Keith Hudson galore

Almost 30 years after his untimely death only 38 years old, the one and only Keith Hudson is perhaps hotter than ever before.

Greensleeves has recently reissued a deluxe two CD version of his Rasta Communication album and Sunspot has reissued his first album Furnace.

On top of this Vincent Ellis and Jean Scrivener have published an illustrated Keith Hudson discography in the form of pdf files on a DVD-ROM. It contains a comprehensive listing of albums, singles, compilations, riddims and productions of other artists as well as cover art and additional information.

Keith Hudson is a key artist in the development of reggae and a producer, songwriter and arranger with a uniquely deep and atmospheric style. His first hit song was Ken Boothe’s excellent Old Fashion Way released in 1968, and Keith Hudson was also the producer who provided Big Youth with his breakthrough hit – the Honda motorbike tribute S. 90 Skank.

Furnace was originally issued in 1972 on Hudson’s own Inbidimts label and includes twelve tracks with riddims supplied by relentless Soul Syndicate band and vocals courtesy of Dennis Alcapone, U Roy Junior and Keith Hudson himself, who has an unorthodox and non melodic singing style, not to everybody’s taste.

The exquisite sleeve notes to Furnace, provided by the aforementioned Vincent Ellis, give a detailed overview of the album and a comment to each of the twelve tunes.

Five years after the release of Furnace Keith Hudson dropped the dub album Brand, also known as The Joint. It was oddly enough released a year before its vocal counterpart Rasta Communication. Both of these albums are now put out in a deluxe two CD package complete with several hard to find bonus cuts and extended versions, including the previously unreleased dub version to I Broke the Comb.

The riddims on Rasta Communication are sparse and strained, and uses only guitar, bass, drums and keys. The vocals are solely handled by Keith Hudson, and the mixes on Rasta Communication in Dub are edgy and grim.

Keith Hudson’s music may not be for everyone, but these albums show an artist and a producer with an individual style and many years ahead of his time.

Busy Signal pays homage to Jamaica’s musical heritage

Busy Signal is the versatile dancehall deejay that this year changed course and dropped the acclaimed album Reggae Music Again, recorded with real musicians and under the guidance of veteran performers such as Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths and Dean Fraser. Reggaemani got a chat with him during a recording session break in Jamaica.

Dancehall artist Busy Signal recently dropped his first reggae album.

Two years ago dancehall superstar Busy Signal – with the massive hardcore hits Tic Toc and Wine Pon De Edge – released his third album D.O.B, a more varied set compared to his previous albums Step Out and Loaded. It included the Latin flavored Picante and Busy Latino, the acoustic unity plea Let Peace Reign and two reggae songs – a romantic rendition of the Commodores’ Night Shift and a seductive version of Phil Collins’ One More Night.

Shifts musical direction
The response he received from those two songs prompted a dramatic shift in his musical course, and in a press release he says he had to go in this musical direction, partly because he felt it was his duty to highlight and contribute to reggae music.

“This is the first time I do a reggae album with real instruments and proper guidance from Beres Hammond, Marcia Griffiths and Dean Fraser. I want to show respect to real reggae music,” declares a humble Busy Signal when I reach him on the phone outside of a studio in Jamaica, and continues:

“It’s the greatest genre and I want to be true to my own culture and show versatility.”

Busy also makes it clear that Reggae Music Again is not recorded and released to celebrate Jamaica’s 50 years of independence. This album is to celebrate Jamaica’s musical heritage and it was finished last year.

Introduced to reggae
The man who taught him all he needs to know about reggae is his manager and producer Shane C. Brown, son of legendary mixing engineer Errol Brown. They met in March 2007 and nowadays work as a team.

“He mostly does one drop reggae, and I introduced him to dancehall. We’re a good team,” he explains.

The roots reggae album Reggae Music Again is a brand new set, not a collection of previously released songs, and currently holds the ninth spot in the Billboard Reggae Chart.

It’s a stark departure from the relentless computerized beats that have dominated Busy Signal’s three earlier albums. The tough, multi layered one-drop rhythms on Reggae Music Again were crafted by some of Jamaica’s most acclaimed musicians and recorded live at Kingston studios Tuff Gong and Penthouse.

Celebrates reggae through music and lyrics
The album clearly shows an artist that has managed to grow and believes in versatility. Reggae Music Again is also Busy Signal’s way of highlighting the origin of dancehall music.

“I’m still doing dancehall and it still means a lot to me,” he explains.

Through both music and lyrics he celebrates the uplifting spirit and tightly woven grooves that epitomize Jamaica. Commentaries such as Modern Day Slavery, Jah Love and Run Weh show his concerns for culture, religion and societal ills, themes that have distinguished roots reggae from other musical forms since the early 1970’s.

But Busy Signal can also be heard as a devoted singing lover on Missing You and the smooth acoustic Comfort Zone.

Imitating Joe Lickshot
His deejay skills are shown in the sparse and dark hip-hop inspired 119 with guest artists Anthony Red Rose and Joe Lickshot, a legendary ‘hype man’ as well as an introduction and sound effect specialist.

It turns out that Busy Signal is a huge fan of Joe Lickshot’s work, and he tried many, many times to do the vocal effects by himself, but didn’t like what he heard.

“I listened to him on Youtube and I listened to him for hours when driving around in my car, but didn’t manage to get it right,” explains Busy Signal, and continues:

“He has his own style, that raspy, vintage sound. I couldn’t get it right myself, and I really knew what I wanted.”

The solution was to find the man himself, which turned out to be easier said than done. Busy googled him, but didn’t find any contacts, so Shane C. Brown had to help out, and eventually came in contact with him.

Spreading reggae to a wider audience
With Reggae Music Again Busy Signal is also able to spread reggae music to a wider audience, since his following is mostly into dancehall. Making the transition from dancehall to reggae also demands talent, skills and versatility, a quality he often comes back to in the interview.

“I’m just doing music, no matter what genre. Music to roll to and music to dance to. I’m fusing a lot of styles,” he says, and concludes:

“I would think of do more reggae. The feedback I get is just great and right now I just feel overwhelmed.”

A celebration of Ossie Thomas’ productions

Ossie Thomas is probably not one of the most well-know Jamaican producers from the dancehall craze of the early 80’s, even though he worked with some of the roughest and toughest talents in that era, including Frankie Paul, Sugar Minott and the Mighty Diamonds. Of course also Triston Palma, with whom he owned the label Black Solidarity.

This imprint is now the subject of a well-deserved compilation on Kingston Sounds/Jamaican Recordings, a label known for their high quality design and vinyl, but with less effort put into mastering, sound quality and liner notes. And this time the label has made a particularly disturbing mistake.

The title of the album is Birth of Dancehall – Black Solidarity 1976-1979. Reggae devotees know that the dancehall genre was born around 1979, and not three years earlier as indicted in the title. These tracks are rather from the early to mid 80’s.

But this bad mistake aside, Birth of Dancehall offers some great vintage dancehall with riddims supplied by the tight backing band known as Soul Syndicate.

The sound quality is generally a little shoddy and varies throughout the album, and it’s a pity that one of the best tracks – Ashanti Waughn’s Police Police – has very poor quality. String Up the Sound System from Michael Palmer, Puddy Roots’ Champion Bubbler and Early B’s Me Want Join the Army have on the other hand both sound and song quality.

Black Solidarity hasn’t been sufficiently represented in the reissue market and hopefully this release will be followed by others.

Birth of Dancehall – Black Solidarity 1976-1979 is currently available as LP and CD, with the latter containing four bonus cuts.

More of the same from Romain Virgo

Jamaican sweetheart Romain Virgo is back with his second album, the follow-up to his much acclaimed self-titled debut album from two years back, released when he was only 20 years old.

The System has been preceded by several strong tunes, among them Wha Dis Pon Me on the Go Fi Her riddim and the infectious first single I Am Rich In Love.

It collects 15 songs tuned both in a lovers mood as well as a more conscious one, with titles such as Food Fi the Plate and Broken Heart.

Recorded mostly at the famous Donovan Germain-owned Penthouse studio in Jamaica and with production helmed by Shane Brown, Niko Browne, Vikings and Donovan Germain himself, The System is destined to be a first-class set.

And it is, even though Romain Virgo repeats himself. The System is cooked according to the same tasty recipe as his debut, which means powerful energetic vocals on top of contemporary well-produced one drop riddims.

Standout cuts include the smooth rub a dub feeling of Fired Up Inside on a relick of the Beat Down Babylon riddim made famous by Junior Byles, Another Day, Another Dollar with a gentle saxophone courtesy of Dean Fraser and the pop masterpiece Ray of Sunshine, with a synthesizer that would have made P-funk veteran George Clinton of Funkadelic and Parliament proud.

The System will probably not win any awards for being the most unique or innovative album in 2012, but it contains enough strong melodies and captivating vocals to keep me interested.

A mixed bag from Rebellion the Recaller

My first encounter with Rebellion the Recaller – a French singjay of Gambian descent – was the very worthwhile Ken Boothe combination Pure and Strong from his international debut album Movin On, released in 2008 on the German label IM Music. Movin On – produced by the acclaimed Bobby “Digital” Dixon – was a decent album, but suffered from being too long.

Rebellion’s new album In This Time can be diagnosed with the same condition. It’s actually even worse since it contains three more tunes and it adds up to a total of 20 songs, at least five too many. Cohesiveness is not In This Times’ strongest suit.

Nowadays Rebellion lives in Germany and several of the tracks are produced by local producers such as Silly Walks and Germaica. It also contains a combination with German superstar Gentleman, a tune also included on his acclaimed album Diversity, put out in 2010.

And several of the songs have previously been released. You have Murderer on the Aspire riddim, the Shabu duet Keep Me Original on the Question? riddim and Don’t Give a Damn on the Bonafide riddim.

Rebellion is an excellent singjay and is at ease with one drop and dancehall as well as more hip-hop tinged beats.

But Movin On gives the impression of being rushed and the label should have put more energy into selecting the tunes. Now it just wanders in too many directions.

Groundation continue in the same progressive vein

Northern California’s reggae celebrities Groundation recently dropped Building an Ark, their seventh studio album, following 2009’s Here I Am.

This nine piece outfit was formed in 1998 by guitarist/singer/lyricist Harrison Stafford, keyboardist Marcus Urani and bassist Ryan Newman. Other members have fluctuated over the years, but have always included a brass section and strong backing vocals.

Groundation are no strangers to influences from non-reggae genres, and their albums – Building an Ark included – have been an eclectic melting pot of roots reggae, dub, jazz, funk, soul and salsa spiced with pop melodies.

Building an Ark has a distinct energetic live feeling throughout the ten tracks and also shows great musicianship via arrangements and several solos – guitar, trumpet, trombone and percussion particularly get the opportunity to show off.

The thing with Groundation though is Harrison Stafford’s singing style. It’s certainly an acquired taste, being nasal, nervous and dramatic. But the progressive musical backing along with soulful female backing vocals makes Building an Ark worth a few spins in the record player.

A solid reggae debut from Lloyd de Meza

Dutch soul singer Lloyd de Meza has teamed up with his compatriots in production crew Not Easy At All Productions and label JahSolidRock. The result is his love-infused debut reggae album Back to Eden, a set based on the rootsy rock-solid backing that has previously provided the foundation for albums by Chezidek, Apple Gabriel and Earl Sixteen.

One of Lloyd de Meza’s first takes on voicing reggae was Part of My Life included on the various artists’ compilation Cultural Vibes Vol. 1 put out in late 2010. Previously he has released several hit singles  in the contemporary soul/R&B vein in his native language.

Apparently Lloyd de Meza started to record reggae by accident. He dropped by the JahSolidRock studio, enjoyed what he heard – pounding bass lines, groovy drum patterns and melodic horns – and voiced one riddim after another.

Lie to Me was the first single from Back to Eden and dropped about a year ago. It contained some wicked clavinet work and a catchy chorus. The album is in the same strong vein, and particular highlights include the three combinations Back to Eden, Mama and City of Love with Joggo, Richie Spice and Kinah, a female singer I’d love to hear more from.

Back to Eden shows once again that the combination of Not Easy At All Productions and JahSolidRock works very well, and I hope they will start building new riddims soon, since this is the fourth set that uses more or less the same riddims. However, I can’t say I’m tired of them yet.

Skillful harmonizing on the Nazarenes’ fourth album

Ethiopian brothers Noah and Medhane Tewolde are known as the vocal and multi-instrumentalist duo Nazarenes, a duo that has been based in Sweden for many years.

They established themselves in 2001 with their self-produced debut album Orit. Their breakthrough came three years later with the acclaimed set Songs of Life, a set followed by Rock Firm in 2008.

Now the Tewolde brothers are back. Back in full swing with an album produced by Tippy I of Virgin Islands-label I Grade, a label known for working closely with Vaughn Benjamin and Midnite.

The first collaboration between the Nazarenes and Tippy I was the single Everlasting which was included on the various artists’ compilation Joyful Noise put out in 2009.

On Meditation the Nazarenes have made an album that confirms just how great roots reggae can sound in 2012. Meditation is reggae in the same school as excellent vocal harmony groups like The Meditations or The Mighty Diamonds. And hearing these two brothers sing together is a soulful experience.

Meditation re-uses some of the riddims used for previous Tippy I productions, and if you’re familiar with Jahdan Blakkamoore’s Babylon Nightmare, Toussaint’s Black Gold or Perfect’s Back for the First Time you’ll most likely enjoy tunes such as Mamy Blues, Everlasting and Lonesome Lady.

But there are also a number of new riddims. The dreamy Alive is one such, Politrickcians, in a UK dub style, is another.

Several of the songs come close to pop and rock arrangements and Get Together will probably make Chris Martin of Coldplay proud with its catchy sing-a-long chorus. It sounds like it’s made for playing at large festivals or stadiums.

The Nazarenes might have a long way until they’ve achieved a following as big as Coldplay, but if Noah and Medhane Tewolde keep making music as good as Meditation it’s just a matter of time until they play at Glastonbury or Madison Square Garden.

10 Ft. Ganja Plant focus on the organ

Do you miss keyboard wizards such as Glen Adams, Winston Wright or the late and great Jackie Mittoo? Then the latest album from U.S. roots and dub band 10 Ft. Ganja Plant might be of interest.

10 Deadly Shots Vol. 2 is a instrumental album that puts the organ courtesy of Roger Rivas from The Aggrolites in the front row. The other instruments – bass, guitar, drums and percussion – are handled the usual mysterious musicians that make up the band, probably members of John Brown’s Body.

The 10 deadly shots are vintage sounding and would have fitted perfectly on a Trojan Records’ compilation back in the late 60’s or early 70’s.

The production provides plenty of space for Roger Rivas groovy organ to float over the skanking riddims and it builds up an easygoing atmospheric soundscape for everyone to dance to.

A polished set worth reissuing

When talking about vintage UK roots reggae, groups such as Aswad, Steel Pulse and Misty in Roots usually come up. One of my all time favorite UK roots reggae outfits from the 70’s or early 80’s is however Bristol’s Black Roots, a group whose debut album from 1983 includes eight rock solid tunes.

Last year British label Bristol Archive Records teamed up with Black Roots’ own Nubian Records in order to drop the critically acclaimed Black Roots – The Reggae Singles Anthology, a set collecting several immensely strong tracks.

Now Bristol Archive Records have once more been allowed into the Black Roots/Nubian tape vaults.

This time it’s about a 25th anniversary deluxe CD edition of the group’s fourth album All Day All Night, a set where they teamed up with Mad Professor and moving away from their original sound for a more polished version, embracing new technology and production techniques to present a more – at the time – contemporary UK sound.

The music may have been brought up to date, but the lyrics concerned the same themes of social and historical justice that define the roots genre.

All Day All Night originally included twelve tunes, and this deluxe edition adds another six – five dub versions and an extended 12” mix of Pin in the Ocean. 
 
All Day All Night is certainly worth reissuing, even if it sounds a bit more dated than their earlier and more roots oriented material. But even if lavish synthesizers are overused on some tracks, you can’t go wrong with the breezy nonchalant vocals in Realize or the mighty horn riff in Pin in the Ocean.

Bristol Archive Records have as usual paid attention to detail and to complement the re-mastered music, the booklet includes many previously unpublished photos of the band.

Available now on CD and digital download.