Lynn Taitt R.I.P

Some 30 years have passed since the golden age of Jamaican music.
That magical musical era is to this listener a mere span of 15 years - from 1965 to 1980. What fuelled this world changing music explosion has been addressed in numerous books, essays and reviews but never explained - and rightly so. There is no satisfactory explanation for genius, inspiration or artistic innovation.
At a rough guess, the most important figures in Jamaican music in the aforementioned 15 year period number 100 true innovators (I must give this more thought!). There are fewer of these oft unappreciated and underrated musicians, singers and producers alive with every passing year.
Ranking somewhere in the top 20 of that select few is the incomparable Lynn Taitt.
Sadly he passed on recently, but not without bestowing upon humanity a wealth of wonderful music. Credited with the invention of the Rocksteady music style, Lynn Taitt was a masterful musical arranger and the proponent of a deceptively simple guitar playing style that has influenced every reggae player to this day though they may be unaware of this fact.
One hopes that Lynn passed on knowing that he gave much and owed nothing.

Thank you Nairlin 'Lynn' Taitt'
We owe you...

Tommy Mc Cook interview

This is very special:

Rock Steady Documentary

Many of the great Rock Steady producers, singers and musicians have already passed on but it looks like they are assembling a good enough collection of those still living.

The musicians who are flying in for the film, album and concert, are singer Dawn Penn (No No No) from London, singer Hopeton Lewis (Take it Easy) from New York, and guitarist Hux Brown (The Dynamites) from California.

They will be joined on stage and in the recording studio at Tuff Gong by the legendary singers who still live in Jamaica: Ken Boothe (Shanty Town), Judy Mowatt (Silent River), Stranger Cole (Morning Train), Derrick Morgan (Conquering Ruler), Leroy Sibbles (Equal Rights), Marcia Griffiths (The Tide is High),The Tamlins and U-Roy (Stop That Train).

I thought U-Roy was no longer with us...and it was Keith and Tex who performed the great 'Stop That Train.' Desmond Dekker (Daicres) was the singer on '007 Shanty Town' - maybe Ken Boothe also has a song by that name or covered it (?). The 'Tide is High' is by the Paragons when John Holt was with them.

Well regardless of the dubious journalistic accuracy in this brief report from the Jamaica Observer, if they make a good job of it, this documentary could be great. It would be especially interesting and vastly more entertaining if they could involve some of the less well known but often more talented artists in this project.

Such as, Leonard Dillon (Ethiopians), the Melodians, Keith and Tex, Pat Kelly, the Gaylads, Lynn Taitt etc. Some of the more obscure artists from Joe Gibbs stable for example would be really great to include: Errol Dunkley, Keith Blake (aka Prince Alla), The Pioneers, Neville Hinds, Roy Shirley, Dennis Walks, Jackie Robinson, Eric 'Monty' Morris, Hugh Malcolm...
Sadly, Jackie Mittoo, Tommy McCook and Delroy Wilson, some of my all time favourites are permanently unavailable...

The brief Rock Steady period in Jamaican music is one of the richest veins of musical creativity in any culture and despite its short run its many astoundingly prolific exponents went on to be the great performers, musicians and producers of the reggae period and beyond. A truly golden era which richly deserves a fitting documentary tribute.

Books about Dub and Reggae

A few books on my favourite subject and my impressions of them. Not reviews as I'm sure none of my comments would do justice to the many hours, months, years of research and toil that went into making them.
The Rough Guide to Reggae
Steve Barrow & Peter Dalton

I can succinctly describe this book as indispensable reading for anyone interested in any of the Jamaican musical styles. Steve Barrow is almost legendary to lovers of reggae as possessing encyclopaedic knowledge of his chosen subject and significantly for his work as one of the main protagonists at Blood & Fire records (finest reissue label ever. No contest). I am now on my third copy of this great book. I gave away the first two copies - one to a visiting German young man (who helped me out with vocals on an electronic track titled 'Fleischtraum') in the hope that it would encourage his fledgling interest in this kind of music - the other to an kindly Rastafarian gentleman named Isachar while on a visit to Kingston. Not having much to offer in the form of money to thank him for his generous guidance I thought it the least I could do. I had little else of value and I really hope he didn't think me a skinflint. I was in fact giving him something I valued highly.
Well, that was a few years ago and I recently got around to getting another copy. It really has been updated and contains heaps of new entries.
When this book is really complete (if such a thing is possible with a guide to reggae) then it must surely attain biblical size and length! I'm sure much has been left out to fit the Rough Guide format...

There is a subjectivity to Barrow and Dalton's writing, but I have found the recommendations to be almost unfailingly spot-on for my taste. Others may differ on this aspect...
If you have money to spend on some Ska, Reggae, Dub or whatever - buy this book so that you can buy wisely. You won't be disappointed.
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Solid Foundation
An Oral History of Reggae
David Katz
I did not expect this to be anywhere near as good as it is. But is an excellent read, whether to read through or later dip in and out of as I tend to do. Now where is it again? Anyway, I'm made aware (by one of the subjects of this book) that Mr. Katz takes his London-based self-imposed Reggae chronicling duties very seriously indeed, sometimes apparently to the point of irritating his subjects...somehow his methods seem to pay off.
When reading the book however, he is evidently at his best when invisible, in the background, weaving the various oral histories into a chronological tapestry that holds together remarkably well.
Many well known names are included, offering their take on how things came about - reassuringly contradicting each other on occasion. But more importantly, when reading we hear the voices and opinions of many lesser known and often more interesting characters in the fascinating story of Jamaican music.
One baffling thing is that Prince Alla (ne Keith Blake) is purported to be nicknamed 'gentle giant' due to his stature. Having met the great Prince Alla (he's on a track on my first podcast) I can certify that he is shorter than me. That would make him about 5' 7" which is nothing to be ashamed of but certainly not the kind of height that would result in such a moniker. Unless we're talking about the sarcastic irony of 7 foot tall Rasta giants.
Either way, he is a gentle and lovely man and a giant in Reggae.

I must assume that this apparent anomaly in Mr. Katz's work is one of a kind but the thrust of this commentary - is let the people speak for themselves and do your work in the background, both of which he has done very well...
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Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae
Michael E. Veal

OK, before I begin, I should say that I tried very hard to give this one a fair chance knowing that it would be very difficult for any mortal to 'get it right' as far as this Dub-obsessed personage is.
Some background: It was May 2007 and I was preparing for a rare bit of music related travel to Sweden for a music festival where I was to join a group of musicians/producers to collaborate on a Dub project for a week. This joint effort was to culminate in a live festival performance (of Dub? well weirdly yes...) which did indeed happen. So while happily wallowing in all things DUB at the best of times I thought 'you can never have enough' and found a book called 'Dub' - wow! I don't think there was one before this. I couldn't wait to read what kind of approach was taken, what kind of material explored.

I will not go into much detail. I've tried to forget as much as possible. This is the driest post-grad academic effort imaginable. So much of it is drawn from other popular texts on the subject (yes with attribution/credit, so what?) and when original it is merely a bone dry dissection of some great and some totally obscure dubs that in the reading give no hint whatsoever of their musicality. It is almost like he doesn't actually like the music but must study and understand it and write a dissertation - upon whose instructions? There is not much passion for the music here.
I have tried dipping back in. Still a sad experience. In fact this book was my main inspiration for getting another copy of the Rough Guide to Reggae (see above) to restore something that was lost in reading Mr. Veal's bookish treatise.

Perhaps it is best to not attempt to intellectualize any form of music as I have always maintained - except when the music purports to be a musically intellectual form - which last time I listened Dub does not do. Clever, but not bookish.

The difference between this Dub/Reggae book and others, is that I don't think Michael Veal spent very much time really listening to the music (and actually enjoying it!) and may be conflating the academic process of intellectualizing jazz and similar forms with the genuine need for attention to be duly paid to a genre that demands respect and book space. But surely not on the same terms, being so starkly different (and better!). Others have clearly devoted much of their lives to their subject. I respect that immensely in writers such as Steve Barrow, David Katz, Lloyd Bradley.
Michael Veal, better get back to the North American stuff.

Really, I don't mean to be unkind...

If anyone knows of any books I've missed, let me know in the comments.
And no, I have not forgotten Katz's 'People Funny Boy' but I just don't feel lunatic enough to comment on it...
Roger Steffens has a new one out, that might be my next read...
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an evening with: The Soul Brothers: Last Train to Skaville

I was very excited to get my ears around this reissue of tracks I had for the most part never heard before. Listening on the iPod I was definitely delighting in the music - so exciting to hear a track such a 'Ska-culation' and rack my brain to finally figure out that it is a loose cover of the Chantays 'Pipeline' (more on this kind of oddity at a later date I'm sure!) - but after a few tracks the novelty of the new tracks quickly waned. I was definitely conscious of the fact that I was hearing the tunes through the sound destroying ear buds that came with the pod...and then I got home and...

The remastering is thoroughly awful. I think it is a Studio One reissue, so there is not much of a surprise in this, but I have my own vinyl rips of the Carib Soul and Hot Shot LPs and they sound so bright, energetic and musical in comparison. The 'Last Train...' tracks sound pretty dead to my ears. The difference? If you must insist on removing clicks and scratches you must know what you are doing (check anything reissued by Blood and Fire who I think in most cases did and continue to do a stellar job of bringing the music to life and minimizing the extraneous vinyl noise in a subtle fashion) . If you are anything like me, you would rather have the clicks and scratches and whatever other surface noise if you can hear the music (check the podcast in a previous posting). On these tracks I can still hear the clicks but they are clearly EQed out in some blanket way - so obviously the frequencies that are the same as the clicks are also minimized. Bad news by any sonic reckoning. Much of the drums, hats and cymbals are very obviously lost and much else I'm sure...

In fairness to Studio One, we're still talking about a fairly ad hoc system of reissue from my understanding. I have Studio One vinyl that to my ears sounds like it has been ripped to tape from vinyl and then re-pressed, resulting in a weird double layer of clicks. It makes interesting listening sometimes! But when the vinyl copy is good it can be ripped and still sound vibrant. what in the name of the god of sound can be wrong with a bit of surface noise?

To add to this, I have met a few times a sound engineer who was present at a session of Studio One tape archiving (I know not the studio or circumstances but it was prob. about late 80s). He (Mike D) told me that much of the very early Studio One material was on one track paper tape (!) and that the archive process involved trying to get the paper tape to pass successfully over the heads. In many cases the tape disintegrated immediately after passing over the heads. Powdered musical genius anyone. you could sell it in bottles...

So maybe some of this Soul Brothers material fits into this category of only redeemable via vinyl.

So I would say, these are great tracks for the most part, but if you can find them on vinyl - do it. I certainly will.

And this applies to most pre - say 1975 stuff for me now. I don't have the cash but, hell, better to spend a bit on the real deal instead of a hack job of vinyl ripping.

All of that said, there are some great tracks on here and only a couple of dupes from Carib Soul and Hot Shot (one from the JM Tribute - the excellent Boogaloo track) - I recommend the music without reservation - it is wonderful but it could sound so much better...gimme the vinyl and I'll do an honest to goodness straight rip, clicks'n'all!

Side notes: If this is Jackie Mittoo at age 13+ playing and arranging, it is truly humbling! The Soul Brothers at Studio One material is a really interesting period that I would like to hear a lot more of (leave comments with recommendations please!). In this music you have Ska-becoming Rock Steady-being jazzy and loading a lot of (current at the time) pop culture than people are aware of. Make no assumptions. these kids were sophisticated. But having fun. Chicken and Booze! Alright, where's mine?