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Friday, August 19, 2005
SUFFERATION/IN STYLE
Tyrone Taylor
Sufferation : 2005
[Buy It]
HEADLINE NEWS
Mikey Dread
Africa Anthem Deluxe : 1979
[Buy It]
BORN FI DO IT
Major Worries
Babylon Boops : 1998
[Buy It]
HOUSE OF DREAD LOCKS
Big Youth
Dread Locks Dread : 1978
[Buy It]
RUB-A-DUB STYLE
Michigan & Smiley
Rub-A-Dub Style : 1979
[Buy It]
Trust-A-Farian Pt.2
Reggae for me is the sound of probabilities, of alternate realities, parallel worlds. Its riddims thumped out by stoned Schroedinger Cats, looping into infinity, it can be here or there, the bassline fat or else a giant gap, to where the snare cracks are present/ absent, the vocalist near or echoing out nor way, a deejay toasting on top or else silent, the ticking of certainty/ uncertainty at reggae's solid/ diffuse foundation.
Each version is as likely to have a melodica or deejay on top as to have decaying spaces, a flanged organ note in its stead. Mikey Dread has Althea and Donna doing new words on top of their top beat and there's a he said/ she said to the Gregory Isaacs/ Christina track, sparse as if each singer is lonely in his/her room in different universes. Yabby You layers b-side worlds, to where Tony Tuff toasts on top of the I from previous times.
Who loves 'Mare-Iguana' more, Linval Thompson or Ranking Dread? And what is that thing that King Tubby has careen around in Dread's dizzying "Bom Dub"? Whatever it is, it's no where near as feral as that thing squawking on Mikey Dread's "Headline News." At least he has some paper down for it.
I know next to nothing about Major Worries save that he was gunned down at age 21, and it's a shame, as he had flows for days, as do the Studio One duo, Michigan & Smiley. Both admit to being big Bee Gees fans, but they also love Alton Ellis, tag-teaming over his "I'm Just a Guy." Both Worries and the duo laid tracks at the inception of dancehall, when the form was not quite settled and their very presence could change everything around them.
posted by beta
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