Rude boy gone a foreign

May 20, 2013 by marleyrkives

That’s right. The Raver is scouring the streets of one of the great American cities this week…Montreal, steady looking for that vintage vinyl. Seriously, it is shocking how much American culture dominates this French-Canadian territory. I mean, just like America, the people are rude-as-shit, hippies begging for cash on the corners, and each restaurant greasier that the previous one. I’ll tell you what though, Montreal has something that you will never find in the good ole US of A (well, maybe in Vegas, but I disowned Vegas in 2003). Michael Jackson street performers! I shit you not. On every corner too. I can watch that all day. Most would say that Michael Jackson is a great American export, although I would disagree (I have a problem with alleged kid-diddlers and convicted ones too). Here are a few others you can thank us for:

1. The Simpsons (Love it so much that it’s all I’m watching while in Montreal, AND IT’S IN FRENCH!)

2. Ice (They look at me here like a lunatic when I ask where the ice machine is. So American)

3. Great zombie movies (I will explain)

So it appears that they are filming a zombie movie or television show outside my hotel. I realized it when I woke up, opened the curtains, looked down, and saw about 50 zombies creeping down the street. I flipped. Thought the end was near. I asked the concierge about the zombies (“Is this a Montreal thing?”) and he said no worries, just filming for TV. Whew! Thought I was done for. So my mind started to wonder: wouldn’t it be great if there was a “Zombie Circus”? A real travelling circus, just with zombies. They would do trapeze, high wire walking, etc. They could stick their heads in the mouths of lions, and when the lions bite off their heads, they keep performing headless. I would go see that.

So to mark my trip to Montreal, here are a few cuts from Eek-A-Mouse’s superb 1988 album “U-Neek,” produced by Gussie Clarke for Peace Posse, including “Rudeboy Gone A Foreign.”. If you don’t have this one, track it down…it’s a killa. Hard to find though.

One note, I get tears in my eyes when I listen to the first one here “Let The Children Play.” An elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma was decimated today by the devil’s tornado. Multiple casualties. Unspeakable.

R-1265423-1210522961

Album Of The Week! Barrington Levy – Teach Me Culture (1983)

May 18, 2013 by marleyrkives

BARRINGTON LEVY ‘TEACH ME CULTURE’ (LIVE AND LEARN) 1983

Without question, Barrington Levy’s strongest effort is 1983′s ‘Teach Me Culture,’ engineered by Crucial Bunny and featuring the Roots Radics. What rules this album is the Radics’ riddims, each one more dangerous than the previous, and Levy’s lyrics. Whether singing about a neglectful father in “One Foot Jo Jo” or hungry children in “Don’t Pretend,” this album transports us back to a time when Levy was still hungry. That he was prolific is not surprising. That he was able to continually come with material this strong for some 15 years is stunning. Just a jawbreaker from beginning to end.

Don’t Pretend
Teach Me Culture
To Love Someone
Lonely Man
One Foot Jo Jo
Now A Days
Jah Is With Me
Trying To Rule My Life
Mind You Hurt My Mom

Producer : Helena Hall & Barrington Levy

Engineer : Crucial Bunny

Backing Band : The Roots Radics

Studios :
Recording : Channel One (Kingston, JA)

Clive Field Marshall “Wha Happen to the Hostage?” (Wackies)

May 18, 2013 by marleyrkives

Here is a true gem from the Wackies crew. From the incomparable album ‘Poor House Rockers’ we have Clive Field Marshall’s “Wha Happen to the Hostage?,” Clive’s take on the 1980 Iran hostage situation where US President Jimmy Carter could do nothing to secure the release of American hostages in Iran. In steps Ronnie Reagan and the hostages come home. Big Up Clive Field Marshall for this amazing track! ‘Poor House Rockers’ is the album that originated the phrase “be careful how you drive ‘pon New Jersey turnpike,” a phrase that would be lifted by every two-bit rap artists circa 1992. A true original here…

Apple Gabriel (Israel Vibration) “Rock On” (Londoner) 12″ vinyl single

May 10, 2013 by marleyrkives

Here is something you probably haven’t heard! In the early eighties, Israel Vibration left Jamaica for the NYC. It is in these early days in NYC that Apple Gabriel, backed by Skelly and Wiss, records this single which was released as a 12″ on the Londoner label. Just three years later, the roots trio will team up with Doctor Dread and release their roots revival masterpiece “Strength Of My Life” on Doc’s RAS label.

“Rock On” is a jumpy tune with stupefying organs and keys.