Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

Bunny Wailer looked back at his early times with Bob Marley in The Wailers with this pleasing little covers album from 1980. The material generally has a better sound quality than the originals and Bunny delivers them  in a rootsy style. The choices are all in the "deep cut" vein from Bunny's time as a Wailer. There is no après-success Marley material covered here.  Highlights are I Stand Predominate, Mellow Mood, Walk The Proud Land, Peter Tosh's I'm The Toughest and probably the best-known Marley track on here, I Got to Keep On Moving.

Looking to get her career back on track, Dusty Springfield decided to turn to soul music.  She signed to Atlantic Records and the album was produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin. Wexler said that Springfield was quite difficult to work with and rejected all of the songs except  Just A Little Lovin'  and  Son Of A Preacher Man . He found her surprisingly unconfident. You wouldn't really tell on what sounds an excellent album.  It is one of those albums that has achieved classic status in later years. At the time it was a commercial flop, something that is often overlooked. Another misconception is that the album is wall-to-wall soul. It certainly isn't. In fact it is far more of a soulful easy-listening offering, for me, featuring songs from Goffin-King, Bacharach-David, Barry-Weil and Randy Newman as opposed to Isaac Hayes or Floyd-Cropper.  That said, it is still a wonderful album. Springfield's voice is stunning throughout, as indeed is the backing from t

Reggae underwent huge changes around 1973-74. Gone was the ska-influenced, upbeat stomping of skinhead reggae and the orchestrated strings of UK pop reggae.  Albums such as Big Youth's late 1972 Screaming Target paved the way for hundreds of DJS/chanters to grunt and growl over heavy, bassy  riddims  and the ground-breaking single from 1974, Rupie Edwards' Ire Feelings, had the same effect. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking "wow, this is something really  different ". This album provided the bridging point, showcasing DJ chanters like U-Roy and I-Roy on  Double Six  (U-Roy),  Stick Together  (U-Roy),  High Fashion  (I-Roy) and  Hail Stones  (I-Roy); there was also melodious vocals and rockers-style riddims on David Isaacs'  We Are Neighbours  and  Just Enough (To Keep Me Hanging On)  and a crossover take on a soul classic in Lee "Scratch" Perry's  Soul Man .  In between these vocal cuts there were Upsetters instrumentals, but, as

The first few albums from roots reggae artist  Michael Prophet  were pretty standard roots fare of which had been pretty ubiquitous from 1976-81.  It was the sound of Notting Hill Carnival in those years, of the music played on sound systems before punk gigs and of the while punky reggae crossover-party thing. Michael Prophet's music was released at the back end of the roots boom, just before ragga rhythms appeared and the digitalisation of reggae took over. This is still played on "proper" instruments and has that authentic roots vibe, down to the Rasta themes and slightly wailing voice. Prophet's voice is sort of  Jacob Miller  meets  Gregory Isaacs  in tone, without the sweetness of the latter. He is  backed by one of the best studio bands of all time - the mighty Roots Radics -  and mixed by the young dubmaster Scientist at the legendary King Tubby's studio.  Hold On To What You Got  is a mid-pace gentle roots skank, with those familiar jangly reverberating gu

Assorted Lovers Rock - Janet Lee-Davis/Deborahe Glasgow/Peter Hunningale Lovers Rock has often been dismissed by reggae purists as being frothy, poppy and lightweight as well as being dominated by covers of retro soul charts hits. While these accusations certainly bear some weight, particularly the latter, there's also nothing wrong with some poppy, summer reggae. Aswad (in their later era), Maxi Priest and Beres Hammond have made careers out of it. Artists to make the sub-genre their entire career include  Janet Lee-Davis - Missing You - 1994   This includes her biggest hit in the irresistible duet with Tipper Irie,   Baby, I've Been Missing You , along with other good ones in   Girl On The Side ,   You're Sweet ,   She's Got Papers   and   Do You Remember   Deborahe Glasgow - 198 9   Deborahe Glasgow , who sadly died at only twenty-nine, her most notable album being this eponymous offering      - the highlights being   Best Friend ,   Give Me That Touch ,   Champio

Rufus Thomas was already forty-seven years old when this, his debut album, was released on the Stax label in 1963. It is a really good short serving of brass-powered soul that has a wonderful sound quality, considering its age. Thomas's vocals are gruffly uplifting and his musicians are outstanding - horns, saxophones, bass, drums and backing vocalist all giving it everything. This album would have been hugely influential on all those British blues boom bands. It still sounds great today. Thomas, of course, went on to have a big hit with Do The Funky Chicken. The Dog is a bubbling, brassy groove loaded with funky horns and a surprisingly clear, warm sound for 1964. Some howling dog noises are in there too. Another dance craze-inspired song is up next in the lively "yeah-yeah" sound of Mashed Potatoes. The vocals are only interjectory, it is all about the pumping brass-driven sound. Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo is a grooving, chugging, call-and-response piece of bluesy brassy soul. You

As well as the highly recommended  The Ray Charles Ultimate Collection , I also own this 1959 Ray Charles album and a fair few of the tracks from which are contained in that compilation.  Albums weren't really the thing in those days - it was all about singles, but this album is packed full of them, so it makes no difference really - it is like listening to an early greatest hits.  A lot of the best tracks from  The Ultimate Collection  are on there and I also have to say that the sound on the album, for 1959, is absolutely stunning. In many respects, soul music started around here, didn't it? Yes, there had been stuff from the early-mid fifties as well, but this was when it really started to take off.  

Glen Brown was originally a singer and, not having much success, he tried his hand at production in the early-mid seventies. the riddims he oversaw were played by such luminaries as Aston and Carlton Barrett, Lloyd Parks, Winston Wright and Earl Lindo.  When taken, without vocals, and mixed by King Tubby, they reach a high level of crucial bassline business.  This was a compilation of fourteen such recordings, full of horns, flute, pounding bass and drum. It is all dread-heavy, late seventies Notting Hill Carnival or pre-punk gig sound system stuff, something I reference many times. They don't all sound the same, either, a track like  Assack Lawn No. 1 Dub  is quite different from  Save Our Dub  or  Melodica International , for example.