Oh bumbo klaat, oh ras klaat
Oh bumbo klaat, oh ras klaat

[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

[Chorus]
Oh bumbo klaat, oh ras klaat
Oh bumbo klaat, oh ras klaat

***

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:

1. Ramones – Halfway to Sanity
2. 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.

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.

Poor man feel it, indeed!

bless, Bobbylon

Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: Jah-tober 20, 2018 – Annotated Playlist: 67 sec. 

• Anicia Banks – Thank You Lord; 7″ (Ashandan) ’77 Curtis Mayfield/Bob Marley cover
• Dread and Fred – Dub Connection; Powerhouse (Dub Venture) ’96 UK vinyl Dub Album of the Hour
• Max Romeo – I Chase the Devil; War ina Babylon (Mango) ’76 Lee “Scratch” Perry/Black Ark prod’n
• Sister Carol – Blackman Time; Call Mi Sister Carol (Heartbeat) ’94 I Roy update
• Pato Banton – One World (Not Three); Live at the Maritime Hall San Francisco (2B1) 2001 Police cover
• Johnny Clarke – Easy Skanking; Tribute to Bob Marley in a Dancehall (Rhino UK) ’78 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; Bob Marley cover
• Lee “Scratch” Perry & Full Experience- Disco Devil; 12″ (Upsetter) ’77 update of Max Romeo

Set 2:

• Yabby You – Anti Christ; One Love, One Heart (Shanachie) ’83 comp.
• Garland Jeffreys – We the People; Escape Artist (Epic) ’81 Dennis Bovell 12″ mix
• Wendy Shaw – Sensimilla Crisis; Sing Out (Izachaar Muzik) mid 90’s herbtune

<North Dakota. Next to legalize?; 16 sec.>

• Moses – When the Vampire (Comes to Your Neighbourhood); 12″ (Wackies) ’82 Bronx

<Vampire = Informers in Jamaica>

Set 3: Jamaican Jukebox 7″ 45 Jah-loween

• Dennis Alcapone – Mr. Brown; 7″ (Observer) ’70 Mr. Brown in his coffin

<Mr. Brown, the talk of the town in his coffin; 49 sec.>

• Yami Bolo – Traitors; 7″ (Yam Euphony) Traitors = Vampires
• Carl Dawkins – Witchcraft; 7″ (Sir J.J.) ’72
• Lone Ranger – Frankenstine (sic); 7″ (Greedy Puppy) ’79
• Twinkle Brothers – Mark of the Beast; 7″ (Twinkle) 2000
• 4th Street Orchestra – Rolling Down the River; Yuh Learn! (Rama) ’77 Dennis Bovell dub album of the hour

Set 4:

• Wailing Wailers – I’m Still Waiting; Wailing Wailers (Studio One) ’65 JA vinyl

<Song story: I’m Still Waiting; 79 sec.>

• Mad Professor feat. Love Clinic – Studio 54 Dub; Black Liberation Dub 5 (Ariwa) cover of Blondie’s Rapture w/ female group
• Don Carlos – Night Rider (In Danger); Deeply Concerned (RAS) ’87 I’m a ghostbuster
• The Specials – Ghost Town; 12″ (2 Tone) ’81 UK 2 Tone ska

<Ghost Town – fighting closed the clubs down; 39 sec.>

Set : Vinyl is Vital Jah-loween

• Inner Circle – Duppy or Gunman; Rock the Boat (Trojan) ’74 UK Ernie Smith; Duppy = Jamaican ghost – Vinyl is Vital Jah-loween
• The Ethiopians – Satan’s Kingdom; No Baptism (Crystal) ’70 JA
• U Roy – Evil Doers; Crucial Cuts (Virgin Front Line) ’83 UK comp. dj to Gladiators
• Leo Graham & the Upsetters – Voodooism + Dub; Voodooism (Anachron) ’89 Neth. Black Ark reissue

Set 6: Best of Smile Jamaica 29 Years – Jah-loween

• Keith Hudson – Darkest Night; Flesh of My Skin, Blood of My Blood (Atra) ’75: Best of Smile Jamaica 29 Years – Jah-loween
• Yellowman & Fathead – Me Kill Barnie; Them a Mad Over Me (Hitbound) ’82 about Soap Opera vampire Barnabas Collins

<Please sir. May I have a cup of blood?>

• Aisha – Evil Spirits; High Priestess (Ariwa) ’86
• Scientist – The Mummy’s Shroud; Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampire (Greensleeves) ’81
• The Revolutionaries – False Ruler Dub; Kool Roots Dub (Pressure Sounds) ’79 Dub Album of the Hour

Set 7: Wailers Family Tree Jah-loween

• Peter Tosh – Oh Bumba Klaat; Wanted Dread & Alive (Rolling Stone) ’81
• The Wailers – Duppy Conqueror; Live 1973-1975 (Starucks) 11/23/73 Live at Leeds Polytechnic
• Bunny Wailer – Blackheart Man; Blackheart Man (Mango) ’76 even the lions fear him
• Peter Tosh – Jumbie Jamboree; The Toughest (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’64? Jumbie = ghost

Set 8: Mutant Dub

• Heavweight Dub Champion – Exorcism; Return of the Champion Nation (Champion Nation) 2009: Boulder, Collie-rado
• Alpha & Omega – Mystical Things; Mystical Things (BSI) 2001 UK trance dub
• Got to Move feat. Bim Sherman – Melting Pot pt. 2 (The Mix); King Size Dub Chapter 1 (Echo Beach) ’95
• Mungo’s Hi Fi feat. Pupajim – Boat People; Forward Ever (Scotch Bonnett) 2011 UK
• Weeding Dub feat. Humble-I – Sound of Reality; Sound of Reality (Control Tower) 2009 Fr. herb tune
• Thievery Corporation feat. Femi Kuti – Vampire; It Takes a Thief (ESL) 2010 Best of