The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

The Best Of Desmond Dekker Desmond Dacres grew up in the church tradition of singing and, in 1961 auditioned at Studio One, as did so many reggae singers. He began singing ska, proceeding via rocksteady to being one of the main lights of the "skinhead reggae" boom of the late sixties/early seventies. Even then, his ska-developed instincts for a catchy tune prevailed, and many of those songs from the 1968-72 period became his biggest hits. We are taking, of course, in the first case, about the iconic Israelites, with its memorable vocal intro of "get up in the morning - slavin' for breads, sir.." . What a song it was. Indeed it was the first song that got me into reggae when I first heard it as an elven year-old. I loved it and have done ever since. It began a lifelong love of reggae. Other great hits on here are It Mek, 007 (Shanty Town), Intensified '68 (Music Like Dirt), Rudy Got Soul, You Can Get It If You Really Want, Sing A Little Song, Pickney Gal and

The Harder They Come/Jimmy Cliff   Reggae had really not been considered a credible music genre before 1973, despite the many late sixties/early seventies chart hits (particularly in the UK). The release of Bob Marley & The Wailers' Catch A Fire changed that and in the same year came this iconic soundtrack release. The movie of the same name was a low budget, often incomprehensible (a lot of the speech was in Jamaican patois) but highly atmospheric one and the music used that appears on this album was truly outstanding.  The tracks that had already been hit singles are the ones that always catch the eye for most people - Desmond Dekker's catchy and poppy  You Can Get It If You Really Want , his  007 (Shanty Town)  and Jimmy Cliff's  The Harder They Come .  However, it is some of the lesser-known tracks that contain some of the album's most authentic reggae.  There is the patois-drenched early roots of Scotty's  Draw Your Brakes , the melodious but admonishing  J

The Best Of Dandy Livingstone  Dandy Livingstone  made his name as a ska and rock steady reggae singer in the mid-late sixties, when most of his recordings were credited to "Dandy" only. Some were credited to "Boy Friday" as well. Other tracks on this compilation are Livingstone productions, for artists such as Jackie Robinson, Tito Simon, Audrey Hall, The Superboys, The Israelites, Bobby Thompson and The Brother Dan All-Stars. In the early seventies he had some chart success with an easy-skanking, poppy reggae style. His voice was always soft and sweetly melodic. I always had memories of pictures of Livingstone from the time, in his studious-looking glasses and flower-power round collared shirt not seeming anything much like a pop star. Livingstone's biggest hit was the irresistibly catchy  Suzanne Beware Of The Devil  which did really well in the UK in 1972. He also recorded the original of  A Message To You Rudy , memorably covered by  The Specials .  Rico Ro

The Best Of Judge Dread   Possibly the most strange of all reggae artists in the UK commercial boom of the early seventies was Judge Dread,  a fat white man from Snodland, Kent called Alex Hughes. He specialise d in singing double entendre, risqué lyrics over and authentic reggae beat in a cod-Jamaican accent (which was actually reasonably convincing). He followed in the tradition of lewd songs such as Max Romeo's Wet Dream. He had several hit singles in the UK during the early seventies, making him the biggest-selling reggae artist in the UK apart from Bob Marley, incredibly.  What was also notable that his naughty nursery rhyme reggae hits were all banned by the BBC and many other radio stations. Hughes had been an employee of Trojan Records in London as a debt collector. Somehow he managed to convince them to let him do some recordings.  The backing on all his songs was played by bona fide Jamaican musicians, a lot of them recorded in Jamaica. For me, as a schoolboy, Dread's

Freedom: The Best Of Clancy Eccles   An interesting fact about Clancy Eccles is that he is sometimes credited with coming up with the name reggae - corrupting the patois slang 'streggae' (a girl of loose morals). 'Reggae' is normally said to have originated from The Maytals' Do The Reggay. Who knows. Anyway, in reggae history he is an artist who had been around a long time, since the early sixties - working initially with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and then Duke Reid, before turning to production himself.  This excellent Trojan Records anthology includes tracks from Eccles' solo albums (including the one with him on a motorcycle riding through what looks like a lavender field that I remember seeing as I flipped through record shops' albums in the early seventies - Freedom) and his work as a producer, performed by other artists.  Firstly, I have to say that the sound quality is truly excellent throughout (something of a surprise given the often rudiment

Double Barrel (1971)   One of the early popular reggae albums of semi-instrumentals to examine here, following on from The Upsetters and The Ethiopians came these two (who weren't brothers) but they were magnificent.  Dave (Barker)  and  Ansel Collins  (sometimes spelled “Ansil”) took the UK charts by storm in the summer/autumn of 1971 with their two instrumental (with additional vocal noises and outbursts) singles -  Double Barrel  and  Monkey Spanner . They were moonstomping examples of the “heavy, heavy monster sound”, full of cheesy but totally irresistible organ breaks and a typical “skinhead reggae” beat. They were great, no doubt about that.  However, as with a few other early seventies reggae artists, building an album around great hit singles proved difficult.   This is an album dominated by its two hits. The rest of the material isn’t very special, to be honest.  So, as I said, this is an album containing a lot of “filler” and, in my opinion, is a relatively unessential o

Skinhead Moonstomp (1969)   Time for some skinhead stomping now, with an archetypal "spirit of '69" release. Get those boots on.  Symarip , previously known as The Pyramids (their name is almost an anagram of Pyramid) were best known for their one-off hit, Skinhead Moonstomp. Because of that cut's popularity, an album was necessary and it was probably the first album to be aimed directly at reggae's skinhead following. The link between stomping, rock steady reggae and the white, racist, violent UK working-class sub-culture was one of music's most bizarre crossovers. Whatever brought them together, it certainly worked and this album milked the whole thing big time. Pretty much the whole album references skinheads, boots and stomping with a bit of contemporary moon landing references thrown in. The rear cover shows the group clambering about on the surface of the moon. The front cover shows five uncompromising-looking white skinheads, questionable, maybe, but de

Engine 54 (1968)  By 1968 the exciting, upbeat, vibrant sounds of Ska and Bluebeat had begun to be replaced in the often-changing tapestry of Jamaican music by Rock Steady. The Ethiopians were at the head of that change. Here are two fine albums from them. This, The Ethiopians' debut album, was much more in the Rock Steady genre than ska, although the iconic  Engine 54  is often considered to be ska, it isn't, really. It is considerably slower.  The Ethiopians merged sixties rock-soul with Jamaican rhythms very successfully, and people around the release of this album started to take notice of this type of Jamaican music. Reggae, of course, had yet to be coined as a phrase or a genre. Toots & The Maytals' Do The Reggay came out in the same year.  That said, listen to  You Got The Dough . It is full of reggae skanking rhythms. It was just that nobody had given it a name. Well, they had I guess - Rock Steady.  A hugely important track on here is  Train To Skaville , of co

The Best Of The Skatalites  The Skatalites were an actually quite short-lived (about eighteen months) collective of instrumentalists who recorded seemingly hundreds of ska tunes, full of fantastic trombone breaks and that rock steady/ska beat that inspired so many, notably the UK two tone groups of the late seventies/early eighties. The music is upbeat and uplifting. Try keeping still to it. Skinheads loved it in the late sixties too, stomping around with their cherry red boots on.  Their influence was far more wide-reaching than their time together would suggest. Their sound is wonderful, every track having that irresistible beat. Amazingly, the track that brought them to the attention of many, their version of the theme tune to  Guns Of Navarone , is not included on this otherwise excellent collection. The highlights are many, pretty much every track, but one can make a case for  Eastern Standard Time ,  Music Is My Occupation ,  Street Corner ,  Garden Of Love ,  Silver Dollar ,  Lu

Suzi Quatro (1973)   In 1973, it really was unusual to see a woman, yes a woman, fronting a rock band. Yes there had been the wonderful Janis Joplin and "adult rock" artists like Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick and Curved Air's Sonja Kristina, but Suzi Quatro was a chart act. Until then it simply had not happened. I remember when she first appeared on Top Of The Pops doing  Can The Can . She was the talk of the playground the next morning, particularly for teenage boys like myself. "Did you see her?" was the question everyone asked.   Glam rock acts, on the whole, didn't produce albums of much quality. This is different. It didn't contain the single  Can The Can  (although it did contain the follow-up  48 Crash ). The latter kicks off the album in true glam rock drum style.  Glycerine Queen  is full of  T.Rex  riffs and a bit of a  48 Crash  repeat chorus, but either way this is quite good quality three minute commercial rock. Suzi and her band of (

Wizzard Brew (1973)   This is actually one of the seventies' most bizarre albums.  Wizzard , featuring  Roy Wood , had been formed upon Wood's departure from  The Electric Light Orchestra  and they had cut their reputation on some killer singles in  Ball Park Incident , the massive number one,  See My Baby Jive  and the  "Wall Of Sound"  of  Angel Fingers  (which also featured on See My Baby Jive). This album was eagerly awaited from a group who were now incredibly popular with the country's teen market (such as myself). The sense of bewilderment was incredible when it hit the streets. I remember my friend buying it and we sat there, desperately trying to convince ourselves we liked it, but being thoroughly nonplussed by its six lengthy, indulgent and often frankly bonkers tracks.  The sound, as on much of Roy Wood's output, is pretty awful at times, with a wall of sound-style muffled tinniness and his naturally reedy voice buried far down in the mix. This is

20 Glittering Greats   The Glitter Band  and their producer,  Mike Leander , have become unfortunately and unfairly besmirched by their obvious association with their disgraced erstwhile “leader”,  Gary Glitter . He has effectively been written out of music’s history and they have gone down with him. You don’t hear Gary Glitter songs on the radio and neither do you hear Glitter Band ones. A t the time, at the height of glam’s preening, stomping power in 1974 ( maybe a little too late) the band behind the big G decided to release some music of their own. They utilised the double drummers with their pounding beat, the blaring saxophones and the glammy singalong sound of their work with Glitter.  They produced a whole series of glam singles and they weren’t bad either - from the stomp of  Angel Face  and the very similar (but ordinary)  Just For You  to the slightly more rocky but still chanty  Let’s Get Together Again  (one of my all-time favourite glam singles) to the perfect rock/pop o

A's, B's & Rarities   There are some excellent compilations in this RAK series -  CCS ,  Suzi Quatro  and  Hot Chocolate . The sound quality is excellent on all of them and they are a chronological document of singles, 'b' sides and a few rarities ear the end. Of all of them, this is probably the least credible, mainly because of the quality of the 'b' sides.  Mud 's self-penned efforts cannot hold a candle to those of CCS, Hot Chocolate or even Suzi Quatro. In fact, they are pretty awful, I have to say. Glam rock groups were notorious for self-penned, poor quality 'b' sides. Sweet were another offender.   That said, Mud's singles from the  Nicky Chinn-Mike Chapman  songwriting team were excellent, from the slightly strange, Kinks-influenced early hit singles -  Moonshine Sally ,  Crazy   and the excellent, little-mentioned  Hypnosis , which saw the group dressed up in dandyish 1920s gear before their classic glam rock period, when they adopt

After T. Rex, Sweet and Slade had exploded glam rock all over the place in 1971-72, together with credible glam-influenced rock acts like David Bowie, Roxy Music, Mott The Hoople and Elton John along came the second division of glam acts. Here are some of them (Suzi Quatro and Wizzard were part of this sub-genre, but they have qualified, due to album releases, for a section of their own). These artists featured below we all very much singles-orientated groups.  We are looking at the years of 1973-75 here.  For some reason, rock and roll revivalism (or at least, rock and roll influence) was popular during these years and  very rock and roll-influenced were nostalgists  Showaddywaddy  - also wearing teddy boy drapes and shoes  - who combined those trademark stomping glam beats with a clear rock and roll instinct on hits like  Hey Rock And Roll , a cover of Eddie Cochran's  Three Steps To Heaven ,  Dancin' Party  and  Trocadero . Their biggest hit was another cover in  Under The M

Lifetime Guarantee (1966)  Beres Hammond, known mainly for his easy-going lovers rock material, was also there at the beginning of the "dancehall" sub-genre, but while his material often has digital dancehall beats and rhythms, he also merges a strong seventies soul influence into his material and those lovers rock poppy sensibilities too. It is very much the accessible side of dancehall, as opposed to the heavier, toasting vocal, "ragga" stuff.  Hammond has a clear, sometimes light, sometimes gruffly soulful and melodic voice and he is a  singer  rather than a toaster. He is one of the best reggae-soul crossover singers around and his material often crops up on the many internet "reggae radio" stations that play (relatively) contemporary summery, commercial reggae continually. This was an album he recorded on the legendary Greensleeves reggae label I can always rely on them to deliver quality music and sound.   Try If You Want  is a very soul-influenced,

Everything I Own (1974)   T his album, from 1974, did pretty well for Ken Boothe on the back of the two big hit singles,  Everything I Own  and  Crying Over You .  Evil Girl  is a nice brassy skank featuring an excellent trumpet solo, something unusual for a reggae song. The brass enhancement continues on  Sad And Lonely , another mid-pace lovers groove, with Boothe's unique, immaculately phrased voice to the fore.  Sandie  has a great rock guitar solo on it, surprisingly.  Come And Lay Some Loving On Me  is a good one too.  My Heart Is Like An Open Book  is also in the same mould, in fact all the songs are - you know what you're going to get here. It is an easy-listening, gently skanking reggae album, nothing more, nothing less. Mind you,  Time Passage  is one hell of a track, different in style to the lovers-style material of the rest of the album in its grinding groove.  A fine compilation of Ken Boothe's work, across his career - ska, roots and pop - is this Trojan one

I Can See Clearly Now (1972)  Johnny Nash, from Houston, Texas, did as much as anyone to bring reggae to the masses in the early 70s. This is an archetypal reggae "crossover" album. Along with hits like Dave And Ansel Collins' Double Barrel, Bob And Marcia's Young, Gifted And Black and Nicky Thomas's Love Of The Common People from 1971, by 1972, it was the voice of Johnny Nash and his singalong, commercial reggae played by Jamaican musicians that were all over the airwaves. Two of these tracks - Stir It Up and Guava Jelly were written by Bob Marley and, for many, including my thirteen year-old self who bought all Nash's singles, this was the first time they had come across the name of Bob Marley. As far as I was concerned, in 1972, reggae was Johnny Nash. Funnily enough, this album is split between Nash's authentic brand of reggae and seventies, brassy soul. For that reason it sort of sits on two stools and Nash always remained that sort of "crossover