Ska Train - Various Artists

Year Released: 1996

Label: Hallmark Records

Year Bought: 2011

Thanks to men old enough to know better sporting long shorts, dyed green hair and dodgy piercings, ska music has something of an image problem. When some hear the word 'ska', they think of bands doing HILARIOUS cover versions of pop songs or unwashed teenagers in a field who think Jackass is funny.

True ska is, of course, nothing like that. Developed in Jamaica in the 1960s, it enjoyed a revival in the late 1970s through groups such as The Specials, Madness, and The Selecter.

This compilation album, released in 1996 (I bought it off a market stall in Braintree in 2011), focuses very much on the first wave of ska. I'm no expert on this genre, but according to short essay in the CD sleeve, the genre name comes from "the scat singing often adopted by vocalists simply to keep up with the chugging instrumental rhythms."

The iconic ska attire – suit, braces, boots – came about thanks to Desmond Dekker, who insisted the bottom six inches of his suit trousers be cut off when handed a suit to play in before his first UK shows, according to the notes.

This compilation is a warm, enjoyable dalliance into the genre. It features standards such as 'Oh Carolina', 'The Wings Of A Dove', and 'Train To Skaville', but what it doesn't have is any Prince Buster or Desmond Dekker, so it's hardly a definitive collection.

An enjoyable listen though. Would provide the perfect soundtrack to a barbecue in a garden which had a shed painted in the colours of the Jamaican flag.

7/10

Track Listing:

1 The Ethiopians – Train To Skaville

2 The Maytals – Never You Change

3 Byron Lee And The Dragonaires – Easy Snappin'

4 The Blues Busters – The Wings Of A Dove

5 The Maytals – It's You

6 The Blues Busters – Shame And Scandal In The Family

7 Byron Lee And The Dragonaires – Oh Carolina

8 The Ethiopians – Engine '54

9 Byron Lee And The Dragonaires – Jamaica Ska

10 The Maytals – Daddy

11 Byron Lee And The Dragonaires – Summer Down

12 The Ethiopians – Train To Glory

13 The Maytals – My New Name

14 The Blues Busters – How Sweet It Is

15 The Ethiopians – Come On Now

16 The Blues Busters – Donna

Comments

Pointless Nostalgic – Jamie Cullum

Year Released: 2002 Label: Candid Year Bought: Can't Remember Jamie Cullum burst into the nation's consciousness with a performance on Parkinson in April 2003, a showing that was soon followed by the huge-selling album 'Twentysomething'. It was 2002's 'Pointless Nostalgic' that put Cullum on Parky's radar, and shows the jazz singer and pianist beginning to hone the act that would make him such a breakthrough. There's a host of standards here – 'In The Wee Small Hours of The Morning'. 'It Ain't Necessarily So', 'I Can't Get Started' – alongside a couple of originals and a cover of Radiohead's 'High And Dry'. I remember that song being a big deal at the time for some reason. I think it was seen as rare merging of jazz and alt-rock. Cullum's version is not bad, and actually keeps it quite light and subdued without slipping into a dirge. Cullum was just 23 when this was recorded, and perhaps it's his yo...

Ringleader Of The Tormentors – Morrissey

Year Released: 2006 Label: Sanctuary Year Bought: 2006 Released in 2006, 'Ringleader of the Tormentors' in many ways represents the apex of the Morrissey resurgence that began two years earlier with 'You Are The Quarry'. Whereas that album peaked at number 2 in the album chart (although it did spawn 4 top ten singles), its successor gave Morrissey his first number 1 album since 1994's 'Vauxhall and I'. 'Ringleaders...' raised some eyebrows at the time as Morrissey sang explicitly about something he had previously made a virtue of not discussing. His sex life. "There are exploding kegs between my legs," he sings on 'Dear God Please Help Me' – a tune that swells and grows to a climax with strings written by Ennio Morricone. "Now I'm spreading your legs with mine in between," he later adds. Perhaps this new found desire of the flesh was due to this album being recorded in Italy, and references to the country season the ...

The Best Of - James

Released: 1998 Label: Fontana When I bought: Can't remember James are one of the great under-appreciated UK bands. Sure, 'Sit Down' will pay their pension, but there's so many great tunes that have been swallowed up and forgotten. When people talk about the great UK bands of the 80s and 90s, they never get a nod. Early in the band's career saw an involvement with Factory Records, but they rarely get a mention when that label is talked about. I remember very clearly when this singles collection was released. It was one of the records that made up the soundtrack to my summer of 1998. I was 13 years old, and into two things: football and music. At that age I used to spend most of my non-school time in a park at the end of the road I lived in in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, playing football with a bunch of lads about 3 or 4 years older who lived in the neighbourhood. They always had cool CDs, and one of them was this. Seemingly endless games of headers and vo...

All The Records I've Ever Owned

Search This Blog