Gavin B.

Nancy Reagan - Blue Riddim Band The most unlikely success in the history of the Reggae Sunsplash was the appearance of the Blue Riddim Band 5:45 in the morning on August 8 1982. It was unlikely because Blue Riddim Band was an all-white band from Kansas singing a song about Nancy Reagan. I was operating the video camera that was doing the pan shots of the crowd in this video and I was stunned at the enthusiastic reaction of the mostly all Jamaican crowd. Look closely at the crowd shots and you'll see an estatic Winston Rodney (aka Burning Spear) skanking away to the music. He was good friends with the band and was larely responsible for getting BRB as performers at Sunsplash.

I have the original single and dub version of the song which really smokes. The former members of BRB won't allow me to file share Nancy Reagan, but I can email an MP3 copy of it to anyone on the Music Banter Forum upon request. It's a seriously dread song.



No Vacancy - Sugar Minott Sugar Minott's populist cry for jobs in Jamaica was a monster hit in the island in 1982. No Vacancy refers to no job vacancies and it's a suffer's tale about humiliating state of poverty that exists on the island.

The lyrics are in the militant stylee and Sugar lays down the line with these lyrics:



Slave Market - Gregory Isaacs Soon Forward is a crucial album in the history of reggae music. It's 1979 and reggae was standing at the crossroads of roots conscious, dub and dancehall styles and this album pulled it all together into a collection of songs that stand up to the test of time. Slave Market is a sufferer's tale from that album and Gregory sings it with a winesome but firery vocal. Sly and Robbie do drum and bass with most of the Roots Radics on other instruments. Note Horsemouth Wallace's brilliant off riddim Niahbingi tribal style hand drumming on this cut. It was recorded at the Taxi studio and released the Virgin owned Frontline label in the UK and the USA.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt