Listen: Natty B.Sc. / Dillinger
Natty B.Sc. / Dillinger
Amongst the wave of deejay toasters who rose to prominence during the mid 70′s, Dillinger went global with single ‘Cokane In My Brain’. In fact, that record is a bigger calling card for reggae meeting punk than the media gives credit to. It was everywhere, and still is. ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ my foot. It was all about drugs. Those mainstream media anthems, like The Clash faking their way through ‘Police & Thieves’, had nothing on Peter Tosh ‘Legalize It’ or ‘Cokane In My Brain’.
In seemingly no time at all, ‘Marijuana In My Brain’ was released as a 7″ by a competing label. Good move, it would appear a logical followup to an unsuspecting public. Problem being the single wasn’t great. The hoax failed.
Even at the time, Dillinger had released half a dozen albums on as many labels in the Jamaican market, so UK record companies in search of all things reggae had, as with loads of acts, plenty to pick from when licensing product for Britain. To date in fact, Dillinger has released some thirty albums worldwide.
But the real followup single was ‘Natty B.Sc.’, this time on the Black Swan label, then an Island subsidiary. Born Lester Bullock but christened Dillinger by Lee Perry, the connection to Black Swan makes some sense. Scratch didn’t produce any of his Island/Black Swan output, but had indeed been the first to take him into the studio for ‘Ready Natty Dreadie’ in ’75.
Listen: Buckingham Palace / Dillinger
Buckingham Palace / Dillinger
The favored side of WIP 6380 was by far ‘Buckingham Palace’, one of the very best tracks from CB 200. A perfect representation of the hard, political sound we all loved back then. Everyone did. Man, this stuff sound great when cranked up late at night. A precursor to LKJ even.
Tags: Black Swan, Dillinger, Island, Lee Perry, Linton Kwesi Johnson