She's Kerosine

The Intrerrupters are an American Ska Punk band formed in Los Angeles almost eight years ago and released their latest album a few weeks ago. It is nothing more than a good time record based on Ska and Beat. I suppose that they are live better than many other bands nowaday, Anyway, it is a soundtrack for supposing the English team against Columbia. Hope that the very young English team will win against Columbia. Not that they are better but I can see the potential for the following years.

Ska Wednesday

During the past days I turned into Ska again and stumbled into The Skatalites once again. They were more than a band - they were an institution for Jamaican music. Formed in the early 60's they played for vocalists like Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff or Peter Tosh. For me they are the godfathers of Ska and had a huge influence to every other band playing this kind of style. I don't have to say more because I am sure a lot of you will know them and every one have a special song for your favourite.

The Skatalites - Guns Of Navarone
The Skatalites - Rock Fort Rock
The Skatalites - Al Capone

Dawning Of A New Era

A few days ago I listened to a radio show featuring famous albums from the last decades. It is a series during the summer and it started with the epoch-making first album by The Specials. Back in 1979 is I had to do my basic military service in German army. Not much money to spent and living mostly together with other guys that have to share the same commitment. But we had a social room in the attic where could meet, drink, talk and listen to music to. In this time ska was the very new thing that was hyped by musical press and I suddenly got infected by this kind of music. Of course I knew a lot of songs from Jamaica and reggae was heard all over but I didn't knew anything about the ska movement in the 60's or what it meant to pop culture in Great Britain. For me it was only a new sound I could agree much to. In these days I owned the albums of The Specials. Madness and other Two Tone bands and I felt save and harm to this sound. The self titled album is still a classic and Wiki tells us this about it:

Musically, the album encapsulates the wave of British ska, greatly reworking the original sound of 1960s Jamaican ska. The music shares the infectious energy and humour of the original sound, but injects new-found anger and punk sensibility. The resulting sound is considerably less laid-back and "Caribbean" sounding than original ska, and dispensed with much of the percussion and the larger horn sections used in the older variety. The Specials also brought guitar to the front of the mix; it had often been a secondary instrument in Jamaican ska

The album produced by Elvis Costello with his anti-racist basic position which hits on rage about unemployment, social injustice, however, also on humor and opposition is still an all time favourite of mine during the last decades. Not only that The Specials brought their own songs to us they also introduced a lot of folks to classic songs by Toots and the Maytals, Prince Buster or Dandy Livingstone. It feels good to remember great records after all these years. 

The Specials - Monkey Man
The Specials - Too Much Too Young
The Specials - (Dawning Of A) New Era
The Specials - You're Wondering Now
The Specials - Doesn't Make It Alright

Rico RIP

Don Cherry: How can you play this way?... So that me can play as well as you, I had to go to Africa to learn there...

Back In The Past

Dirk posted some Peel tapes a few days ago. As I listened to some other music the recent days he took me back to the days long gone by. I think it's time to feature a few bands from this era in the forthcoming weeks that impressed me much at these days or I still like to listen to right now.

Let's start with The Piranhas, a Brighton based punk/new wave band formed in 1977 with heavy influences from Ska, 2-Tone, Mod and reggae. It was the the sound a lot of people at my place could agree with. Listening to their songs makes me often smile and feel happy.

Enjoy.

And here's their appearance at the Peel session back in 1979

Inflammable Material - First Records That Impressed Me Much # 5

It was 1979 when everything in music was possible. You could choose to reggae, punk, new wave or what ever. Then an artist appeared on the scene who combined the best of this genres in it's own kind of music. Look Sharp was not only the title of the first record of Joe Jackson, but also the motto of man from England. Sharp dresses, sharp appearances, sharp sound and pin sharp texts completely acerbity and cynicism. On the first hearing the fantastic new wave rock; just the sound of the hour ; unrestrained guitar reef, quickly massive percussion beat, impetuous melodies and the whole album then also still puts through inexpensive with reggae and Ska loans - at that time every New Wave acts belonged to the basic equipment. There are fantastic songs in this time, but less of them had that piano parts in it. On this record wee many magnificent, dirty small songs about the demented grannies who stagnate in her apartments (Sunday Papers), shy men at the window (Is She Really Going Out With Him), simple couples (Happily Loving Couples) and everything what offers the life so. There was much pun by their raw and direct kind.  There were only a few artists at this time that are able to combine music and words he did on this record - I just want to name The Clash and Elvis Costello. I played this record so many times that I had to buy it on vinyl again. And the greatest compliment I can give to this record is, that the songs on it stood the test of time and sound fresh like on the first day. And even when  he drifted to another musical genres I followed him as well. I saw him several times live and was astonished how good the band played their songs. Awesome concerts I remember so well.

Joe Jackson - One More Time
Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers
Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him
Joe Jackson - Fools In Love

Songs The Lord Told Us # 7

In the early days when I begun to run this blog I started a series about songs they were fantastic and mean a lot to me. I don't know why I stopped it but I think it's worth to continue this series during the next months. There will be no default concerning temporal classification or music style in this series. Load to you surprise what will soon appear.

Back in 1979 is was for a lot of month in the army. I remember very well what's new at this year. Dire Straits released their first record and Pink Floyd released their double record The Wall. But I fell in love with Ska and Two Tone when I saw the first time The Specials on German TV. A bunch of black and white boys dressed up like 60s mods made a performance with some reggae influenced music. I didn't knew much about this music than it's origin was in Jamaica. And A Message to you, Rudy was my song of the summer and I will always love it. But if anyone would ask me for my favorite Specials song I would say: Listen to the song below.

To understand this song you've got to go back in history:
On the 4th of May, 1979 a woman assumes with Margaret Thatcher for the first time in the history of Great Britain the office of the prime minister. She stands for a hard conservative course friendly to economy: She wants no social state, hates the trade unions and attacks migrants. Before the parliamentary elections she stated: »It is no question from the left or on the right, but an objective statement that we too a few do not separate rather too many foreigners have.«

Hardly in the government the »iron lady prescribes« for the social system a rigid shortening programme and makes worse the stay rights for migrants. In the course of her reign she privatises virtually all state enterprises – from the dockyards and ironworks about the coal pits and airports up to the local drinking water care and the public local traffic. After not even two years in the office the Thatcher's government is one of the unmost popular in the British history. No wonder: In Thatcher's Great Britain the empires celebrate, the arms become poorer. In 1981 more than twice as many people are without job like with Thatcher's assumption of office: All together there are 2.7 million unemployed people. The economic crisis meets the British cities in the heart. The formerly flourishing commercial towns of London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester shrink: Empty warehouses, neglected docks, neglected railway area, boarded up stores and unoccupied houses.

The Specials these impressions process in "Ghost Town" musically. The song starts with howling sirens, jangling wind whistle and a dim organ sound: Welcome to the ghost town. The transverse flute breathes the song subject by the boxes. At the latest now everybody thinks of desolate streets, collapsed houses and clattering shutters. However, then charged blowers interrupt crashing the scene as if the Specials wanted to say: »Awake on! Here this is no dream. You are not in any desolate Wild-West-tourist-ghost tows: Here this is the reality.«

The band plays a classical reggae dub: The bright guitar counters the dark bass. The unmistakeable basic rhythm of the reggae originates from the stress of the second and fourth tact part. The percussion, the blowers and the organ come, however, the sound remains minimalist. The Specials work with contrasts. About the "good-mood-riddim" the singers propagate her serious message: »In this country there are no jobs« and »The government leaves the youngsters« in the sting a voice shouts. »The people become furious«, another roars.

The Specials - Ghost Town (12 inch)