Posts Tagged ‘Island’
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Listen: The Cisco Kid / War WarCisco.mp3
Today is the first full day of spring, according to my neighbor who knows all these things. Actually it started yesterday at around 1:15, so that didn’t count. Whatever. When it’s about 70°, no humidity with clear blue skies, and I find myself digging through boxes of doubles stockpiled for some 15 years back out in the garage, I know it’s spring. It’s the first thing I do, having itched to get at something or other all winter – and that’s exactly how yesterday was spent. The place is actually a scene from that new TV show about hoarding, the latest condition a doctor will give you tablets for. Corinne went in to get something, and being her first time for a couple of years, and just flipped out on me. So I needed to do some shuffling around anyways.
Brought one of those portable suitcase record players out with me. I bought this one for a steep $20 sometime in the late 80′s when those two parking lots on 6th Ave and 26th St had the weekly junk sales, dealers of everything covering the two spaces. I got into a habit of getting there at dawn, and found records even I can’t believe. One time, I got it into my head I needed a wlp of The Faces debut on Warner Brothers, and found it that very day. Like I willed it to be there. True story.
The player still works, perfectly in fact. It’s one of my favorite pieces, complete with interchangeable 45 adapter spindle. So off I go to the garage to dig and spin. First box, first handful, I find a copy of ‘Cisco Kid’. I’d forgotten Island UK licensed their catalog off Jerry Goldstein around ’75, and proceeded to be his English outlet for War, although quite why United Artists there didn’t hold on to his Far Out Productions was probably a mistake in hindsight.
I freaking love ‘Cisco Kid’. It reminds me of April ’73, when I took my pal and college radio rep for United Artisits in LA, Rich Fazekas, up on his offer to come on out and visit Easter week. The Pretty Things were making their US debut at the Whisky Au Go Go. Did I need more reason? We tooled around non-stop. He turned me on to Mexican food – there was no Mexican food in my college town of Rochester. I’d never had a taco, and given Rich is Mexican, he knew the real deal places to go.
‘Cisco Kid’ was easily the soundtrack to the trip. It was being played everywhere, you remember how hits used to be unavoidable. By early summer when I went to London, it had migrated to their airwaves, and I heard it constantly all over again.
So this time of year brings that all back, and to find a copy in that first handful I grabbed does make me feel frighteningly connected to my records. I love those records.
Tags: Island, The Faces, United Artists, War
Posted in Island, Rich Fazekas, The Faces, The Pretty Things, United Artists, War, Whisky A Go Go | No Comments »
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
Listen: MPB (Missing Persons Bureau) / Womack & Womack WomackMPB.mp3
Womack & Womack were a peculiar bunch. The music: always great – always, but there were many eccentricities.
A quite funny incident occurred when delivering their album CONSCIENCE to Island. Now this would have been summer ’88. Chris Blackwell was in town, and a few of us were hanging around his office late that afternoon eating cashews and drinking cold beer as he played one great track from it after the other. Chris always had loads of drinks in his fridge, plus nuts, fruit and good snacks on the front edge of his desk, where at least a couple of chairs would face him – and anyone from the staff could literally hang there, playing music – new singles, demos, mixes, whatever. It was good fun when he’d share stories about Jamaica or Island history, always casual and no stress. Indeed casual was the absolute description of his preferred work environment. Being a top host, it could be a really fun place.
So Maureen from the art department turns up with a packaging proof for his approval. Womack & Womack had done their deal through Julian Palmer in the UK office, I seem to recall. Didn’t matter, Chris would approve all art and so London wanted his okay. He’s looking it over and asks, “Why does it list me as executive producer?”. Maureen got a touch flustered, worried she’d fucked something up and explains that’s how the label copy was submitted. “But I’ve never even met them” he laughs. We all just fell in hysterics as by then the ganga was circulating. “What the fuck’s up with these people?”.
It totally captured the roller coaster twists and turns the project took, ultimately ending after one album, despite massive success.
The Womacks were very much a family operation, and a large one at that. All the kids, even the grandmother, would be on stage making for a fantastic show (their run at The Bottom Line a particularly great memory), but chaotic in most other respects, like when they’d invade the office.
‘MPB (Missing Person’s Bureau)’ was the fourth and final single from the LP. Despite a low chart reading (#92 UK), it didn’t really reflect the song’s popularity. The full length was platinum by then.
Never have I played this with others around and not get the ‘wow, what’s this’ reaction.
Tags: Chris Blackwell, Island, The Bottom Line, Womack & Womack
Posted in Chris Blackwell, Island, The Bottom Line, Womack & Womack | No Comments »
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Listen: Arnold Layne / The Pink Floyd
Arnold
Tower 333. That was the label and catalog number for The Pink Floyd’s first US single, ‘Arnold Layne’. I heard it played on Dick Clark’s AMERICAN BANDSTAND Rate A Record segment, and taped it on my tiny GE reel to reel, complete with a palm sized hand held microphone and a happening aqua play button. I still have it, in fact I can see it as I type.
Oh fuck, did I want to own this single or what? It was a one listen record. Like involuntary movement, I special ordered it on the phone that very Saturday afternoon from Mrs. Smith at Smith’s Records. And I would anxiously wait week after week but it never did arrive. Took me a few years to get it at all, and then on a UK pressing. That US Tower single was so elusive. In fact, finding a stock copy took 39 long years.
In the meantime, I did drive to New Jersey in a snow storm, a proper blizzard to be exact, with Steve Yegelwel, to buy a DJ copy complete with it’s promo-only picture sleeve for $150 in ’90, a fire sale by today’s standards. I’d seen it listed in GOLDMINE the day the issue arrived, so I immediately call this guy who says he’s just sold it. I double his asking price of $75, offer to drive over the river despite the weather and pay in cash. He accepts. Steve was from Jersey and knew the way. We worked together at Island then.
But it was a few months later that I really struck gold when it comes to ‘Arnold Layne’. The catalog number is without a doubt embossed in my brain. I became obsessed with getting that record at the time and just ordered it from every shop I could. No one ever did get it, but I ended up knowing Tower 333 by heart.
Fast forward to June 23, 1990, which doubles as my wedding anniversary so already in a good mood, I’m walking from the Astor Street subway stop toward the Island office on West 4th Street, which was just one flight up above Tower Records, the retail chain not the label. Conveniently, during both Tower’s and Island’s heydays, a perfect place for a vinyl addict to be located.
Meanwhile across the street from the building entrance, almost to Broadway, I see a massive, and I mean massive, pile of discarded records, both in box lots and loose. All of them 45′s. Must have been an old music publisher’s office that got gutted and curbed, I never did get to the bottom of that one. There’s a few guys sifting through them. Well I went into a whole other gear, my heart revved up, I ran and I dug in. I gouged this pile. I don’t remember for sure but I think the others just backed off as I was acting so irrationally, taking anything remotely interesting, basically being a pig.
I was in a panic and luckily Island was in a doorman building so I motioned to Spike, said doorman, to come watch my heap while I ran upstairs for boxes and help. I’m pretty sure I dragged Yegelwel down, definitely Karen Yee (she still works at Island), Kathy Kenyon, Hugo Burnham and Denny Cordell too. I needed all of them. There was so much to carry. Even Chris wandered downstairs for some amusement when he heard.
Well the tricky part of this adventure was: a big chunk of these were test pressings. Most had, at best, a white label with little to no info hand written in. Then there were acetates, with only catalog and/or stamper numbers in the run-off grooves. Plus there were a couple thousand records so I’m trying to be a touch selective, checking them for any clues, details.
One of these acetates, sparkling purple-ish black in the morning sun has ‘T 333 A’ etched in it’s run off groove. Look closely at the scan of it above. No way. Not possible. Don’t even go there. Still, I added it to my mountain just in case and kept it all moving.
Later, in my office, I’m messing with all these records, some people are stopping by, wondering about the stupid commotion. We’re playing half a song, then hurrying on to the next single, there was so much obscure soul, multiple copies, enough for everyone. I’m losing it. Sorting through, I find that T 333 acetate and put it on the turntable, seriously not expecting anything as most of the others were garbage.
Lo and behold, it’s ‘Arnold Layne’. And in stereo. I just froze.
As Russell and Ron Mael wrote on Sparks’ recent seminal single ‘Good Morning’: “Thank you God/For having thought of me/I know your time is tight/But still you thought of me”. So true.
Tags: American Bandstand, Chris Blackwell, Denny Cordell, Goldmine, Hugo Burnham, Island, Karen Yee, Kathy Kenyon, Ron Mael, Russell Mael, Smith's Records, Sparks, Steve Yegelwel, The Pink Floyd, Tower Records
Posted in American Bandstand, Chris Blackwell, Denny Cordell, Goldmine, Hugo Burnham, Island, Karen Yee, Kathy Kenyon, Ron Mael, Russell Mael, Smith's Records, Sparks, Steve Yegelwel, The Pink Floyd, Tower Records | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Listen: Typical Girls / The Slits SlitsTypical.mp3
Did testing one’s musical tolerance begin in the 60′s via prog rock, or was it an on going process starting with jazz in the 50′s? It certainly hit full swing by the late 70′s. When art met punk, the first requirement seemed to be an inability to play. But the resulting cringe factor was admittedly addicting. There were a bunch of labels that bent over backwards to like the unlikeable, and then it started to spill to the majors.
I ended up being sucked into The Slits despite my intensions otherwise. A strong image, great sense of reggae/dub, spot-on producer choice (Dennis Bovell) and top packaging helped launch their Island period (about a year in length) during ’79. After all, they were the new GTO’s in my book, but to others, it all hid behind No Wave or some such genre.
Most of the plays I give ‘Typical Girls’ still result in a second spin, or lead me on to a couple of other tracks.
Listen: Man Next Door / The Slits SlitsManNextDoor.mp3
How does anyone resist a cover of John Holt’s classic ‘Man Next Door’. I love the original. I love Massive Attack’s and I love this.
Listen: Earthbeat / The Slits SlitsEarthbeat.mp3
Then there’s always ‘Earthbeat’, their fourth single. Have to say, I basically preferred this one. By now they’d absorbed the studio tricks Dennis Bovell had passed along, and working with Nick Launay and Dick O’Dell as producers, seemed to have replicated themselves successfully. It was a time when they were almost mainstream, and could’ve had a hit. After all, John Peel favorites like Killing Joke and The Fall were finding their way into the UK singles charts. Howard Thompson signed this to CBS, if corporate proof is needed of that possibility.
Listen: Earthdub / The Slits SlitsEarthdub.mp3
Definitely search out the 12″, as the B side, dub version, ‘Earthdub’, is worth owning.
Tags: Antilles, CBS, Dennis Bovell, Dick O'Dell, Howard Thompson, Island, John Peel, Killing Joke, Massive Attack, Nick Launay, No Wave, The Fall, The GTO's, The Slits, Y
Posted in Antilles, CBS, Dennis Bovell, Dick O'Dell, Howard Thompson, Island, John Peel, Killing Joke, Massive Attack, Nick Launay, No Wave, The Fall, The GTO's, The Slits, Y | No Comments »
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Listen: Africa / Rico RicoAfrica.mp3
Listen: Afro-Dub / Rico RicoAfroDub.mp3
The last two weeks of March ’77 were pretty amazing. Corinne and I went to England together for the first time, bought into one of those airfare/hotel packages that landed us at a very low rent lodging near King’s Cross. Even today, it’s not the most upscale of areas, but then – forget it. NOTHING was open past 11pm. By day, there was a nearby, old style cafe serving traditional English fry ups for breakfast, and a cornershop or two with loads of Cadburys, bottles of industrial strength, just-add-water orange drink, greasy cornish pastries and battenburg cakes. It drizzled the whole two weeks, and was cold. There was no room service and the TV went off around 12:30. All the other Americans in our traveling group hated the place. We, on the other hand, were in paradise.
Howard Thompson and I had become fast friends the previous fall, a mutual bonding over Eddie & The Hot Rods, who he’d signed to Island. Every day and night in London was spent with him. We went to every club, every show that mattered, and got to hang out at Island. Just off the canteen in the back was the Island studio, which on one particular day, Rico and his band were rehearsing in. MAN FROM WARIEKA had just come out. All the punk fans loved reggae as well, we were no different. And Corinne really loved it. We sat mesmerized watching these guys. The room was thick with pot smoke, they were on fire and we were in England.
The first thing Howard handed me on our initial visit to his office at 22 St. Peters Square was this single. Even more than a great record, it’s a time travel back to two weeks of every kind of bliss imaginable.
Tags: Eddie & The Hot Rods, Howard Thompson, Island, Rico
Posted in Eddie & The Hot Rods, Howard Thompson, Island, Rico | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Listen: Talkin’ Trash / Betty Davis BettyDavisTalkin.mp3
It wasn’t exactly her voice that attracted me – a mixture of Genya Ravan, Lydia Pence from Cold Blood and any one of The Slits. But some of the tracks were amongst the best of the day. Her NASTY GAL album didn’t seem to fit in anywhere, didn’t sell and for years became expensively sought after. The singles were even more obscure and they are must-haves.
Listen: He Was A Big Freak / Betty Davis BettyDavisFreak.mp3
Most surprising of all her work with Island, ‘He Was A Big Freak’, the non-LP 7″ b side, somehow didn’t make the album. Other than ‘Talkin’ Trash’ and the title track ‘Nasty Gal’, it’s probably her best song. Being the wife of Miles Davis conjures up many a potential person as to who this one may have been based on.
Tags: Betty Davis, Cold Blood, Genya Ravan, Island, Lydia Pence, Miles Davis, The Slits
Posted in Betty Davis, Cold Blood, Genya Ravan, Island, Lydia Pence, Miles Davis, The Slits | No Comments »
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Listen: Night Comes Down / The Mickey Finn MickeyFinnNight.mp3
Often confused with the bongo player from T. Rex, this is actually a band, not that person. The Mickey Finn’s career highpoint, according to most, was a two single association with producer Shel Talmy. And if you want to have your heart freeze for kicks, check out his discography.
Out of that came ‘Night Comes Down’ / ‘This Sporting Life’, their only US release via World Artists. Seems Shel Talmy had some juice there, having produced a few big hits for Chad & Jeremy. Although not listed on the above discography, I do believe he also produced The Moments version of Ray Davies’ ‘You Really Got Me’ for the label. The Moments were Steve Marriott’s first band, predating The Small Faces. That single, as with The Mickey Finn release, are stupid rare, making them very fun items to have and hold.
I got an unsolicited call from Shel Talmy many years back, I think when I was either at Elektra or Island. He had moved to LA, and was looking for work, still in that has-been stretch, not yet having graduated to legend status. I foolishly didn’t follow up, not necessarily with getting him some work, but neither forging a friendship, something I do regret.
Listen: I Do Love You / The Mickey Finn MickeyFinnIDoLove.mp3
Of lesser notoriaty is the band’s ’66 single “I Do Love You’. And I’m not sure why. Even amongst those who live for all things underrated, this is very underrated. It starts out noticeably similar to ‘Heart Trouble’ by The Eyes Of Blue, and then proceeds to a perfect groove a la The Foundations. I’d give anything to know how many copies would have been pressed of a single like this.
Tags: Chad & Jeremy, Elektra, Island, Jimmy Page, Polydor, Ray Davies, Shel Talmy, Steve Marriott, T. Rex, The Eyes Of Blue, The Foundations, The Mickey Finn, The Moments, The Small Faces, World Artists
Posted in Chad & Jeremy, Elektra, Island, Jimmy Page, Polydor, Ray Davies, Shel Talmy, Steve Marriott, T. Rex, The Eyes Of Blue, The Foundations, The Mickey Finn, The Moments, The Small Faces, World Artists | No Comments »
Friday, June 12th, 2009
Listen: Mercy, Mercy / Don Covay & The Goodtimers DonCovayMercy.mp3
I woke up one day realizing albums by The Rolling Stones serve as introductory encyclopedias for figuring out the best American RnB and Blues originals. I felt really behind the curve at that moment, but considering it was still 1969, I caught up ok. The band, or someone in their camp, had impecable taste when picking this stuff. I still read the occassional story of their early visits to the US, whereby they’d all flock to now infamous record shops in Harlem or East LA just to buy all the black releases. Man, those stores must have been amazing. And where are all those records now? There were plenty of those original US pressings amongst the Tony King collection…..
Don Covay entered my world via OUT OF OUR HEADS. The Rolling Stones started side one of the US version with ‘Mercy, Mercy’. OUT OF OUR HEADS was their fourth and final US album to pressed initially (first run only) in the UK, then exported to the US and sleeved here. Just recently have collectors been alerted to this detail, but for years I was buying up those UK copies at garage sales for $1. They are particularly easy to spot. The font is obviously different than US London labels, but they’re also deep groove, and they indicate ‘Made In England’. Quite helpful. A few other London releases during the era (’64 – ’66) were intially pressed in the UK as well: Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones and Them.
When I worked at Island in the late 80′s, Chris Blackwell signed Don Covay, who came by regularly to see Holly Furgeson and her office was next to mine. She did the A&R admin, and Don Covay handled all his own business. I remember him working diligently on the project only to have it shelved, a bad habit Island always had.
I was well pleased to find not only the original DJ copy of ‘Mercy, Mercy’ amogst Tony’s records, but a very nice UK reissue as well, both pictured above.
Tags: Chris Blackwell, Don Covay, Don Covay & The Goodtimers, Island, London Records, Marianne Faithfull, The Rolling Stones, Them, Tom Jones, Tony King
Posted in Chris Blackwell, Don Covay, Don Covay & The Goodtimers, Holly Furgeson, Island, London Records, Marianne Faithfull, The Rolling Stones, Them, Tom Jones, Tony King | No Comments »
Friday, May 15th, 2009
Listen: When The Tanks Roll Over Poland Again / Automatics Automatics.mp3
Who is the best living rock producer? Steve Lillywhite.
There are many, and I’m probably writing this without really thinking it through. Whatever. Steve has made so many great records for decades. The list is staggering: XTC, The Psychedelic Furs, Joan Armatrading, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Ultravox, fuck it – loads.
U2 – even if the band isn’t, to my tastes, great – the recordings are wonderful. For all the sonic wonder he has added to U2 alone, he still had to start somewhere.
Enter The Automatics. Certainly not his first, but definitely an early production. He’s come a long way. Or did he arrive fully formed?
This certainly captured the sound of London ’78. Those shouty vocals, bratty guitar grinds and the beautiful clunk of a noisy rhythm section all rolled up into a loveable mess. Either its great or it isn’t, and this is. If you add to that recipe an anthemic song, well, you end up with ‘When The Tanks Roll Over Poland’ by The Automatics, for one.
Tags: Automatics, Eddie And The Hot Rods, Island, Joan Armatrading, Steve Lillywhite, The Psychedelic Furs, Ultravox, XTC
Posted in Automatics, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Island, Joan Armatrading, Northern Soul, Steve Lillywhite, The Psychedelic Furs, Ultravox, XTC | No Comments »
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Listen: Stereo MCs / Connected StereoMCsConnected.mp3
Has there been a better funk/rock single since this? Probably not. I’ll never forget hearing it for the first time. It was at an Island A&R retreat in New Orleans during Jazz Fest in ’92. Jon Baker, who ran Gee Street, brought it straight in from the studio. Everyone’s mouth dropped.
Jon had invited me two years prior to see the band practice/showcase at a space in south London, just near Waterloo Bridge. They’d put one single out in the UK, and were about to be dropped. The rehearsal was spectacular. Just the three piece, with their live drummer Owen. It was slamming as they say.
Island did a deal for Jon’s Gee Street label, but it took a minute. After some dicking around, Jon was getting fed up and had planned to sign with Virgin, but came into my office for one last shot. He played me a new single by his other act, PM Dawn. Their ‘Set Adrift On Memory Bliss’ was a no brainer. Later that day, I went round the Gramercy Park Hotel to hook up with Jon, and meet the P. M. Dawn guys. I kept them there until around 2AM, insuring they’d miss their dinner with Virgin which was supposedly happening. I must ask Jon if that dinner date was really true. Whatever, Jon and I schemed to get Island’s committal quickly. I suggested Jon demand a substantial check within twenty four hours, and that if the label didn’t conclude the deal within one week he could keep the money. Island agreed to it the next day, once Chris heard ‘Set Adrift’. Bingo, two acts signed in one swoop, not to mention getting Jon Baker as part of the deal.
So we proceeded to deliver Stereo MC’s their first hit, in The States instead of England no less, with ‘Elevate My Mind’. Howard Thompson played Happy Mondays the single, and got Stereo MC’s the opening slot on their upcoming red hot US tour. A perfect storm.
Even better, ‘Connected’ was to follow.
Tags: 4th & Broadway, Chris Blackwell, Gee Street, Happy Mondays, Howard Thompson, Island, Jon Baker, P. M. Dawn, Stereo MC's
Posted in 4th & Broadway, Chris Blackwell, Gee Street, Happy Mondays, Howard Thompson, Island, Jon Baker, P. M. Dawn, Stereo MC's | No Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
Listen: Candle In The Wind / Sandy Denny SandyDennyCandle.mp3
I hadn’t even thought about meeting Sandy Denny for the longest time, not until writing my Fotheringay post a week or so back. It’s unbelievable how much email I got as a result. People wanting the most specific details of our conversation, what she drank, what she wore, did she seem depressed. Not that I’m surprised she is so revered.
‘Candle In The Wind’ was always a song that got me choked up and not many do. Then when Elton John’s version became the signature Princess Di track, forget it. I literally had to switch it off. It weirded me out. Combine such a powerful song with Sandy Denny’s immaculate voice and, well, it was a hard one to pull out and play.
But I did it just now and it really is so spectacular. I don’t know if many people have heard this as the single is quite rare, at one time booking for 100 GBP in The Record Collector Price Guide. Fact is it never made it beyond the promo run.
Tags: Elton John, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Island, Record Collector Price Guide, Sandy Denny
Posted in Elton John, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Island, Record Collector Price Guide, Sandy Denny | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Listen: Power And The Glory / Eddie & The Hot Rods
Power
Either you have it or you don’t. Eddie & The Hot Rods always did, despite little commercial success in the US pointing otherwise. When they returned to tour during summer ’08, it was made clear their cult rep was well in tact, with a sizable audience of very young kids freaking out up front. And live, well as powerful as ever. Those that will remember can verify they could tear apart a stage in the late 70′s.
I stumbled on them during ’76, pre-punk. One of the Canvey Island bands that included Dr. Feelgood and Ducks Deluxe, their lightning speed attack was a huge attraction. I was the PD of WITR, Rochester Institute Of Technology’s radio station at the time. I dropped a quick letter to Island UK about the reaction we were getting from the band’s EP, LIVE AT THE MARQUEE. It landed with Howard Thompson who’d signed them. We became close friends as a result, and he eventually hired me at Elektra. I’d still be stuck in upstate New York had it not been for him and that letter.
As for Eddie & The Hot Rods, I became a bit of a stalker. Happy about that too as it meant getting to see them many times, at BBC sessions, UK TV shows, in the studio. Great guys and Barrie Master is still a pal. The great news being their power on stage has never waned. That hasn’t changed, and oddly, neither has Barrie. Not one less hair on his head nor one pound more on his bones. Voice as strong as in the day. He even wore the same pair of white jeans as he did at CBGB’s in ’77. Amazing.
Tags: CBGB, Dr. Feelgood, Ducks Deluxe, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Howard Thompson, Island, WITR
Posted in Barrie Masters, CBGB, Dr. Feelgood, Ducks Deluxe, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Howard Thompson, Island, WITR | No Comments »
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
Listen: Did I Come Back Too Soon? / Swamp Dogg 01 Did I Come Back Too Soon_.mp3
Seemingly an ever present bargain bin resident, like everyone else, I just passed all his releases by in the day. Then I read he and Jerry Williams were one in the same. Wait, the Jerry Williams who had produced Inez & Charlie Foxx? It pays to read label credits.
Before that stuff vanished from those bins for good, I picked up a bunch. It was down and dirty. I liked this guy.
The great list of singles he’s written or produced or both is pretty impressive: ZZ Hill, Patti La Belle & The Bluebells, Arthur Conley, Ruth Brown, Gene Pitney etc etc. Being the Inez & Charlie freak, stalker, that I am, he’s a saint in my book, having co-written my all time favorite ‘(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days’.
In the 70′s he signed to Island, and released a great album from which they pulled two singles. This is one, with a fun story line that sounds as country as it does funky – was oddly a US B side but UK A side. If only it had been a hit.
Check out the CD compilation of his work on Ace: Blame It On The Dogg – The Swamp Dogg Anthology.
Tags: Island, Swamp Dogg
Posted in Ace Records, Arthur Conley, Gene Pitney, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Island, Jerry Williams, Patti La Belle, Ruth Brown, Swamp Dogg, ZZ Hill | No Comments »
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
Listen: King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown / Augustus Pablo King Tubby Meets The Rocker.mp3
Often credited as one of the singles to open up reggae and dub to the world outside of Jamaica, this record and Augustus Pablo have a twisted history. Duane educates me on it’s varying specifics: the vocalist here is actually Jacob Miller who achieved some notoriety with Inner Circle and Augustus Pablo somehow was able to make off with the rights to this sorta instrumental, sorta dub version and release it as his own.
Well whatever, it’s a classic. Might be the first reggae single that I actively sought out after a glowing review in one of the UK music papers, SOUNDS. Not only because it got the lead review and you could trust them in those days, but the description. Whatever it was as I don’t recall exactly but I do remember needing this record because of it. It was so worth it.
Tags: Augustus Pablo, Duane Sherwood, Island, Jacob Miller, Reggae, Sounds
Posted in Augustus Pablo, Duane Sherwood, Island, Jacob Miller, Reggae, Sounds | No Comments »
