Ska music reviews

Right, I'll be honest, the first cd has only one good tune, Owen Grays 'Reggae Dance'.But it's a damn fine tune at that.The 2nd cd is a corker, Bongo Herman has two classic tunes on this disc.'Chairman Of The Board',(with Bingy Bunny and Les) is an amazing version of 'The Liquidator', and 'African Breakfast' is a beautiful rolling instumental.Also worth noting is Audrey Rollins' 'Repatriation'.The rhythm you may recognise from I.Roys classic 'Musical Drum Sound'-the nyahbingi drumming is missing but it is a damn fine tune never-the-less.Cd 3 features the mighty I.Roy himself, with 'High Jacking', his heavy heavy version of Horace Andys 'Skylarking'. Bongo Herman appears with Bingy Bunny again.-'Ration' is their classic cut to Dennis Browns 'Money In My Pocket'and is guaranteed to get you steppers steppin'.The set closes with a Keith Hudson produced Big Youth tune, 'Can You Keep A Secret', this is my favourite dub tune of all time,complete with mean moody harmonica, and worth the money itself. Other highlights are K.C. Whites 'Anywhere But Nowhere', the beautiful voice from 'No No No', delivering another fine, self-penned tune and Delroy Wilsons extremely rare 'Trying To Wreck Up My Life'.BUY THIS!, you will not be disappointed.

I'm honored to be the first reviewer of the Trojan Story.
This cd is a diamond in the rough and can not be recommended enough. Most people don't know, but Ska music was the pre-cursor to Reggae music. Trojan happened to be a record company---a record label which was one of the first record labels to feature this genre of music. As such, The Trojan Story is a mix of artists and songs which highlight ska music. This album is rare---and before the internet it once took me over three years to track down the Trojan Story in America after I had left my only copy in Japan. Any lover of reggae music will love this album---it will enlighten their own understanding and enjoyment of this genre of music. Perfidia is my personal favorite and I have searched long and hard, to no avail, for this version on the internet. (Perfidia by the way means deliberate treachery). Train to Skaville, Don't stay Out Too Late, Yeah-Yeah, Dreader than Dread, Keep the Pressure On, It's Raining, The Whip, Pretty Africa, Do the Beng Beng and, one of the best songs of all time, Rudy, a Message for You. Many of these songs will stay with you for years to come. It is an excellent value for the money because it is two CD's. I can not recommend this album enough....it is very hard to find...and any reggae music lover MUST have this in their collection!! For this is Beauty :)....and Yes, to my friends, it is me Ashley, from Boulder, Osaka and Honolulu :)

What do you get when you breed remarkably gifted musicians with brilliant, momentous and heartfelt songwriting? You get The Fenwicks! Is it rock, ska, or funk? How about all of the above, driven to panic point with tribal-like percussion, cool array of horns, imaginative harmonies and untamed `lead' rhythm guitar. The tunes will reverb in your head for days.

Ferociously independent in style and ideas, The Fenwicks holler that love hurts, society is ruthless and the world is a mess. Listen to the lyrics and become a believer.

Schub sings, philosophizes and entertains with Vaudevillian physical comedy, costumes and props. See them live and your cheeks will hurt from smiling. `Truth & Memory', recorded at a little Manhattan club in summer '02, captures the power and fun ... you'll be sweaty too!

A voice of their generation, The Fenwicks' statement is a modern version of the `live riotous or die' attitude we got from Indie pioneers like Black Flag, Minor Threat and Husker Du. The Fenwick experience is a reminder that musician's can have something to say and inspire you to do the `bone-yard boogie'.

Buy their album and listen to it - over and over again!

This is one of the best albums out there. If you like ska and if you like punk, you'll like this. It has awesome songs like Sell Out, All I Want is More, and Trendy. Or bad songs like... wait, there are no bad songs! Buy it!

Yosi's newest CD is upbeat, clever, playful and just plain fun! Our family has very eclectic tastes in music and this collection of has an infectious variety of imaginative tunes- Under A Big Bright Yellow Umbrella has a retro 60's sound, Selling Salt in the Sahara has a cool reggae beat, Stinky Blues is a great blues tune, Hole in the ground has a Ska beat that my three children LOVE and cant help but dance to and My Flag is just plain sweet, (in the old fashioned sense of the word) There's a cool blues and R & B influence throughout this CD with great harmonica playing.

As a school psychologist and a parent of three young children I know that music has an integral part in stimulating language and vocabulary development. If you are looking for catchy, lighthearted tunes that will appeal to children from toddler age to elementary school age children and adults as well, then you'll want this CD!

If you ever get he chance to see Yosi live please do. He has a pied piper way about out him and has an appealing bit of irreverent clowning and mischievous whimsicality that speaks to the real soul of childhood....... and children just love him!

From Yosi's other two CD's that we also own, our children's favorite songs are -Dinosaur in Love and I Got an Alligator

On their first acoustic album, the Richmond based band shows a softer side after their ska turned alternative rock roots. This live concert recording shows the bands many talents. Lead Singer Schiavone McGee's voice is one of the bands biggest assets and it comes through loud and clear on this album. Among the highlights of this album are the new songs, Lost Our Way, Forgetten, I Disagree, and Waterfall. Fresh versions of Mission Bells and Holiday (old favorites) really show the band's versititlity. My two favorites on the cd are Bend the Light and Lost Our Way. The acousitic version of Bend the Light seems to fit the song perfectly. Kevin Tyson's sax solo in I Disagree is one of my favorites of all time. Still unconvinced? read what Dave Wild, Senior Editor of Rolling Stone said of Fighting Gravity:
"I first had the pleasure of meeting the guys in Fighting Gravity when I was looking to profile an "average" working band making a go of life on the college concert circuit for an article in Rolling Stone. Fortunately, this turned out to be a band that was average in absolutely no way- both as a live act and as people, they were extraordinary. As we tagged along with the guys through a potentially bleak series of frat parties and college cafeteria gigs, the photographer Danny Clinch and I kept nudging each other and remarking how much we were enjoying this obscure group we initially had no intention of actually liking. Suffice it to say both of us became-and remain-instant Gravityheads for life. Now you and everybody else get a chance to discover what a small but loyal East Coast following already knows well."

Tjis band is crazy and so good they have already made a lot of damn nice cd so go buy them now

If you like any ska, at all, buy this CD. Now. They sound kinda like Sublime (or at least you can tell they got a lot of influence from them). The first time I heard this CD I was in a small record store in New Brunswick, Canada. I couldn't believe my ears. Every song on this album is perfect musical harmony. This CD made me laugh, it made me cry, and... uh... everything in between. Some lyrics are hilarious and some are... sad. A lot of the songs are political, and make darn good points. I know so far this review sounds completely cliche, but it is all utter honesty. But really, I promise you will not regret buying this CD (and just to be sure, go download "Better Than Me", "L.A. Beach Bum", or one of the other 17 great songs on this album). When the party does end, you'll wanna go back, again and again and again.

Each track recorded with vocals and in non-vocal Dub Style, by the original Roots Master Producer Upsetter Lee Scratch Perry.

How can a review say anything more about what is good in reggae?

WE CAN ONLY REVIEW ONE SONG ON THIS CD, NAMELY "UPTOWN TOP RANKING". THIS SONG TOPPED THE BRITISH CHARTS AND IS IN THE "GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD HIT SONGS", THE ARTISTES ARE THE LEGENDARY FIRST LADIES OF DJ/RAP MUSIC IN THE WORLD, "ALTHEA & DONNA". WE SINCERELY HOPE THAT THIS COMPILATION IS IN HONOR AND RESPECT OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED ACHIEVEMENTS (JUST TO MENTION A FEW) AND NOT THE USUAL ROAD TO EXPLOITATION WHICH IS PREVALENT IN THE REGGAE MUSIC INDUSTRY. "ALTHEA AND DONNA" NEEDS TO BE APPLAUDED FOR THE DOORS THAT THEY HAVE OPENED FOR OTHERS IN "THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MUSIC".

I was always a big fan of nyabinghi music. If you are not familiar with nyabinghi, think "Rastaman Chant" by Bob Marley; it's a very African sounding folk music style of the rasta religion in Jamaica. When I bought this I expected nothing but nyabinghi music, but when I first played it I was a little dissapointed because a lot of it is simply old school dub with bongo's in it (which I also liked, but it was not the reason I bought this album). But after a while I began to really like the albums. There are too many Ras Michael/Dadawah songs on it, most of them are boring, but there are lots of cool and rare songs on here you wouldn't have discovered anywhere else: like the songs of Bongo Herman (bongo reworkings of classics like Yim mas gan; The liquidator, my conversation, drum song (not the studio one version though)), Roland Downer who sings in amharic over a jazzy backing, the Jimmy Cliff track is cool, the Linkers, Al Vibrators (before he turned into a German porn star, that is), Samuel the First dj-ing over the Melodians "Rivers of Babylon", I Roy dj-ing over Audrey Rollins "Repatriation" (+ version), the calypso music of one Boston Jack, all very very nice. I would recommend this, although it's not 100% nyabinghi music. I would also recommend that you get seriously blunted while listening to it. Only then will you fully understand it.

This is a wonderful set, but I've tried two different copies and both of them had the same problem on tracks 11 & 12 of the 3rd cd: they stop playing about a minute and a half into the track. You can get past that problematic spot if you fast forward a little, but it's annoying nonetheless.

The set features the complete Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus "Nyahbinghi" album and the complete Dadawah "Peace & Love" set, plus an additional track. Both are pretty amazing.