tree
Peter Touch & Hugh Roy – Rightful Ruler; Honorary Citizen: Jamaican Singles (Columbia) ’69 box set
Bob Marley & the Wailers – Jamming (Long Version); Exodus (Deluxe Edition) (Tuff Gong) ’77 bonus track
<Dessert before dinner: dub before the vox – Jamming; 18 sec.>
Set 3:
<Request: The one album that led to Smile Jamaica – Black Uhuru Anthem; 35 sec.>
Black Uhuru – Black Uhuru Anthem; Anthem (Island) ’84 Night of the Living Dead, Request; 19 sec.
Creation Rebel/New Age Steppers – Painstaker; Threat to Creation (Cherry Red/ON U Sound) ’81 dub to New Age Steppers cover of Michael Rose “Observe Life
African Princess – Jah Children Cry; 12” (Jah Shaka) ’80 UK
Scientist – Heavyweight Dub Champion (Greensleeves) ’80: Dub Album of the Hour
This album made me a Reggae Fanatic – Hard to live in dread in the dawn of the living dead!
Set 4: Best of Smile Jamaica – 27 Years
Yellowman – Morning Ride; One in a Million (Shanachie) ’84
<The Morning Ride – a different commute!; 25 sec.>
Aisha – Evil Spirits; High Priestess (Ariwa) ‘88
Barry Brown – Run Wicked Man; Far East (Hitbound) ‘81
Keith Hudson – My Eyes Are Red (Unlreased Version); Brand (Pressure Sounds) ‘77
The morning ride is the longest ride
Set 5: Vinyl Is Vital
Icarus – Land of Tarot; State of Mind (Russian Roulette) ’82 UK
Earl Sixteen – Freedom; Heart of the Ark vol. 2 (Seven Leaf) Black Ark/Lee Perry prod’n
Clint Eastwood – Sweet, Sweet Jamaica; Sex Education (Greensleeves) ’80 UK
Tony Tuff – Born in the Ghetto; Presenting Mr. Tuff (Black Roots) ’81 JA
Aura Lewis Meets Lee “Scratch” Perry – At Midnite; Full Experience (Blue Moon) Fr. EP – Black Ark prod’n
Set 6:
Tino – Bats in My Belfrey Dub; Hallowe’en Dub (Tino’s) Jah-loween beats artist
Yesca – Searchin’; Up in Smoke Soundtrack (Warner Bros) ’78 herbal update of the Coasters 50 r & b
Ther Herbaliser – The Hard Stuff; Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ninja Tune) 2002 UK mutant dub herb tune
Version feat. Sista Widey – Put On; 10” (Webcam Hi Fi) 2007 Fr. mutant dub
Black Roots Players – Redder Than Red; Ghetto-ology Dub (Easy Star) ’79 Dub Album of the Hour
Makes your flesh creep: next 2 Saturdays nuff Jah-loween on Smile Jamaica. 3 hours Digital Dubplate mix on Mixcloud Oct. 31
Set 7: Jah-loween Stylee
Black Survivors – Catch a Vampire; Nations of the World (Sword Lion) ’95 UK
Garland Jeffreys feat. Big Youth – Graveyard Rock; Escape Artist (Epic) ’81 – NY bi-racial rocker
<Don’t get stoned on my tombstone! 25 sec.>
Rupie Dan & Jennifer Gad feat. Macka B – Devil Dance; Solid Foundation (Flag) 1992
Bomb the Bass feat. Sinead O’Connor & Benjamin Zephaniah; Empire; clear (Quango) ’95 UK mutant dubbers; Empire=Vampire
Don’t get stoned on mi tombstone!
Set 8: UFO-ria: 38 sec.
Audio Active – Space Children; Tokyo Space Cowboys (ON U Sound) ’94 Jah-pon
Rockers Hi Fi – Dick From Outaspace; Rockers to Rockers (Gee Street) ’95 UK
<Dracula gets diabetes sucking High Fructose blood out of kiddies; 20 sec.>
Greetings,
Smile Jamaica loves Halloween. Or as I call it Jah-loween. Lots of black arts and superstition in Reggae music. I’ve tracked those Dark Arts for more than 20 years of 3 hour shows.
So this show is Deadicated not Livicated!
<20 plus years of Jah-loween; 32 sec.>
Doin’ the boneyard skank
Here is the road-map through the Boneyard: Witches, werewolves, vampires, duppies and ghosts, And all menagerie of Vampires.
Voodoo that you do!
Plus nuff sound bytes, Horror movie trailers: Blacula, The Thing With Two Head, Village of the Damned, Dr. Phibes, Halloween, X-Files, Twilight Zone.
Listen with the lights out.
curse, robt
<Welcome to Hell!>
Smile Jamaica Zombie Jamboree Playlist:
Set 1:
<All Treats no Tricks; 8 sec.>
Ini Kamoze – Hole in the Pumpkin; Shocking Out (Greensleeves) ‘87
<For 20 years I have led off each Jah-loween Showcase with Ini Kamoze; 12 sec.>
Scientist – Voodoo Curse; Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires (Greensleeves) ’81 dub to Michael Prophet
<Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires; 11 sec.>
Lee “Scratch” Perry & Dub Syndicate – Train to Doomsville; Pay It All Back vol. 2 (ON U Sound) ‘88
<Scratch: Pick up your Cross and follow me! 23 sec.>
Black Uhuru – Vampire; Sinsemilla (Mango) ‘80
The Toyes – Monster Hash; The Toyes (CD Tunes) ’96 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; Boris Pickett cover
GG All Stars – Haunted House; 12” (Hit Disco) ‘79
Scratch – Pick up your Cross and follow me!
Set 2:
<Tribute to the Undead>
Keith Hudson – Darkest Night; Flesh of My Skin, Blood of My Blood (Atra) ’75
Michael Prophet – Satan; Rootsman (Ariwa) ‘99
Garland Jeffreys & Big Youth – Graveyard Rock; Escape Artist (Epic) ’81 black NY rocker
<Garland Jeffreys – NYC Rocker; 17 sec.>
Barrington Levy – Murderer; 12” (Jah Life); ’84 Vampires dem suck your blood
Graveyard Rock – don’t get stoned on my tombstone
Set 3:
Max Romeo – I Chase the Devil; War in a Babylon (Mango) ’76 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark
Milton Henry – Them a Devil; Who Do You Think I Am? (Wackies) ’85
Devon Irons – Ketch Vampire; Baffling Smoke Signal (Heartbeat) ’76 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark
Early B – Ghost Busters; Ghost Busters (Black Solidarity) ‘85
Barnabas Collins + Graveyard Skank – Lone Ranger; On the Other Side of Dub (Studio One) ’77 Soap Opera vampire
<Barnabas Collins – Dark Shadows vampire; 14 sec.>
Barnabas Collins – he’ll chew your neck like Wrigley’s
Set 4: Vinyl Halloween
Gladiators – Duppy Conqueror; Gladiators (Virgin Front Line) ’80 Bob Marley cover; Duppy = Jamaican Ghost
Tino – Wolfman Is Everwhere; Hallowe’en Dub (Tino’s) 2002
Kode9 + Spaceape – Ghost Town; 5 Years of Hyperdub (Hyperdub) 2009; Specials cover
Dan I & King Kietu – Vampire + Dub Down the Vampire; Rastafari Judgement Fire (Imperial Roots) 2009 Italian dub
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.
Smile Jamaica 