| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1856 Registered: 05-2005 |
At the request of Stuart, here are my 10 favourite reggae albums (which would be different next week, but never mind). Feel free to join in (counting on you here Randy!), but this could be the shortest topic on the board ever  1 King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo 2 Marcus Garvey - Burning Spear 3 Super Ape - Lee Perry/Upsetters 4 Sinsimilla - Black Uhuru 5 2 Sevens Clash - Culture 6 Bobby Babylon - Freddie McGregor 7 Soon Forward - Gregory Isaacs 8 Visions of Dennis Brown - Dennis Brown 9 Wailing Souls - Wailing Souls 10 Black Roots - Sugar Minott. As you might know reggae has always been more about 45s, and I actually enjoy compilations of these 45s more, but I have so many of these that I would never be able to make a top 10. So the list above is made up of albums that were as close as these singers/groups ever got to making an album as an artistic statement . | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 739 Registered: 10-2004 |
No Heart of Congos? That's a favorite of mine, although I'll admit that I've only ever really skimmed the surface of reggae. And for that reason, I look forward to some of the responses here. However, I'd bet money that a top 10 thread of my favorite 60s Brazilian Bossa Nova and Samba albums would probably win out over this thread for shortest topic ever. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1858 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff, Heart of The Congos is widely recognised as being a great album. My problem with it is not the music,which is sublime and may see Lee Perry at the height of his powers,but the falsetto vocals grate for me over the course of 50 minutes | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2347 Registered: 03-2006 |
Geez Kevin, your expertise probably grossly exceeds everybody else's here, certainly mine, but I'll play: 1) Yellowman - King Yellowman 2) Bob Marley - Legend 3) The Harder They Come - Jimmy Cliff 4) The Heptones - Peace & Harmony 5) Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey 6) Toots & the Maytals - Funky Kingston/In the Dark 7) Desmond Dekker - Israelites (anthology) 8) Rockers - movie soundtrack 9) 2 7s Clash - Culture 10) Peter Tosh - Legalize It I'm cheating, I know, with the comps, but I just don't have enough depth in the reggae selection and have, accordingly, opted for best ofs in many cases. Off the top of my head, my top ten favorite reggae songs: 1) Pressure Drop - Toots 2) Rivers of Babylon - the Melodians 3) Many Rivers to Cross - Jimmy Cliff 4) Israelites - Desmond Dekker 5) Rivers of Babylon - the Melodians 6) Uptown Top Ranking - Althea and Donna 7) No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley 8) My Boy Lollipop - Millie 9) Guns of Navarone - Skatalites 10) Ballistic Affair - Leroy Smart | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2348 Registered: 03-2006 |
Oops - I should've listed "Redemption Song" by Marley, it's hard to top that one. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1859 Registered: 05-2005 |
LK, I wouldnt belittle yourself, thats a pretty knowledgeable list. As far as your list of songs go, its full of "crossover" stuff (not a criticism), apart from Ballistic Affair which is one heavy tune, great choice my man. ps - I guess you REALLY like Rivers of Babylon | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2349 Registered: 03-2006 |
Oops. Guess I do! Ahhh, multitasking... Allow me to slip in "War Ina Babylon" by Max Romeo in its place - another upbeat, light little ditty. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1559 Registered: 04-2005 |
Kevin and LK, I know fuck-all about reggae, but my sister used to be a fan and was a big fan of Linton Kwesi Johnson. Do you rate him? Obviously, he's not top 10 material! | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 740 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kurt, I really dig Linton Kwesi Johnson, and I think there was a brief discussion of him somewhere else a few months ago (with a positive endorsement from Kevin). I think "Forces of Victory" is a thoroughly awesome album. However, a friend of mine who has a deep love of reggae doesn't care for LKJ. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 949 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hey, Kev, thanks for imparting your wisdom, brother. Although I have a fair amount of Jamaican music (I don't want to get deeper into genre classifications 'cause I'll get it wrong), I, like a lot of people, have a lot of comps as opposed to artist-based LPs. I do tend to gravitate more to the earlier stuff, which I guess is considered ska. I have the four-CD "Tougher Than Tough" comp, and tend to play the first two discs the most, and another comp called "This Is Ska" gets a lot of spins. That said, I do have some single-artist faves. In somewhat rough order: 1. Culture - "Two Sevens Clash" 2. Augustus Pablo - "East of the River Nile" 3. Linton Kwesi Johnson - "Tings and Times" (does he count as reggae?) 4. Desmond Dekker - "Rockin' Steady - The Best of" 5. Augustus Pablo - "King Tubby..." 6. Burning Spear - "Marcus Garvey" 7. Linton Kwesi Johnson - "Making History" Not a very diverse list, I know. I also have that "Songs of Freedom" four-CD thing from Marley, which I like, but I've always associated Marley with hippies and frat boys, and it's kind of spoiled his music for me. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 950 Registered: 08-2006 |
Wow, LKJ came up big in the few minutes I was composing that post! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 951 Registered: 08-2006 |
Oh, and I forgot Black Uhuru's "Red." Must get "Sinsimilla." | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1860 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kurt, I do rate LKJ. I included him in my Best of 1980 list. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1395 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, this is really your field. All I can do is augment a little bit with some of the earlier artists. Here are some favorites. My favorite JA acts are almost all vocal groups. And, in the 60s, not that many JA artists did albums. 1. The Pioneers -- Pusher Man. They put too much energy into being a crossover UK act during most of the 70s but this album was a return to form in 1978. Only on vinyl. 2. The Pioneers -- Long Shot. And this was before they did the crossover thing, produced in 1969 by the late great Leslie Kong. Whenever you see Leslie Kong credited as producer on something, buy it. Only on vinyl. 3. The Paragons -- no title. This will offend purists but it's a big favorite so here it is. The Paragons were John Holt's vocal trio in the 1960s before he went solo. In 1981 following the success of Blondie's ho-hum cover of "The Tide is High" they reunited to cut one album of ten of their old songs backed by Sly & Robbie etc. Eight of the songs are John Holt originals, plus they do one of Lennon/McCartney's best early songs "I'll Be Back" and the great "Man Next Door" (or "Got to Get Away") which doesn't have a songwriting credit. It's a great great album because you finally get good modern sound for a bunch of really good rock steady-era songs with the best possible backing. And, as far as I know, it never made it to CD. Incidentally "The Tide is High" is probably the least interesting song on the whole set; it was originally recorded by the Paragons as a mere album track. 4. The Heptones -- Cool Rasta. I've always liked this album much better than any of the other Heptones albums and, just checking, I see it is NOW available on CD. The order's already posted. 5. Toots & the Maytals -- In the Dark. Really, I could list "Funky Kingston" or "Monkey Man" or "From the Roots" but I give the tip to the (IMO) perfect combo of gritty churchy Maytals and crossover sophistication. The CD era did yield some nice single-artist anthologies: 1. Skatalites -- Foundation Ska. When it comes to ska--the sound which preceded rock steady--I'd much rather hear instrumentals than vocal records. The vocal stuff just sounds too monotonous for me but not the instrumentals. Most of the material on this 2-CD antho is produced by Coxsone Dodd plus a smattering by Duke Reid. It all dates from just 1964 and 1965 and is mesmerizing. The Skatalites were respected well beyond the shores of JA even way back then. Any of you vintage jazz people are encouraged to check out the Skatalites. 2. The Ethiopians--The Original Reggae Hitsound of . . . . A vocal group, I'd never heard anything of theirs other than "Train to Skaville" before getting this. It's a pretty much non-stop excellent collection. 3. The Melodians -- Sweet Sensation. Another of my vocal groups. This is an 8 song antho that first came out on vinyl and later on CD. Although it's short the fact that it includes only Leslie Kong recordings gives it a nice cohesiveness. It feels like a short album. There is a quite-good antho on Trojan which covers 6 years of output called "Rivers of Babylon." They did some fantastic things besides the famous Leslie Kong sides. 4. The Maytals -- Do the Reggae 1966-70. The sound is crappy because everything is taken from scratchy vinyl 45s but this is 16 jaw-droppingly fantastic performances. For whatever reason, the collection starts out with a Byron Lee-produced number from 1966 and then it's straight into the Leslie Kong-produced sides that came after Frederick "Toots" Hibbert was released from jail (possession of the devil weed) that start about two years later. If you love "Pressure Drop" (which is NOT on here, btw) and you can tolerate iffy dubbing from worn-out records, this set is a must-have. It's stronger than any of the individual albums and is pretty much exclusive non-album material. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1816 Registered: 05-2005 |
Horace Andy - Skylarking Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution Dennis Bovell - Brain Damage Basement 5 - In Dub Toots and the maytals - From the Roots My main love though is heavy dub, the Trojan boxsets i'm pretty much addicted to. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 95 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ok, I'm making notes like crazy here. I have a pretty thin collection obviously - most of it on tape, too, and feeling its age - hence the curiosity, but occasionally go through phases where reggae's the only music that I want to hear - no mention so far I see for some stuff I like by Israel Vibrations, Gladiators or Abyssinians...and Bunny Wailer's Blackheartman used to be a favourite. Wonderful voice I always thought. Are the "deluxe" versions of 2 sevens and King tubby worth having? One thing I've always thought should exist is a reggae album with a really good female lead vocal... is there such a thing? | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1818 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah man! Althea and Donna guy! Uptown Ranking, Nah pop no style, a strictly roots!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and my friend Jean McLean, she's a reggaebaby, sweet voice that woman got... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1862 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, your knowledge of pre 70s reggae, eg ska and rocksteady is amazing and leaves me standing. Thats not to say Im ignorant of that era and Im a massive Studio One fan. Coxsone Dodd is probably a name that is not known by many but in Jamaican terms he is as important as Marley, Perry, King Tubby and Dennis Brown. I have at least 50 Studio One albums thanks to the great reissue labels (Heartbeat and Soul Jazz), a lot of the stuff on these albums comes from the era when Rocksteady merged with the early roots reggae period. The song Man Next Door is truly a reggae staple and I would urge everybody here to listen to it if possible, although some might be familiar with it already, didnt Horace Andy cover it on a Massive Attack album? Spence, Skylarking is a great Horace Andy comp, if you ever see his album called In The Light that was released by Blood and Fire be sure to pick it up. The Steel Pulse album is the pinnacle of UK reggae, the track Ku Klux Klan made a big impression on me listening to Peel as a teenager. Stuart, all the artists you mention take up a lot of space in my collection. The Same Song, by Israel Vibration will be found in any reggae fans collection, The Gladiators Trenchtown Mix Up is top notch(cant wait for The Gladiators Singles comp (Studio One output) which is released by Heartbeat this month). The Abbyssinians are famous for what is sometimes called "reggaes national anthem", Satta Massaganna (again everyone should hear this (both the single and the album), Blackheart Man is another landmark reggae album, for a "thin collection" you have a solid foundation. Finally, if anybody feels curious about starting, or expanding their collection I would recommend purchasing The Rough Guide to Reggae by Steve Barrow, Steve is one of the most knowledgeable UK writers on the subject and this book lists and discusses hundreds of albums from every Jamican strand of music - Mento all the way through to Ragga. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing /1843533294/ref=dp_olp_2/202-2621642-476 0669?ie=UTF8&qid=1191578664&sr=8-2 http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1 843533294/ref=pd_bbs_sr_olp_1/104-458941 7-5931967?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191578771 &sr=8-1 | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 834 Registered: 01-2005 |
1. Culture - Two Sevens Clash 2. Black Uhuru - Red 3. Mutabaruka - Check It! 4. Eek-A-Mouse - Wa-Do-Dem 5. Peter Tosh - Legalize It 6. Steel Pulse - True Democracy 7. Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey I have others by Black Uhuru and Steel Pulse, but I don't think I should put them on the list just to make out a Top 10. |