60's Ska Rocksteady and Reggae fans step up..

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I was a young punky skinhead in West Auckland during the early eighties. The music we listened to was a mix of punk, 60's local rock and local releases of UK Trojan compilations like 'tighten up' or 'treasure isle rock steady' and rare and expensive UK imports of the same and lastly a little dub and the two tone revivalists.
I don't listen to so much punk anymore but for Stiff Little Fingers, The Clash and the like but I still love the sound of the mid sixties in Jamaica - wicked tunes full of vitality an the optimism of a newly independent nation.

Just wanted to mention this perhaps start a dialogue, peace j

I enjoy that music, as well. The Specials are good, and I enjoy The Clash. I also enjoy a lot of the stuff that make up the roots of Punk music that started in the 60s. I don't think I'm making any sense. I just woke up.

Obviously enjoy. I tended to listen more to the second wave stuff on forward and not too much Trojan material but I do respect what I've heard. The Skatellites are awesome.

Are you familiar with the Easy Star All-Stars?


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jpL_lU3WTA[/youtube]

I am now, I googled and didn't realise I had heard their stuff already with that dubbed out pink floyd

Nice horns, cheers

I have been tracing sounds in Caribean music ever since my mothers Harry Belafonte records as a wean.

The fusion that came together under the auspices of the dueling sound system operators just seem so special,

The jump up of Mento and the tradition of the Griot fusing with the shuffle beat of the New Orleans RnB sound evolving into the bouncing skank of the late 60's Reggae.

I agree the two tone revival was wicked, Rico Rodriguez had played with all the members of the Skatalites but it was more to do with Thatcherism and the cold war in it's atmosphere, it was British and it was a cousin to Punk and the bastard child of a dissolving empire, gone was everything that inspired the original sound, the optimism and spontaneity.

Have you checked out The Sound Dimension of The Soul Vendors?
They were the house bands and studio one through from the break up of The Skatalites through to the beginning of Reggae.
Vin Gordon plays some wicked trombone, Jackie Mitoo keys...

peace j

Do you mean the 'mod' bands like the Small Faces, The Who, The Kinks et al? or more garage rock?

The Clash even have a sizable dollop of rockabilly in their swagger and style alongside the revolutionary kitsch.

The [so called] mod bands were also getting their inspiration from the US RnB scene and it's antecedents, it just evolved around English musical traditions, the tight English backbeat, choppy rhythm guitar and melodic baselines.

We had an interesting scene here in NZ in the mid sixties, local bands like the La De Da's were tearing up their own dirtier RnB sound which funnily enough remained just as popular with the young punks of the early eighties as The Who. We also had a number one single called 'do the bluebeat' by Dinah Lee a local mod face. Another number one was Ray Columbus and the Invaders 'she's a mod' a cover of a minor UK single that has since been covered a couple of times by other local bands.
Oh yes we were very anglophilic down here in the colonies in those times...

peace j

I quite like reggae and ska, and I quite like punk, but I was never too fussed about the ska-punk fusion stuff that came out of the UK. I quite liked Madness (it seemed they were never taken as seriously as The Specials!) but IMHO the UK 2 tone stuff was rarely better than the ska stuff people like Prince Buster were coming out with in the 60s.

I used to like dub, but now I find it a bit too laid back for my liking, and I tend to prefer more energetic roots reggae: stuff like Marcus Garvey by Burning Spear. Or the classic Bad Boys by Inner Circle!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcRKyed3PWw&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEji8_8Oxf0&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4MRmEPNUxY[/youtube]

Last edited by flipflopjenkins on 28 Aug 2010, 12:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Here are two of my favourite ska/dub fusion tracks. The sort of people who listen to this stuff probably have more in common with hippies than punks though. Perhaps they belong on a different thread.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVgF4EpnQWw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Lo1kVsqjk[/youtube]

I saw a documentary about the Clash where they talked about how reggae worked its way into their music and of others they played with. They said that before punk rock had been committed to vinyl- before any of them had recording contracts- something had to be played between sets at the live shows. Nobody wanted to play existing rock recordings. That was precisely what they were trying to get away from. They hired Jamaican and other Caribbean island djs who played reggae instead. The musicians couldn't help but be influenced by hearing all that reggae and it had worked its way into the music by the time they got recording contracts.

I got my first taste back when I was a kid from "Israelite" by Desmond Dekker. It actually was a mainstream hit for a short time in the U.S. "Iko Iko" also had mainstream success several times over with different bands and those two songs bounced around in my head when I was young and gave me a taste for all things rocksteady (or whatever it's called)

Of mentioned three (by the OP) I like rocksteady the most, I think. That style of music can be so uplifting, mood wise.. some songs are just so funny, in my opinion, too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Rl1u4YdHw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zsZKfoy9-Y[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIqxnSo-gQ[/youtube]
(well, to be honest, I find it hard sometimes to make a clear distinction between the styles)

noice stuff peoples

rockinest rocksteady beat:D