Blood and Fire's founder Steve Barrow interviewed

This interview with Steve Barrow reveals nice bit of background information on the runnings of Blood and Fire Records (best reggae and dub reissue label bar none).

Actually, now I notice more interviews with him so I may as well link them too:

Nice Up interview with Steve Barrow

Reggae News interview with Steve Barrow

Home Studio Recording then and now

I was dipping once again into Eddie Shaw's 'Black Monk Time' (a really entertaining read whether you like the Monk's music or not), when I came across this passage:

...We found the only studio in Heidelburg, situated in the house of of an elderly man. We had never seen a recording studio before, and he had never recorded a beat band before. We stacked our equipment against the wall, in a room containing just enough standing room for five people and a couch. The old man then warned us that the recording wouldn't sound good if we played loud. We recorded two songs, originally written by Dave and Gary. In compliance with the old man's directions, we almost whispered the words to "Boys are Boys," and "There She Walks."
Having listened to western music in East Germany, Angelika's new knowledge was somehow disappointing. If only the East Germans knew. It had to be one of the best kept secrets of the cold war. How many kids would enjoy those romantic reveries if they knew how the records were made? "Only You," her favorite song in the East Zone, would never sound the same. Certainly it had been recorded in someone's house, as in an old-fashioned photographer's studio with a couch and family photographs, and cooking smells from the kitchen.

I wonder what the 'old man' thought of this recording session - and exactly what was his 'studio' intended for when not being used by four ex-servicemen stationed in Germany 40+ years ago.
Strange how so much has changed in a few short years since the introduction of the digital audio work station. A few microphones, a functioning computer, some free software and you have a recording studio. Add some instruments, production skills and a heap of talent and you've got all you need to make great music and chase the big four out of town! They make product, not music.
I found out that Dave Day of the Monks, the world's foremost (possibly only) exponent of the electrified banjo passed on recently. His playing on 'Black Monk Time' is a great contribution to the music world and surely his like will never been seen or heard again.

It is 42 years since the release of "Black Monk Time" and it still kicks ass due in large part to Dave's staccato hacking and chopping on the banjo strings. Great stuff indeed. Surprisingly unavailable on iTunes so you might just have to find it on CD. A vinyl copy might actually be worth something. Very rare I'm sure. No sign of it on E-bay at present. You can get the CD as an import from Amazon, or so the Monks' official website says. Oh, and the 'Black Monk Time' album was not actually recorded in the old man's parlour! It was recorded in a 'real' studio...

... and a special treat is seeing and hearing the singular uberbeat style of the Monks in action in these YouTube videos.

The King of Dub

I don't know where this clip is from but it is a real delight to actually see video footage ('inchage' in this case perhaps) of Osbourne Ruddock better known as King Tubby. Thanks to Steve Barker for passing the link on.

Mikey Dread RIP

Sadly Michael Campbell aka Mikey Dread passed away on March 15th 2008.
Another great artist and performer has passed on.

Mikey Dread Battles Brain Tumour

Sending some positive vibes to legendary DJ and producer Mr. Michael Campbell - sincerely hoping he can overcome his illness.

A Very Bad and Desperate Idea

Music industry fools run around around like headless chickens
or something like that...

If the record companies receive this tithe from the ISPs there is little hope of it ever reaching the artists (as recently proven by the news that the millions in damages won by the RIAA have not been disbursed to artists in any significant amounts). This is yet another desperate bid by the big 4 to shore up their failing profits and to forestall the collapse of their antiquated business model. As I've said before, the record companies need to break apart their various departments and go independent if they wish to survive in business.

To be remotely fair, the record companies would need to agree to some kind of no contest clause - so that regardless of what music content is shared online they would not attempt to interfere in any way with the natural order of P2P file sharing. They should be legally required to take the undeserved pound of flesh and shut the hell up.

Judging by this report and several others in the recent past, these talking heads know very little about anything and their primary role is to protect failing businesses by curbing progress and creativity. The welfare of the artists is not a significant consideration in any of these discussions or proposals.

It is reassuring to know how desperate they really are and that it is now and ever will be safe to download freely with roughly a 0.000488% chance of being shaken down by the so called 'content providers'. One day, we will all look back at this time and laugh, grimly, because there is little chance that human stupidity is on the wane...

Amen

Crazy mixed-up NBC...why I oughta...

They don't really know what they are doing, do they?

The 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2007

A friend sent me this link today - almost every word is true.
It seems that nowadays it would be almost impossible to compile a 50 Most Lovable list!

Hammond Organs then and now

I just stumbled across this page.
The 'brief history' is indeed very brief but interesting. I can't imagine what sort of sounds Henry Ford would have been getting from the first Hammond organ but I can imagine uncomfortable scenes of the immensely wealthy and powerful Ford 'entertaining' his guests with his renditions of popular church music of the day. Anyone know any details about this?

And I wonder if the jurors had not been cloth eared dolts (who couldn't tell the difference between a real pipe organ and an electric tonewheel organ), what would the Hammond organ have been called? An electric piano? Surely not. Perhaps an electromagnetic harmonium?

I didn't know they were still making B3s. Only $23,950! But as anyone with a love of the organ stylings of Jackie Mittoo knows, the organ really needs to be well broken in to get that texture and color in the sound. A bit out of tune is usually a good thing too!

They even have their own sound module!

The ultra modern models just don't look right. I wonder what they sound like...

A more thorough history of Laurens Hammond, his early inventions and the Hammond organ itself is here.
Well worth reading (the site itself needs a lot of repair as does the punctuation, grammar etc. but in this age of instantaneous publication I think we can all turn a blind eye...)
"In the mid-60's Hammond began to recognize the increasing influence of men like Jimmy Smith, Groove Holmes and Brother Jack McDuff on the American musical scene. Without much effort or concentration, Hammond had cornered the jazz business for years simply because of the love affair between the artists and the B-3, the only instrument on the market giving them the "dirty" sound they were looking for".

Ireland to be Guinea Pig in ISP piracy battle?

IFPI Takes Irish ISP (Eircom) to Court
Let's just hope this suit gets thrown out.
Eircom’s lawyers...say that Eircom was “not on notice of specific illegal activity that infringed the rights of the companies”, adding that it was under no legal obligation to monitor traffic on its network.
I agree wholeheartedly...

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