100 Songs from the Golden Age of Reggae
 

I'm not including any music by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh or Bunny Wailer because the purpose of my list is to give thanks and praise to some of the musicians beyond the nexus of the original Wailers whom most reggae fans are already aquainted with.

From around 1975 until 1985 I was an avid collector of roots reggae, dancehall, dub and other reggae sub-genres like ska, rock steady and bluebeat. During that period I hosted a reggae music radio show in Boston and made several trips to Jamaica in which I'd filled an empty duffel bag with the lastest reggae 12" singles to play on my radio show.

I lost interest in contemporary Jamaican music in the mid-Eighies for several reasons:

• The rise of the slackness deejay style marked the decline of socially conscious reggae music. The phonomenal success of Yellowman's profane and sexualized content of his toasting had a big influence on hip-hop artists like KRS One, Tupac and Notorious Mr. B.I.G., but Yellow's misogynistic themes were hard to take for someone like me, who also listened to agit-prop post punk groups like Au Pairs, the Bush Tetras and the Gang of Four. The slackness style eclipsed the conscious toasters like U-Roy, Big Youth and I-Roy.

• The gunned up sleng-teng riddims coming out of Jamician dancehalls were replacing the off tempo, one drop drumset style which was the innovation of Carlton Barrett who defined the reggae drum riddim in the Upsetters (Barrett also played several years with the Wailers).

• The final straw for me was the introduction and subsequent overuse of the ubiquitous Casio synthesizer by reggae producers which made nearly every reggae tune sound like the latest Flock of Seagulls single. It spelled the end of the organic sound of roots reggae and since then reggae lost it's musical compass. Reggae music producers over the past 20 years, have used the pulverize cycle on the Cusinart blender to make reggae music sound like generic, pop oriented Worldbeat music.

I have a digital collection of nearly 10,000 reggae songs from the golden era of the Seventies and Eighties. Of those songs I rated about 700 songs (about 7%) as five star (*****) and over the next few weeks I'm going to post about a hundred of those songs. The songs I post will be in no order of importance or quality because they all have significance to me as great musical statements.

All of these songs are available on You Tube and if you have a You Tube Downloader you can easily convert the YouTube flash videos into MP3 files to listen to on your digital jukebox or portable digital music player. YouTube Downloader - Software to download and convert YouTube video




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Country Boy - the Heptones This is one of my favorite roots tunes in which the Heptones criticize a rude boy who grew up in bush country and moves to Trenchtown and gets himself in trouble by falling into the company of urban gunslingers and drug dealers. This is the original Channel One 1974 pressing of Country Boy is very hard to find and the most heartfelt version of the song that the Heptones recorded many times during their careeer.



African Blood - Congo Ashanti Roy I found this song on a 1994 collection of Bill Laswell produced reggae songs called On U-Sound Crash Mix. I don't know anything about the history of the song but Congo Ashanti Roy is half of the legendary Congos vocal duo along with Cedric Myton.



The Border - Gregory Isaacs Gregory is best known for his silky smooth renditions of lover's rock but throughout his careeer he wrote just as many sufferer's tales and roots conscious songs as love songs.

The Border is a sufferer's tale about a rastaman on the lam from the law. Gregory was writting from experience and he did more time in Jamaica's harsh General Penitentary than just about any other reggae singer.

This song was recorded sometime in the late Seventies and he's backed by the Revolutionaries a collection of various musicians that played as the Studio One house band, most notably Sly and Robbie. But Sly Dunbar isn't drumming on this cut... On the drum-kit for this session was Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace whose crisp, elegant, and riddimatically complex drumming makes him my favorite reggae drummer. The Tamlins are singing the sublime harmony parts on on the chorus of the song.

Great thread. Heptones are a fantastic band. When I have the time ill add some more to your list :)

The other day I got to see the Wailers perform an electric/accoustic set of Exodus! Also going to see 10 Ft Ganja Plant soon. Nothing better than a live show.

Rub A Dub Sound - Sugar Minott The hypnotic groove of Rub A Dub rocked dancehalls from Kingston to Sav La Mar in 1980. The muscular drum and bass of Sly and Robbie drives the riddim of this Sugar Minott song



Under Mi Sensi - Barrington Levy Like Rub A Dub Sound, Under Mi Sensi is a riff driven song with a mezmerizing drum and bass line. Recorded in 1984, Under Mi Sensi is one of the most sampled songs in the history of reggae. It's a killer riddim.




Peace and Love in the Ghetto - U-Roy - This the first single by a reggae toaster I ever purchased and it's still my favorite. It came out in 1977 under the imprint of the newly founded Virgin Frontline label which was founded by British air travel tycoon Richard Branson. There's a lot of Studio One players on the song. Horsemouth Wallace's distinctive drumming drives the riddim and it's a version of the popular Dennis Brown song, the Man Next Door which is sung by Ken Boothe and Judy Mowatt. You can find this song and 8 other smokin' toasts by U-Roy on Jah Son of Africa, perhaps the greatest deejay album ever to come out of Jamaica.

Hail Mi Idrin - Ina Kamoze - When I visited Jamaica in 1984 Ina Kamoze was being hailed as an inheritor of the roots conscious legacy of the the recently deceased Bob Marley. Ini recorded Hail Mi Idrin and about a dozen stellar tracks at Sonic Studios with Sly and Robbie. I love Kamoze's chilled out minimalist approach and the spacey dub sounds on the cut. Ini Kamoze never lived up to his early expectations but his first album the self titled Ina Kamoze is a reggae classic.



Dance In A Greenwich Farm- Cornell Campbell - Cornell Campbell was a big star in Jamaica but never broke through as an international star. His smooth falsetto voice reminds me a lot of Smokey Robinson. Dread In A Greenwich Farm is typical of of the the long string of hit records during his collaboration with producer Bunny Lee at King Tubby's studio in the Seventies. There about a two dozen Cornell Campbell songs from his Bunny Lee/King Tubby period that are seriously dread. You can hear those tracks and others on the 2 CD Natty Dread Anthology recently reissued on the indie label Sanctuary.



Gunman - Michael Prophet Gunman was Michael Prophet's commentary on the violence by gun and machete wielding possies who caused a great deal of violence leading into the 1980 Michael Manley vs. Edward Seaga presidential election. Michael Prophet wrote this song after a gang of gunmen rousted him out of bed one morning wanting to know who he was voting for in the presidential election. Most Rastafarians were supporters of Manley but as a group they steered away from the partisan fussing and fighting that dominated the Jamaican political world throughout the Seventies and early Eighties.

Uptown Ranking - Athena and Donna This song by a pair of female vocalists blew my mind when I first heard it in 1978. The Joe Gibbs production on the single bubbles along while Athena and Donna throw down their seriously dread lyrics. It's an amazing cut. I love the lyrics which I posted below the video.




Lyrics to Uptown Ranking
Make It Up - Junie Lodge Junie Lodge has been called the Diana Ross of Jamaica, but take my word for it, Junie is a whole lot better than Diana the diva. This song got a ton of dancehall play in 1980. Her winsome and elegant vocal on Make It Up established her as a major star in Jamaica in the Eighties.



Mi God Mi King - Papa Levi This is one of the fastest reggae toasts ever recorded. Shortly into the song Papa Levi starts rapping in double time and his blazing speed outclocks any rapper or toaster I've ever heard. It was recorded at Taxi Studios with Sly and Robbie in 1984. One day when I had nothing better to do I translated and wrote down the amazing lyrics to Mi God Mi King and they're provided below the embedded You Tube video below.



Lyrics to Mi God Mi King

Ganja Smuggling - Eek-A-Mouse The charismatic Eek-A-Mouse has a completely unique singing and deejay voice. A lot of his singing sounds sounds influenced by Middle Eastern musical modalities of singing. Ganja Smuggling was released in 1982 and was produced by Henry Lawes and mixed by King Tubby and Prince Jammy at King Tubby's Firehouse. The Roots Radics lay down the riddim track and it's Eek's own epic saga of working as herbs smuggler.



Government Land Horace Andy Government Land is Horace Andy's musical demand for land reform in Jamaica. It was a big hit for him in 1977. It was produced at Harry J.'s has an all-star studio group consisting of Jah Malla, Horsemouth Wallace, Leroy Sibbles, Michael Taylor, Andy Bassford, Privy Dread, Augustus Pablo, Bobby Kalphat, Bernard Touter Harvey, Tommy McCook, Don D. Junior, Charles Bashford, Dirty Harry, Scully Sims, Horace Hinds, and Sylvan Morris.

Horace has acheived international noteriety as one of the vocalists for the crossover trip hop and dub group, Massive Attack. Horace sings lead such Massive Attacks songs as Spying Glass, Man Next Door, and One Love.



A Song- Pablo Moses A Song was recorded in Jamaica using the island's finest session players and then remixed in London in 1980. It comes from an album with the same title and it established a cult following for Pablo Moses in Europe, South American, Canada and the USA. He backed off the reggae scene for several years but he's begun to tour again in Europe, Africa and South America where he draws large crowds. Pablo maintains a frenquently updated page at My Space with great jukebox of his tunes.

This is not the original version of A Song but a "live-studio" version recorded a few years ago. I've never seen the album A Song either in compact disc or digital music file form, probably because the original master tapes are lost or destroyed. If you ever come across it let me know and I will pay you a hefty finder's fee for the entire album. My vinyl copy got worn out about 20 years ago.

Gavin B you are awesome. Keep it rollin.

UK Ska Hits


Carry Go Bring Come - Justin Hines and the Dominoes Justin Hinds and the Domino's Jamaican smash Carry Go Bring Come mashed up sound systems in the UK way back in 1964 and may be the earliest song with a Rastafarian message. Hinds has recorded the song dozens of times and it is one of the foundation songs of ska.



Red Red Wine - Tony Tribe The original of Red Red Wine by Tony Tribe was played at a much faster tempo than the UB40 version. It was another UK ska hit that got a lot of play in UK dancehalls during the first wave of ska.



Pressure Drop - Toots and the Maytals Another early ska hit that folks in the UK are probably already familiar with. This version is a beautifully restored and resmatered version of the 1972 original single.

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.

Awesome thread. Two great threads regarding Reggae on MB. Essential learning!

Lazer Beam - Don Carlos - Lazer Beam came out of a 1983 session produced by Bunny Lee with the Aggrovators and Sly and Robbie playing the riddim track. Don Carlos founded the stellar reggae group Black Uhuru in 1974 and left the band after one single to perform with a band called Gold. The 12 tracks recorded from the Bunny Lee sessions were the best work Don Carlos recorded in his post Black Uhuru years primarily because of Bunny Lee's minimalist dubwise production values.



War - Wailing Souls War was the Wailing Souls' 1976 epistle against violence in the Jamaican national elections. "War in the East, war in the West, rumors of war." Rumors swirled through the streets insisting the guns were supplied by the CIA, a charge later confirmed by numerous witnesses. As the carnage rose, fears grew of a U.S.-sponsored coup. That was untrue, but with the fall of the Allende's government in Chile still fresh in people's minds, the fear was real, and the violence seemingly unstoppable.

"War only bring destruction," the trio insisted, and so it proved. By the time the PNP swept the elections in December, over 100 Jamaicans lay dead, and much of the inner city ghetto had turned to ashes. Beyond the island, too, havoc reigned. 1976 was a blood strewn year, and the Souls also refer specifically to the terror raging in Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe).

This is the original 12" single of War with dub. The toaster sounds uncannily like U-Roy but in reality it was a 16 year old protege of U-Roy's named Ranking Trevor (Trevor Grant). Trevor was was a major force in the sound systems on both sides of the Atlantic during the roots age. Most of his recordings remain infuriatingly out of print, and his singles and albums, now with hefty price tags attached, are much sought after by collectors.



Police in Helicopter - John Holt is a militant anthem in response to the crackdown on herbs cultivation by the Jamaican police and the CIA in the early Eighties. In 1983 the Reagan CIA used crop dusters to spray the defoliant paraquat with crop dusters to kill the defoliate the marijuana crop. It caused a great deal of hardship on the island. The paraquat spraying was not only killing herbs crop, but killing the bread fruit, bananna and coconut harvest which are staples of a poor person's diet in Jamaica. I was in St. Ann's parish that year and personally witnessed the damage the paraquat spraying did to the food supply in the hills. You never heard about the epidemic of starvation in the bush and the hills of Jamaica because of the Reagan era paraquat spraying policy.

Police In Helipcopter was the ubiquitous song of the moment in Jamaican that year. Holt's defiant tone, threatening, "If you continue to burn up the herbs, we're going to burn down the cane fields." was an invocation of the Maroon rebellions in the days of slavery. Runaway outlaw slaves often returned at night to burn the fields of their British masters just before the sugar cane harvest during the Maroon rebellion.

It was produced by Henry Junjo Laws and the Roots Radics are the session band.

I started the thread unaware of your fantasic thread of reggae albums with Bulldog and my intention was simply to share some of the songs that meant a lot to me during the golden age of roots reggae. Maybe this will create an new interest in the roots reggae style which has always been my first musical love.

Some of the most signifcant trends in contemporary mainstream pop were reggae innovations including the dancehall sound system, dub, and track remixing.

Most importantly, there would be no rap music today without U-Roy, Big Youth and the other Jamaican deejays exported the practice of toasting to the hip hop scene in the Bronx and Brooklyn in the Seventies. One of the reasons I've never been terribly fond of rap music is that U-Roy was rapping a long time before Kurtis Blow, the Furious Five or Run DMC.

U-Roy had better lyrics and a more refined delivery than any rapper. Theew are only two only American hip hop groups that come close to the political consciousness and lyrical sophistication of the original Jamaican toasters and dub poets were Arrested Development and Digable Planets.

Eminem for all of his supposed lyrical and rapping talents would be blown away by old school Jamaican toasters like U-Roy, Papa Levi or Charlie Chaplin in a rap throw-down.

The Music of Culture

Culture has always been my favorite reggae band. Part of my love of Culture had to do with my friendship with Joesph Hill, the charismatic singer and songwriter for the group.

I first met Joseph in 1982 when I hosted a dinner for the Culture and the Roots Radics during an east coast tour in support of their newly released album on the St. Louis based Nighthawk Records. After that dinner and rambunctious game of soccer in the park across the street, Joesph was distraught about not having a suitcase to carry all of his albums he purchased in the USA back to Jamaica. I gave him one of my cheap pieces of luggage and from that point on Joseph called me the Suitcase Man and that became my permanent street name whenever we visited.

Culture's material was devoted almost exclusively to spiritual, social, and political messages, and Hill delivered them with a fervent intensity that grouped him with Rastafarian militants like Burning Spear and Black Uhuru. Off stage Joseph was quiet and diminutive man who only stood about 5' 6" tall but his stage personnae transformed him into a towering lion of Rastafari.

Over the years he'd visit me at home or the radio station whenever he was on tour and I visited him at his family home at Linestead in St. Catherine Parish in Jamaica. Joseph was generous with his time and despite his devout Rastafarianism had a wicked sense of humor. Joseph was always gracious to my friends and taught me much a about life and music. Through Joseph I met the Itals, Albert Griffiths and the Gladiators and the Tamlins who also became vistors to my home and my reggqae radio show in Boston whenever they were touring the East Coast. I was heartbroken when Joseph collapsed on stage in Berlin and died unexpectedly in August 2006.

Dem A Payaka - Culture The anthem on behalf of the youths was produced Sylvian Morris at Harry J.'s studio with the Roots Radics providing the riddims It. is one of my favorite Culture tunes. The lyrics on on the YouTube screen. It was released on that Nighthawk collection called Calling Rastafari in 1982.



This Time - Culture This Time came out of the same Harry J./Roots Radics session and in another cry for justice on behalf of the youths of the ghetto.

Some of the lyrics:


International Herb - Culture Culture's joyful ode to the use of the herbs. Virgin's original 1979 LP version of International Herb generated some controversy thanks to its front cover, which showed Culture's members smoking large spliffs while standing in front of a tall, bushy marijuana plant. Marijuana advocates loved the cover, marijuana opponents hated it.

I only have a Peel Session as far as Culture goes but i've played it to death, this serves as a reminder!

Culture was a prolific group with many good albums. In the two year span of 1978 and 1979, Culture released five different albums all of which are considered reggae classics:

• Baldhead Bridge (1978)
• Harder Than the Rest (1978)
• Two Sevens Clash (1978)
• Columbo (1979)
• International Herbs (1979)

Three Early Eighties Monster Hits from Henry "Junjo" Lawes and the Roots Radics

Henry "Junjo" Lawes had no studio of his own but usually worked out of Channel One Recording Studio at Maxfield Avenue, north of Spanish Town Road. His session band of choice was the Roots Radics. Lawes is important because he established himself as the leading producer of the next generation's dancehall sound. He discovered and first recorded Barrington Levy, Frankie Paul and Eek-A-Mouse.

During the early Eighties Junjo produced such smash hits as Diseases by Michigan and Smiley, Wa Do Dem by Eek A Mouse, Water Pumping by Johnny Osbourne, Under Mi Sensi by Barrington Levy, Rocking Dolly by Cocoa Tea, Ram Jam Dancehall by Charlie Chaplin, Zungguzunggugguzungguzeng by Yellow Man and the Wailing Soul's classic lp Firehouse Rock. No producer in the history of reggae was as attuned to the sound of the street and voices of the youths as Junjo.


Pass the Tu Sheng Peng - Frankie Paul Another monster hit in 1984 from producer Henry Junjo Lawes. The hook on this one was the brass arrangement of Norweigan Wood to counterpoint the bubbin' riddims of the Roots Radics.




Please Jah Jah - Barrington Levy Barrington Levy is letting loose with the bounciest sufferer's song around. It's Friday, but he didn't get paid, he ends up in jail, and didn't get no bail, no wonder he's crying out to Jah for justice. The Radics fiery backing perfectly complement the singer's aggrieved tones, as he wails over his misfortune, shouting out to Jah for relief. A classic.



Prison Oval Rock - Barrington Levy This song came from the same session as Please Jah Jah and was another smash hit. On all three songs you can hear the emerging trademark dancehall style as it was being perfected by Junjo and the Roots Radics... The bubblin' percision of the Radics, the use of reverb on vocals, one-drop rim shots from drummer Style Scott, and the use of dubwise mixing board techniques. The Radics also did double duty as Gregory Isaac's studio and touring band.

Three Hits from Lee Scratch Perry's Black Ark

Life Is Not Easy - Meditations This is the original 10 minute dub single of Life Is Not Easy that was a big hit for the Meditations in 1978. The dub plate version includes a special appearance by the legenday Black Ark cow. The video opens up with of a joyful Perry at the sound board during the session. Lee always worked the board standing up and dancing.




Fisherman - Congos From the masterpiece album 1978 Heart of the Congos which many reggae enthusiasts consider the best roots reggae album that ever came out of the Black Ark Studios. The duo of Cedric Myton and Roy "Ashanti" Johnson had a unique sound, revolving around the former man's crystalline falsetto, which was set off by the latter's rich tenor. The mighty Meditations provide the background vocals on the track. The video has amazing footage of a community fishing event that looks like it was filmed around Negril.



Beat Down Babylon - Junior Byles This 1972 smash hit complete with Perry's use of the bullwhip effect was a crucial song in the forthcoming dub revolution. It's the first Lee Perry production I ever heard and it blew me away. Sorry about the sound quality but it's this vinyl to digital master was the only copy of Beat Down Babylon on YouTube.

Dread Ina Englan- the UK Scene

Two Sevens Clash is lovely, it's not hitting me as hard as the Aswad and Burning Spear albums i've been listening to lately but there's some low key loveliness there certainly. Title track is still a tune.

Dread Ina Inglan Part I - The Dub Poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson]

Inglan Is A Bitch - Linton Kwesi Johnson LKJ recital of Inglan Is A Bitch without music.



Inglan Is A Bitch - Linton Kwesi Johnson The studio performance of Ingland Is a Bitch with the magnificent Dub Band headed by Dennis Bovell. Swear to jah... the Dub Band was the best live reggae band I've ever heard. I deejayed an appearence of LKJ and the Dub Band and Gil Scott Heron at a Boston club in 1984 and it was the best concert I ever attended. I've transcribed the lyrics to Inglan Is A Bitch beneath the YouTube embed.



Mi Want Fe Goh Rave - Linton Kwesi Johnson A great live performance of Mi Want Fe Goh Rave by LKJ and the Dub Band. This video gives you a good picture of the power and precision of the Dub Band's playing. The are all expert players bringing elements of funk, jazz and blues to the reggae riddims of LKJ's dub poetry. Dennis Bovell is the bass player with the kerchief on his head.

I transcribed the lyrics to Mi Want Fe Go Rave below the YouTube embed.

FANTASTIC thread. I subscribed to follow this one. Thanks.

Harder Than the Rest has more of an edge. Two Sevens Clash is a mellower album but really does capture the essence of reggae music and the Rastafarian message better than any other album of the late Seventies. At the time of it's release it was a breath of fresh air into the reggae scene in Jamaica because it was optimistic opposed to the fire, brimstone and apocalyptic sermons of earlier Rastafarian musicians. Culture grew into a harder edged band with Columbo and Harder Than the Rest.

Tenement Yard - Jacob Miller Jacob Miller's 1978 debut solo album Dread Dread was United Artists first attempt to sell reggae music to a crossover audience. Oddly enough the cut Tenament Yard and the other cuts on Dread Dread were actually Jamaican hits by Inner Circle, the band Miller sang for. United Artists released the Inner Circle material as a solo album by Miller, causing chaos for future reggae music archivists.




Sweet Sensation - Melodians This is an 1969 ska hit by the Melodians produced by Leslie Kong. The Melodians successfully reinvented themselves as a reggae group and recorded By the Rivers of Babylon, perhaps the most covered song in reggae history.



Country Living - The Mighty Diamonds "City life is not for me," lead vocalist Donald "Tabby" Shaw insists. "I'm going back to country living." And so the Mighty Diamonds bid farewell to Kingston and head off to where the skies can be seen. The backing Revolutionaries seem eager to accompany them on their way. Sly & Robbie lay down a toe-tapping rhythm that sets the piece jauntily on its way while the rest of the group keeps the melody bouncing gaily along.

The trio gives this cover of a Stylistics's song heart and soul, producer JoJo Hookim keeps it clean and bright, and "Country Living" found much of Jamaica wishing for a return to country life. This early single was released in Jamaica around 1975, and even though the Mighty Diamonds inked a deal with Virgin around this same time, it wasn't until 1977 that it appeared in the U.K. and the USA.

Dread Is Not Dead - Three Post Millenium Reggae Stars

Cold Feet - Anthony B. Anthony B. is proof that dread is not dead in reggae music and launched his career with a single that covered a Tracy Chapman's song, Cold Feet, a sufferer's tale about the hazards of the gunman lifestyle. Lyrics are below the YouTube embed.




Cold Feet - Music and Lyrics by Tracy Chapman as Sung by Anthony B.

Ooohhhoohhh
M-16, AK-47, pump rifle, desert eagle
All home made one to

Dem a walk wid gun in the hand and a run the town
All in front ah station man ah shot man down
Dem a walk wid gun in the hand and a run the town
All in front ah station man ah shot man down
'Cause they've got
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet

There was a little boy
Once upon a time
Who inspite his young age
Small size knew his mind
For every copper penny and clothes he would find
Making wish for better days
And for all time for no more

Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet
2x

He grew up to be a worker
Determined to succeed
Made a life for himself
Free from worry wants and needs
With nobody to share his life with
With nobody to keep him warm
At night when he go to sleep
He sleep alone with his

Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet

He struggled all his life just to be an honest man
Proud of the dirt in his palm the soil of the land
Some guys I knew from my school days
Said they had a plan
To get rich too quick
They had to bound to me, Lawd

Dem a walk wid gun in the hand and a run the town
All in front ah station man ah shot man down
Dem a walk wid gun in the hand and a run the town
All in front ah station man ah shot man down
'Cause they've got
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet

He decided to drive a car
He decided to carry a gun
To take the biggest risk of all
Prove his loyalty to his friends
He decided to tell his wife things would soon turn around
Said a little boy is dead
A man stand wid him now, Lawd

Dem a walk wid gun in the hand and a run the town
All in front ah station man ah shot man down
Dem a walk wid gun in the hand and a run the town
All in front ah station man ah shot man down
'Cause they've got
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet

He didn't stop to set his clock right
He didn't stop to set his watch
He left in such a hurry
He didn't think to wish for luck
Makes no difference if you're early
No difference if you're late
Once you're out of time
And the flowers have been laid
You're six feet underground with your
Cold feet, cold, cold, cold, cold feet


Barack Obama by Cocoa Tea Cocoa Tea had a monster international hit his 2008 dreadwise tribute to Barack Obama. Various video versions of the the song went viral on the internet and got millions of YouTube hits during the 2008 election campaign in the USA. Anyone can run for president of the United States but Barack Obama is first candidate to have his own reggae tribute song.



No More My Love- Culver City Dub Collective [Cut to 2008] .. out in LA, the Culver City Dub Collective a group of skateboard slackers and reggae culturalists began producing their own homemade dub records and videos. CCDC's first album Dos sparked a wave interest in roots reggae and dub out there in LaLa Land.

There is a touch of post-modern irony in their music but I've seen CCDC live and deh are de real ting, mi bredren. The song remains the same.

Winston Rodney- aka Burning Spear, the Elder Statesman

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...ningSpear9.jpg

Carrying the torch for the gospel of Marcus Garvey, Burning Spear is one of the single greatest proponents of self-determination and self-reliance for all African descendants, but his message is not exclusively based on the teachings of Garvey. Through his music, Burning Spear has consistently been able to educate, inform, and uplift people the world over with his positive message based on honesty, peace, and love.

Down the Riverside - Burning Spear This 1977 album by Spear is still my favorite. Burning Spear's sound is called "churchical" in Jamaica, because because a lot of it comes from gospel music.



Days of Slavery - Burning Spear I never went to a Spear concert where he left the stage without singing this classic song from Marcus Garvey. It has a hynotic groove. This is an updated version of the song Spear recently recorded.



Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear This is another re-recording of a song from his classic Marcus Garvey album. I chose these newer sessions because I'm sure most reggae fans have heard the originals and these sessions show that Spear is capable at age 62 of pouring the same amount of passion into the songs he wrote while he was still in his twenties.

A Dub Lesson from the Mad Professor

Mad Professor was a second generation dubmaster who was a protegee of Lee "Scratch" Perry. The Professor is credited with bringing dub music to the alternative music scene when he remixed the entire Blue Lines album for Massive Attack. from the All Music Guide

Below is a dub lesson for the master himself, the Mad Professor:



Tribal War Dub - Mad Professor Tribal War Dub is an early dub standard produced in 1977.



Roots and Culture- Mikey Dread Jamaican ex-partiate now a UK producer Mikey Dread is known primarily for his work with the Clash. You can hear Dread's work on the sublime collection Black Market Clash released by the Clash in 1980. Roots and Culture is from Dread's first big mainstream album release Pave the Way. Among the session player are Rico Rodriguez, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Flabba Holt, Ashante Roy, and the Clash's Paul Simonon. In 1979 before moving to London, Mikey produced Dread at the Controls a crucial roots dub album that was influential in Jamaica.




Scientist Ganja Dub - Scientist Overton Brown, like Neal Frazer, was also child prodigy at fixing electronic gadgets and King Tubby originally hired to keep his massive sound system up and running. King Tubby was so impressed with Overton's knowledge of electronics he dubbed him Scientist and gave him his first shot at the mixing board at age 16. Scientist Ganja Dub was a massive hit for Scientist in the late Seventies and is one of the most frequently sampled songs in reggae music history.

I'm at song number 48 which is close to half-way down my list of 100 songs from the golden age of reggae. I'm going to take a few days off to compile the second half of my list. I've got some very rare old vinyl cuts that I've converted into digital files and need to upload to YouTube which is a slow and arduous process. Fear not I shall return with even more and better smash hits from the reggae's golden era.

The Hearbeat Riddim: One Drop & Nyahbingi Style Drumming

Leroy Horsemouth Wallace demostrates drumming ina one-drop reggae style. Notice his use of the high hat and off riddm rimshots to the snare.



Lee Perry produced session with Ras Michael gives you a feel for the African style Nyahbinhi tribal drumming used by many roots reggae bands.



Larry McDonald is the premier session percussionist in Jamaica. Larry talks about his development as a percussionist and demonstrates an array of hand drums and percussion instruments.

This thread is the shit. If this carries on, it deserves to be in the editor's pick.

I think it deserves it already.

Sorry for not replying much Gavin B, it is mainly because I have been reading and searching for some of these albums.

Babylon Is Falling - The Music of Steel Pulse

David Hinds on the origins of the Steel Pulse name: Steel Pulse initially had difficulty finding live gigs, as club owners were reluctant to give them a platform for their "subversive" Rastafarian politics. Luckily, the punk movement was opening up new avenues for music all over Britain, and also finding a spiritual kinship with protest reggae. Thus, the group wound up as an opening act for punk and new wave bands like the Clash, the Stranglers, Generation X, the Police, and XTC, and built a broad-based audience in the process. Steel Pulse's biggest break was being designated as the supporting band for Bob Marley's European tour in 1978. The twelve-date tour included sold-out concerts in Paris, Ibiza, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Oslo, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Brussels and kicked off with an outdoor festival at the New Bingley Hall in Stafford (Marley later released an album culled from some of the live shows, Babylon By Bus.) David Hinds recalls:Handsworth Revolution - Steel Pulse - Handsworth refers to the Handsworth district of Birmingham England which is the home of Steel Pulse. The 1978 album of the same name rocketed Steel Pulse to global noteriety as a band.



Ku Klux Klan - Steel Pulse Steel Pulse's first single for Island Records was the classic "Ku Klux Klan," which happened to lend itself well to the band's highly visual, costume-heavy concerts. I saw Steel Pulse in London, New York and Boston in 1980 and the band was at the peak of their power as a live band. This clip of Steel Pulse playing "Ku Klux Klan" live at the Rainbow Theatre London, England September 18th, 1980 captures that energy. This was also included in the film Urgh! A Music War.



Babylon Makes the Rules - Steel Pulse Big hit in 1979, this music used to play on a lot of sound systems, classic tune, listen to the lyrics and see how the system run.

Mutabaruka - The Dub Poet Laureate

Mutabaruka is the nightmare of every white, middle class, god fearing Christian. Muta has a larger than life, confrontational personae even when he's off stage. In 1984 I was assigned by the Channel Club to be Muta's driver for his one night appearance at the Channel in Boston.

It was his first appearance in the United States and Muta came off the Air Jamaica flight at Logan Airport, wearing Rastafarian robes and was barefoot. He certainly turned a lot of heads as we walked from the terminal to my car in the parking garage. I'm still not sure how Muta ever got onto an international flight without any shoes.

As I drove him from the airport to his hotel destination in Cambridge, between Central Square and Harvard Sqaure, a Cambridge cop began following us, and at the bottom of Dunster Street he pulled me over for running a stop sign. The only problem was that there was no stop sign at the intersection and Muta proceded to get into a heated argument with the cop on my behalf to keep the cop from issuing me a ticket.

A crowd of Harvard students began to gather around the scene and soon it turned into a bit of a protest spectacle led by Muta. The cop radioed the station house and reinforcements and a German shephard attack dog were used to disperse the mob of about 50 Harvard students.

The upshot of the story was that Muta spent his first night in the USA in jail on peace disturbance charges and I ended up bailing him out at 8 am the next morning, using the services of my own personal attorney, who couldn't figure out what the hell was going on with this dreadlocked wild man who dressed in robes and wore no shoes. Meanwhile the cops at the station house were acted as if they captured the black version of the Unabomber and had plastered copies of the Mutabaruka concert posters they confiscated from my car all over the station house like trophies.

The fact that Mutabaruka exists is a crime in the mind of a lot of white folks and Muta was never reluctant to point out that grim reality to his audiences, and encourge them to confront the racism of Babylon.

Dis Poem - Mutabaruka Muta performs Dis Poem on Def Jam Poetry.




Johnny Drughead - Mutabaruka Johnny Drughead is an update of the classic reggae song Johnny Too Bad in which Johnny moves from Jamaica to NYC and falls into drug traffiking.

Ina R & B Style- Jimmy and Tarras Riley

Jimmy Riley and his son Tarrus Riley have both had successful solo careeers but frequently appear and record as a duo in Jamaica. Jimmy and Tarrus rocked Sunsplash 2008 with a take no prisoners performance.

Jimmy Riley was born Martin James Norman Riley on May 22, 1954 in Jones Town, Jamaica. His first success came as a member of The Sensations (with Cornell Campbell, Aaron "Bobby" Davis, and his older brother, Buster Riley), who recorded such hits as "Everyday Is Just a Holiday" for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label in the mid-1960s. Riley was just ten years old when he began performing with the Sensations.

Riley left the Sensations in 1967 and as a solo singer and writer, Riley worked with a host of Jamaican producers, including Bunny Lee and Lee "Scratch" Perry, before settling in with Sly and Robbie.

Jimmy was deeply influenced by the music of American R&B singers like Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield and Sam Cooke.

Sexual Healing - Jimmy Riley This stunning cover of Marvin G*ye's tune rocked the dancehalls in 1981 and shows Jimmy's affinity for American R&B.



My Woman's Love - Jimmy Riley My Woman's Love was a little known Curtis Mayfield song that Jimmy transformed into a big hit in Jamaica in 1980. It was recorded at Taxi Studio at a time when Sly and Robbie were refining their bottom heavy sledgehammer drum and bass style that became the signature sound of Black Uhuru.



One of the most promising of the second generation of Jamaica roots reggae singers, Tarrus Riley is the son of Jimmy Riley. Like his father, Riley has a sweet, nuanced tenor vocal style, although his first connection with the Jamaican music scene was as a DJ (under the name Taurus). Riley taught himself to play keyboards and several percussion instruments and began writing his own songs, many of which had strong Rastafarian and consciousness-leaning themes. She's Royal is a 2007 single release by Tarras.

She's Royal - Tarras Riley

Three Dancehall Killer Hits

Billie Jean- Shinehead This version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean complete with Ennio Morricone style whistling was a big dancehall hit in 1984. Shinehead (Edmund Carl Aiken) was normally a sound system deejay and toaster but he sounded eerily like the King of Pop on this Jackson tribute. Whether Shinehead was toasting or crooning or flat-out rapping, he always balanced his material between the positive and socially conscious with more lighthearted sentiments. Shinehead was born in London of Jamaican parents and moved to Brooklyn as a youth. He got his start by performing at New York sound systems events in the early '80s. His cover of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," truly got his career rolling. Shinehead currently divides his time living in both and NYC and Jamaica.



Roll It Gal - Allison Hinds Alison Hinds is from Barbados and currently lives in London. She is currently the top ranking female singer all over the Caribbean, including Jamaica. Alison sings a rasta conciouness blend of soca and reggae. She is taking soca places it had never been before and has major record labels in both the UK and the USA interested. Her first solo track, the empowering woman anthem Roll It Gal, appeared in 2005 and topped the charts in Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica.



Murderer- Barrington Levy Murderer first appeared on the Jamaican issued showcase album, Barrington Levy Meets Frankie Paul which I purchased in 1984. Strangely enough, the song didn't receive much attention early on, but when I visited Jamaica two years later, in 1986, in was a wall-to-wall smash hit on every sound system from Mo Bay to Kingston. Barrington Levy Meets Frankie Paul was culled from sessions produced by Henry Junjo Lawes and nearly every track on the lp became a monster hit in JA over the next couple of years. The album is currently out of print and has never been issued in cd form.

Three Sufferer's Tales

Babylon - Sugar Minott Babylon is an early dancehall hit recorded by Sugar in his early days at Channel One. Babylon never made it onto any of his studio albums (at least not in the USA). It's a killer cut ina dance hall stylee. The backing band sounds a lot like the Roots Radics and I don't know who produced it because there were no log sheets on the session.



Peeni Walli - Eek A Mouse This 1984 single is a comical suffer's tale written by Eek about his crash with a motorcycle when he was riding his bike one day. Peeni walli is Jamaican patios for a firefly. The lyrics are quite imaginative:


G.P. - Gregory Isaacs G.P. is shorthand for General Penitentiary, Jamaica's principal maximum security prison, located in downtown Kingston near the harbor. Gregory was no stranger to G.P., having done time for both herbs smuggling and possession of illegal firearms. In fact Gregory's career was seriously affected by his periodical stints in G.P. His first stint came at just as his music was breaking through in the USA and the UK but he was incarcerated and couldn't tour.

After that Gregory spent a couple years unable to tour outside of Jamaica because of his undesirable status with both US and UK immigration. When I finally saw him live in the USA, it was 1985 and US Department of Immigration would only allow him a three day tourist visa which precluded any serious touring outside of gigs in Boston, New York and a few other Eastern Seaboard cities of the USA. It was sad because when Gregory could finally tour without any kind of travel constraints, his fleeting moment as a cultural zeitgeist of reggae music had passed.

Very nice post about probably my favourite reggae outfit. Top, top band - I remember hearing Ku Klux Klan on a CD that came free with a copy of Mojo a good 4 or 5 years ago which turned me onto them. I'd recommend them to anyone really, what with that very polished studio sound they tend to go for which makes it all a bit more accessible to non-reggae followers like our good selves.

I think I've said this before, but top thread as well. Fully deserving of the Editor's Pick in my opinion.

Ina 2 Tone Style

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Jerry Dammers of the ska revival band The Specials started the short lived but iconic 2 Tone record label in 1979. It spawned a cultural movement, which was popular among skinheads, rudies and some mod revivalists. The label stopped operating in 1986. In the first year of it’s operation, 2 Tone Records signed The Selecter, Madness and The Beat, but they all left within two years. 2 Tone Records acts signed a contract that allowed them to leave the label after releasing just one single, which was unusual in the record industry. Madness and The Beat both took advantage of this clause; the former to sign to Stiff Records, and the latter to start their own label, Go Feet Records.

Most of the 2 Tone bands were racially mixed and played a big role in a UK ska revival and the renewed interest in rock steady, blue beat, and roots reggae music in England. Many white band members were products the early punk scene in England which always had a symbiotic relationship with reggae music. When I visited London in 1980, I was amazed the amount of cultural overlap between the post punk movement and the reggae music scene in England.

The reason why 2 Tone became more than just a curious footnote to reggae music history was because the 2 Tone bands delivered the musical goods as live bands and the influence 2nd wave ska revival has remained significant, 30 years after the fact.

I was a skeptic when I first got wind of a ska music revival in England on the post-punk club scene. When I saw the Specials, the Beat, Selector and Madness play live shows in both London and New York I became a believer. In many ways each 2 Tone band played so well that any question of racial authenticity became a moot point.

The distinctive Walt Jabsco/Jerry Dammers designed 2 Tone logo portrays a man in a black suit, white shirt, black tie, pork pie hat, white socks and black loafers. The fictional character was based on a photograph of Peter Tosh, during his rude boy days with the early Wailers.

2 Tone had two good years as a social movement and nearly all the first wave revival bands broke up by 1983, but the ska music refuses to die.

Rankin' Full Stop/Big Shot - The Beat The twin towers of the Beat were toaster Ranking Roger and Saxa. Ranking Roger was a nimble and imaginative black toaster in the JA style who came up through the punk club scene and Saxa was a 50 year old veteran of the Jamaican ska scene who played with both the Desmond Dekker band and Prince Buster. The multiracial band carved a distinct sound through the use of alternating lead vocals by guitarist Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, supported by a tight band consisting of Andy Cox (guitar), David Steele (bass), and Everett Moreton (drums). The Beat was an awesome live band at the time of their debut album but Saxa departed due to the Beat's rigorous touring schedule. I Just Can't Stop It was the most musically accomplished album of the ska revival and nearly 30 years later the album remains a timeless masterpiece of punky reggae.



Too Much Pressure - The Selecter The Selecter didn't achieve as much notoriety as other 2 Tone bands during ska revival of the early '80s. The Selecter recorded one of the finest albums of 2nd wave ska revival and deserved better than they got. The Selecter's biggest musical asset was lead singer Pauline Black, arguably the best lead singer of the ska revival. The members of the Selecter hailed from Coventry which was also the home of the Specials. Selecter is the Jamaican term for the deejay who selects the records played by a sound system at a dance hall event.



One Step Beyond -Madness The Madness recording of One Step Beyond takes the Prince Buster ska classic one step beyond the musical anarchy of the Prince's original. Madness reinvented themselves as a conventional rock band and had a fair amount of success in the USA, later in the decade. The best songs of Madness contained a great deal witty commentary on British working class life like the Kinks, Squeeze and XTC.



Monkey Man- The Specials Without Jerry Dammers and the Special there would have never been a 2 Tone Records nor a ska revival in the UK. Their live shows were frenetic and anarchic, often ending with the half the audience dancing on the stage with the band. The Dammers-designed logos, based in '60s pop art with black and white checks, gave the label an instantly identifiable look. Dammers' eye for detail and authenticity also led to the band adopting '60s-period rude-boy outfits (porkpie hats, tonic and mohair suits, and loafers). This cover of the Maytal's Monkey Man appeared on their Elvis Costello produced debut album.

Ah, good old 2 Tone! Great to see them get a mention around here - they were responsible for funding some truly brilliant music. The Specials' eponymous debut and Madness' Absolutely (which I might just listen to again now - cheers for the reminder!) are a couple of my favourite albums. The Selecter were terrific too - I've got a best of lying around the house somewhere. As for the Beat, I've heard the name but never more than that. I'll have to change that soon.

Dunno about anyone else, but I was massively disappointed with the Trojan 2 Tone box-set - just a bunch of live songs from the same 4 or 5 bands over the usual 50 tracks. Bit of a let-down then.

Ah yes, now that you mention it, I've heard Stand Down Margaret before. I Just Can't Stop It eh? I'll have a look for it tomorrow - cheers for the rec.