Not claiming to be an aficionado of any of these genres, Cats. The ol’ saying, “I don’t know what I like but I do when I hear it” applies here.
Dub – a very idiosyncratic genre. However, there be giants. Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Tubby and the Mad Perfesser, among others. After absolutely loving UB40’s Signing Off and Present Arms as a yoof, to subsequently experience Present Arms in Dub was a somewhat perplexing experience. Dub involving of course, much manipulation of instruments and sounds, in an often seemingly random and discordant fashion. Best enjoyed (presumably) after inhaling a certain ‘erb, Mon.
Ska – In many ways, the precursor of Reggae. Originated in the Caribbean Isle of Jamaica in the sixties, fusing particular musical styles. It experienced its most notable period of popularity courtesy of the 2 Tone record label releases in the hectic New Wave period of music of the late seventies and early eighties. Some of my favourite bands were purveyors of this style, the most notable being the (British) Beat. Yoof subculture fans of Ska back in the day were known as Rude Boys and Girls and tended to dress in mod inspired monochrome fashions.
Reggae – The best known of the three variants, courtesy of a certain Bob Marley. Came to prominence in the aftermath of the Rocksteady style. The term Rocksteady features in one of my favourite Madness tunes. Reggae itself is an immediately recognisable genre, characterised by offbeat rhythms and the use of offsetting staccato chords. Other prominent (and not so prominent) Reggae artists include Jimmy Cliff, Horace Andy (who would later gain a wider audience courtesy of Massive Attack), Keith Hudson, and Desmond Dekker. The Clash and the Police were also influenced by Reggae – see the latter’s album “Reggatta de Blanc”, for example, while two of my other favourite bands are Madness and the Specials, who were exemplars of certain styles identified above.
Now comes the hard part, choosing two songs. Here they are. Please assist to broaden our Reggae horizons by posting your favourite tunes here.
Baggy Trousers
Sea of Love
Honourable mention – BB Seaton, “Thin Line Between Love and Hate”.
Enjoy, Cats!
The Michael Talbot Affair …
A reggae anthem!
Rabz.
Linton Kwesi Johnson “Bass Culture “
Hey that worked!
I’m getting a plague of 500 errors.
The Cat doesn’t like 10 cc.
Onya, Bruce, you spiritual Jamaican.
In the meantime, this Anthem remains magnifique …
Bass Cuture
Goanna – great stuff, Squire. He is awesome.
Bass Culture
Snap
I confess …
Jimmy Cliff – I Can See Clearly Now
Very sunny!
The mighty I Roy with “Tourism Is My Business “
Looking good in a purple suit.
Not actually a fan of reggae, although I have a couple of 10 cc LPs floating around somewhere. But very much I like the different rhythm when it gets used in mainstream tracks.
So here’s both…
The Sea – Morcheeba
The Sea – Amazonics (reggae version)
I have to listen to more of the Amazonics. That’s a marvelous cover.
Another big reggae influenced bunch is this one:
The Police – So Lonely (1978)
OK, how about some Eddy Grant.
I like this Boney M song: Brown Girl In The Ring.
Does this song qualify?
Rivers of Babylon.
Dub came from reggae. It’s fun to pick the changes in rhythm. Here’s a dub track which went well mainstream:
Portishead – Glory Box (1994)
Tracks from that album like Strangers and Numb are dubbier. Much more spiky than reggae but the rhythmic relationship is clear as crystal.
TheSpecials – A Message To You Rudy.
Will there be any stars in my crown
Even Sandie Shaw gave it a go – Make It Go.
Um. This is test. If it doesn’t link can someone step me through how it’s done.
(flute reggae fusion from early seventies)
Yeah, a strange partnership, punk and reggae. Perhaps they both were playing to the same target audience. The Clash played various genres on their third album, London Calling, but they were playing reggae from the beginning. Here’s the Clash from their first album:
Police and Thieves.
Eric, link works fine.
Lion of Judah
The Pioneers
The definitive Portishead track – All Mine …
Johnny Nash: the original and the best
Nope.
Kick de bucket
That was cool! Like if Bob Marley did a track with Jethro Tull.
UB 40 turned this Neil Diamond song into a reggae hit. Neil liked it so much, that when he played the Hunter Valley a few years ago (2017?), he played the UB 40 version.
Red Red Wine
Saw both of them in the ’70s.
Here’s the Clash, just being awesome (again) …
Trigger Warning: Not Reggae, or anything remotely resembling it
O Love of God
The YT sidebar throws up some excellent stuff from time to time.
Here’s a young Aussie lady doing reggae. Rather good.
Tash Sultana – Jungle (2016)
Oi you picked the theme Rabz, stay on subject!
This is a cool bit of rocksteady soul- Marcia Griffiths.
I do like the reggae-dub cyclical composition, rolling on and off the minor VIth and whatever the damn hell it is, go ask Rick Beato
Do not move, peoples …
Wow – what a track. A not in any way discordant symphony. 🙂
Some more dub, this time from Lamb.
Lamb – Butterfly Effect (2012)
Bruce – Tash Sultana is a very talented young personage.
The song is just pure blues, 3:00am on a Sunday morning in the Cross …
Good old movie which is as rough as guts but a real slice of Jamaica
Jimmy Cliff
The harder they come.
Whole movie is on YouTube
Stupid phone won’t paste links
Rabz – That’s fun. Listening to the first 20 seconds of Don’t Move is creepily like the first 20 seconds of Butterfly Effect. Really interesting the parallels.
Bruce – it’s just an awesome musical genre
Protection …
The specials
Rabz – I’ve a couple of Massive Attack albums somewhere, which I should listen to again. Marvelous stuff. Especially like Karmacoma for some reason I have no understanding of. Very dubbish.
Massive Attack – Karmacoma (1995)
Karmacoma, jamaica’ aroma…
MT – The Specials are excellent. Got to put up their biggest one:
The Specials – Ghost Town (1981)
Bigly reggae dub.
D Trojan Records back catalogue is d go to for I and I
54 46 Is My Number
Bit of Primal Scream can be jammed in anywhere…
Get Duffy, from the magisterial Vanishing Point
Man, that’s opened my eyes Bruce. I thought that Lamb were a one-hit wonder off a remix of B-Line, and were toomuch soundalike to Beth Gibbons
They’re an interesting pair. Just been checking out their channel myself, and found this nice solo effort from Lou, who is the lady Lamb.
LOU RHODES – The Rain (2007)
Much more mainstream than their usual stuff. Catchy.
MT, that’s the theme to Death In Paradise. Love it.
Bought this album after seeing the old rooster at Summavibes or some such FIFO festival, where he ripped up the stage. Kids love the Album.
Jimmy Cliff – Reggae Music.
Nice verse memento of his career, but he’s wrong about Jamaican independence. The state was first colonized by Spain, who exterminated the eponymous Xaymac people, the “British Colonialists” were the ones who held the joint together through numerous maroon slave insurrections, buccaneering, and sallies from the French and Spanish, and established the representative democracy which joined the West Indies commonwealth federation in the 50’s sometime.
Am I really the only one still able to focus on the keys? It’s not even midnight over east yet…
Uptown Top Ranking
A knife
A Fork
A Bottle And A Cork
Two-Tone…
This music is rubbish. I hate all of it.
The Clash and Mikey Dread
Sunday morning coming down
dilly dally
Missed the show – was out and about last night.
But here’s a belated contribution – Fade Away by the New Age Steppers.
Gee, thanks for that positive contribution, you irredeemable imbecile.