Writing On Your Walls

 

Hurrah, for I'm finally getting my first anti-Covid jab later today. Looks like them scientists can help you after all...

Yabby You - Plague On The Land
King Tubby - Dub Plague
Tommy McCook - Plague Of Horn

Double Beatin'

Back refreshed with an appetite for new tunage, so here we go with a ravenous six pack for your listening pleasure. Famished artwork by Tinca. "Gimme something... gimme everything!"

Iggy & The Stooges - I'm Hungry
Talking Heads - Stay Hungry (demo version)
Medium Medium - Hungry So Angry
Rip Rig & Panic - Hunger (The Ocean Roars It Bites)
Terras Bangkok - Hunger
Yabby U - Hungering Dub

Your History

New Pressure Sounds ahoy. Most of the fine fine tracks on this righteous helping of roots and dub were showcased before on Blood & Fire's classic Jesus Dread and King Tubby's Prophecy Of Dub collections. In case you missed out on these, Walls Of Jerusalem is a most irie alternative.

Yabby You - Go To School Jah Jah Children

Forever And Ever

Just got the sad news that Michael George Haynes, better known as Michael Prophet, has left us. The Jamaican reggae tenor was only 60 years old. I always admired his rootsy work with Yabby You in particular. Miss him, my brethren.

Michael Prophet - Praise You Jah Jah

Live Righteously

"So I can see clearly..." Take it away, Jesus Dread.

Yabby You - Pick The Beam

Look But No Touch

Leave it to the red, green and gold experts over at Pressure Sounds to come up with what are probably the last remaining gems in the Yabby You vaults. Their new Deeper Roots collection finds Yabby & Brethren inna fine style on many a rare track, as demonstrated by the two mighty Jesus Dread productions - a vocal and its flamin' dub version - below. One of the reissues of the year for sure.

Barrington Spence - Don't Touch I Dread
The Prophet All Stars - Tutch Dub

From The Lion's Mouth

"And love's the best endeavor, waiting in the lion's mane..." Presenting a roaring six pack for your listening pleasure, straight from the lion's mouth. Hic sunt leones.

Big Chief - Lion's Mouth

Iron & Wine - Lion's Mane

Duke Mitchell - The Lion

Lonnie McIntorsh - The Lion And The Tribes Of Judah

Yabby You - Conquering Lion

Kenny Drew - Lion's Den

Conquering Dreads

"Without love you're like a ship that's lost its anchor, lost at sea in the swirling tides..." Presenting a conquering ten pack, inna strictly roots stylee of course. Cause you just can't conquer natty dreadlocks, seen?

Prince Alla - Only Love Can Conquer MP3

The Meditations - Rasta Shall Conquer MP3

Linval Thompson - Jah Jah The Conqueror MP3

Dennis Brown - Conqueror MP3

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Duppy Conqueror MP3

Dr. Alimantado - Can't Conquer Natty Dreadlocks MP3

Stranger & Gladdy - Conqueror MP3

Yabby You - Conquering Dub MP3

Cornell Campbell - The Conquering Gorgon MP3

Aggrovators - The Conqueror MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 31

Right at its tail end, here´s another edition of Wild Weekend, which means the iPod shuffle once again came up with a flaming six pack of goodies. This week it´s all about getting your fortune told, running the voodoo down while blood runs down King Street, meeting the Venus de Milo, and chasing a vampire. All for a price of course. All for a price.

We´ll get this show on the road with a track from one of my all-time fave albums: the amazing Marquee Moon. An organic musical entity if ever there was one, Television defined artrock for years to come. And no one ever came close. "Didja feel low? Not at all... Huh?" I´ve never been too fond of jazz fusion to be honest, as it often tends to disappear up its own backside, mindboggling virtuosity notwithstanding. But I have to make an exception for that revolutionary 1970 Miles masterpiece called Bitches Brew. Jazzy on the outside, funky on the inside, now that´s how you run the voodoo down.

Television - Venus MP3

Miles Davis - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down MP3

Recently saw Werner Herzog´s brilliant movie Nosferatu on the telly again, and it struck me just how perfect the soundtrack by krautrockers Popol Vuh accompanied the on-screen action. Or is the fact that their music works just as good on its own, as the minimalist Höre, Der Du Wagst shows, an even bigger feat? Anyway, it´s time for a Vuh revival, folks. New Orleans soul singer Benny Spellman is best known for his cool hit single Lipstick Traces, but the uptempo Fortune Teller should have been an even bigger smash. No wonder the Stones covered it early in their career. Listen up and get your fortune told for free.

Popol Vuh - Höre, Der Du Wagst MP3

Benny Spellman - Fortune Teller MP3

Vivian Jackson a.k.a. Yabby You, who sadly passed away last January, was a Christian dread who recorded an amazing oeuvre both as a singer and as a producer. Never really famous during his heyday, his talent was finally recognized in the nineties thanks to the tireless work of reggae reissue label Blood & Fire. This heavy heavy track comes from the much-recommended Deliver Me From My Enemies (´77). And for the last song in this weekend´s installment, we turn to one of the best postpunk singles ever: We Are All Prostitutes by Bristol´s finest avant-funk noisemakers The Pop Group. "Everyone has their price..." Right? You bet.

Yabby You - Blood A Go Run Down King Street MP3

The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes MP3

Jesus Dread

I´ve never been a fan of Mick Hucknall (of Simply Red fame), but I sure do appreciate him financing one of the great reggae reissue labels, the mighty Blood & Fire. It´s been digging up and dishing out the most amazing stuff from the forgotten vaults of Jamaica for years now. One of the artists the label introduced me to is Vivian Jackson, better known as Yabby You. His first single Conquering Lion started with the words "be you, yabby yabby you", and that´s what customers asked for in the record shops of Kingston. And the moniker stuck. Apart from being a great singer and songwriter with an ear for infectious melodies, Yabby You also made his mark as a producer and discoverer of new talent. 

The exemplary 2 disc compilation Jesus Dread 1972 -1977 collects tons of roots reggae gems from his early days, including hard dubs from the great King Tubby and songs from protégés such as Wayne Wade, who was only 13 (!) when he recorded the wonderful Man Of The Living. And if you´re curious about the album´s title: a Jesus Dread is a guy with dreadlocks who, like Yabby You, rejects the rasta doctrine that Haile Selassie - Rasta Far I -  is the supreme being also known as God. 

Yabby You - Love Thy Neighbour MP3

Yabby You - Conquering Lion MP3

Wayne Wade - Man Of The Living MP3