What Are You Currently Listening To?

[Mo]

Nice bit of my Rocksteady (plus) on Spotify. The Heptones,Ken Boothe,Alton Ellis, The Uniques, Roy Shirley etc. My fav genre of Jamaican sounds.

[greenstreet]

Nice bit of my Rocksteady (plus) on Spotify. The Heptones,Ken Boothe,Alton Ellis, The Uniques, Roy Shirley etc. My fav genre of Jamaican sounds.

Great minds, Mo! Rocksteady is for me the peak of Jamaican music, the West Indies version of soul. And Alton Ellis is one of the giants, he recorded some timeless classics.

The bass riff on this is the Jamaican equivalent to James Jamerson riff on "My Girl": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMd8XVEaKO4

[Chilli]

Nice bit of my Rocksteady (plus) on Spotify. The Heptones,Ken Boothe,Alton Ellis, The Uniques, Roy Shirley etc. My fav genre of Jamaican sounds.

Great minds, Mo! Rocksteady is for me the peak of Jamaican music, the West Indies version of soul. And Alton Ellis is one of the giants, he recorded some timeless classics.

The bass riff on this is the Jamaican equivalent to James Jamerson riff on "My Girl": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMd8XVEaKO4

Coincidentally enough, on a Jamaican theme, this CD just landed on my doorstep this week - https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-ska-from-jamaica-original-album-plus-bonus-tracks/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2t-49PaR7QIVEywYCh3YvQncEAQYAyABEgJPjvD_BwE - tracks from a couple of years earlier than the Rocksteady sound!!

This is an unreleased album from 1966 (though all the tracks from the 'original' unreleased album had been released on 7'' between 64-66), with a load of extra tracks thrown in on the CD release (59 tracks in all).  The album was released here in England on vinyl for Record Store Day, though I wasn't aware of it at the time so missed out, and I'm not prepared to pay the money it's changing hands for on Ebay, so I plumped for the CD instead.

I've not actually listened to it yet, but looking forward to trying it out over the next few days.

[detroitmike]

+1 on Alton Ellis/Rock Steady, guys..

[greenstreet]

Nice bit of my Rocksteady (plus) on Spotify. The Heptones,Ken Boothe,Alton Ellis, The Uniques, Roy Shirley etc. My fav genre of Jamaican sounds.

Great minds, Mo! Rocksteady is for me the peak of Jamaican music, the West Indies version of soul. And Alton Ellis is one of the giants, he recorded some timeless classics.

The bass riff on this is the Jamaican equivalent to James Jamerson riff on "My Girl": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMd8XVEaKO4

Coincidentally enough, on a Jamaican theme, this CD just landed on my doorstep this week - https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-ska-from-jamaica-original-album-plus-bonus-tracks/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2t-49PaR7QIVEywYCh3YvQncEAQYAyABEgJPjvD_BwE - tracks from a couple of years earlier than the Rocksteady sound!!

This is an unreleased album from 1966 (though all the tracks from the 'original' unreleased album had been released on 7'' between 64-66), with a load of extra tracks thrown in on the CD release (59 tracks in all).  The album was released here in England on vinyl for Record Store Day, though I wasn't aware of it at the time so missed out, and I'm not prepared to pay the money it's changing hands for on Ebay, so I plumped for the CD instead.

I've not actually listened to it yet, but looking forward to trying it out over the next few days.

Got that too, Paul! And I've already listened to it, good classic ska all along. No real surprises but the standard across the 2 CDs is quite decent and they're mostly obscure tracks which heightens their appeal.

To highlight some of them, there's a powerful Maytals tune set to a R&B/soul rather than ska rhythm, an early Jimmy James Jamaica-recorded song (more soul than ska), a couple soul ballads and a curious -and infectious- answer record to "Sammy Dead" (titled rather obviously "Sammy No Dead"  ) by the great Clancy Eccles. Add to that some tasty instrumentals by Bobby Aitken and Baba Brooks and you're in for a treat.

Currently listening to the last Duke Robillard record, "Blues Bash!", a no-nonsense r&b party records with horn section, terrific party music.   

[greenstreet]

In my earlier overview of "The Ska from Jamaica" I forgot to mention that the tail end of the second disc houses some nice early Rocksteady sides, among them a cool instro with organ and one of the more atmospheric songs about the rude boys plague I've had the pleasure to heard, "Rudies Give Up" by Lloyd & Glen.

[Chilli]

Nice bit of my Rocksteady (plus) on Spotify. The Heptones,Ken Boothe,Alton Ellis, The Uniques, Roy Shirley etc. My fav genre of Jamaican sounds.

Great minds, Mo! Rocksteady is for me the peak of Jamaican music, the West Indies version of soul. And Alton Ellis is one of the giants, he recorded some timeless classics.

The bass riff on this is the Jamaican equivalent to James Jamerson riff on "My Girl": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMd8XVEaKO4

Coincidentally enough, on a Jamaican theme, this CD just landed on my doorstep this week - https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-ska-from-jamaica-original-album-plus-bonus-tracks/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2t-49PaR7QIVEywYCh3YvQncEAQYAyABEgJPjvD_BwE - tracks from a couple of years earlier than the Rocksteady sound!!

This is an unreleased album from 1966 (though all the tracks from the 'original' unreleased album had been released on 7'' between 64-66), with a load of extra tracks thrown in on the CD release (59 tracks in all).  The album was released here in England on vinyl for Record Store Day, though I wasn't aware of it at the time so missed out, and I'm not prepared to pay the money it's changing hands for on Ebay, so I plumped for the CD instead.

I've not actually listened to it yet, but looking forward to trying it out over the next few days.

Got that too, Paul! And I've already listened to it, good classic ska all along. No real surprises but the standard across the 2 CDs is quite decent and they're mostly obscure tracks which heightens their appeal.

To highlight some of them, there's a powerful Maytals tune set to a R&B/soul rather than ska rhythm, an early Jimmy James Jamaica-recorded song (more soul than ska), a couple soul ballads and a curious -and infectious- answer record to "Sammy Dead" (titled rather obviously "Sammy No Dead"  ) by the great Clancy Eccles. Add to that some tasty instrumentals by Bobby Aitken and Baba Brooks and you're in for a treat.

Currently listening to the last Duke Robillard record, "Blues Bash!", a no-nonsense r&b party records with horn section, terrific party music.   

Thanks for the review Rafa. 

One of the things that appealed to me was that, at first glance, many of the tracks were obscure (to me anyway).  What I often find in that situation is that I have actually heard some of the tracks previously because I've got loads of downloads which don't have track lists to them, so it often comes as a nice surprise to be able to put an artist to a track.

 

[greenstreet]

Nice bit of my Rocksteady (plus) on Spotify. The Heptones,Ken Boothe,Alton Ellis, The Uniques, Roy Shirley etc. My fav genre of Jamaican sounds.

Great minds, Mo! Rocksteady is for me the peak of Jamaican music, the West Indies version of soul. And Alton Ellis is one of the giants, he recorded some timeless classics.

The bass riff on this is the Jamaican equivalent to James Jamerson riff on "My Girl": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMd8XVEaKO4

Coincidentally enough, on a Jamaican theme, this CD just landed on my doorstep this week - https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-ska-from-jamaica-original-album-plus-bonus-tracks/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2t-49PaR7QIVEywYCh3YvQncEAQYAyABEgJPjvD_BwE - tracks from a couple of years earlier than the Rocksteady sound!!

This is an unreleased album from 1966 (though all the tracks from the 'original' unreleased album had been released on 7'' between 64-66), with a load of extra tracks thrown in on the CD release (59 tracks in all).  The album was released here in England on vinyl for Record Store Day, though I wasn't aware of it at the time so missed out, and I'm not prepared to pay the money it's changing hands for on Ebay, so I plumped for the CD instead.

I've not actually listened to it yet, but looking forward to trying it out over the next few days.

Got that too, Paul! And I've already listened to it, good classic ska all along. No real surprises but the standard across the 2 CDs is quite decent and they're mostly obscure tracks which heightens their appeal.

To highlight some of them, there's a powerful Maytals tune set to a R&B/soul rather than ska rhythm, an early Jimmy James Jamaica-recorded song (more soul than ska), a couple soul ballads and a curious -and infectious- answer record to "Sammy Dead" (titled rather obviously "Sammy No Dead"  ) by the great Clancy Eccles. Add to that some tasty instrumentals by Bobby Aitken and Baba Brooks and you're in for a treat.

Currently listening to the last Duke Robillard record, "Blues Bash!", a no-nonsense r&b party records with horn section, terrific party music.   

Thanks for the review Rafa. 

One of the things that appealed to me was that, at first glance, many of the tracks were obscure (to me anyway).  What I often find in that situation is that I have actually heard some of the tracks previously because I've got loads of downloads which don't have track lists to them, so it often comes as a nice surprise to be able to put an artist to a track.

That also happens to me on a regular basis, Paul, not with downloads but with previous comps. of Jamaican stuff. Some tracks keep popping up, especially on labels compilations, but with the Doctor Bird CDs I'm pleasantly surprised because there's little overlap, I'd just had heard a couple of tracks of the "Ska from Jamaica" for instance.

[DrGonzo2411]

In no way modernist, but I'm currently checking out the Kojey Radical album "Cashmere Tears". A rap album based around some very funky grooves, it comes in at 10 tracks in 29 minutes. Worth slightly less than half an hour of your time if you like that sort of thing.

[Mo]

Haven't played this in ages. SF Sorrow by the Pretty Things. Surely their best album.