Friday, 9 September 2016
Thursday, 8 September 2016
RIP Prince Buster - The Guardian Obituary
It was boxing ability as much as musical talent that helped Prince Buster become a key figure in the birth of Jamaican ska music. During the mid-1950s Buster, who has died aged 78, sang in a number of small-time bands in the island’s capital, Kingston. But he also had a promising career as a street fighting boxer, and it was his reputation as a quick-witted and assertive gang leader that brought him to the attention of the legendary Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, operator of the famous Downbeat sound system that travelled the country playing the latest dance records from the United States.
Coxsone took Buster on as a security guard-cum-personal
helper, and the young man used the experience to learn all he could about the
fledgling Jamaican music business.
Propitiously, he had been born – as Cecil Campbell, the
son of a railway worker – in Orange Street, the central commercial street in
Kingston that was to become the heart of the island’s music scene. Known as
Buster in his gang-oriented youth because of his middle name Bustamante (after
the Jamaican Labour Party leader Sir Alexander Bustamante), he later took on
the nickname Prince for his boxing exploits, and had a natural entrepreneurial
flair as well as musical talent and street sense. He left Dodd in the late
1950s to set up a record store, Buster’s Record Shack, and then his own sound
system, the Voice of the People.
While both ventures were successful, it was his next move
– into the recording studio – that really left its mark. In 1960 he embarked on
a couple of marathon recording sessions with various artists at the studios of
the local radio station RJR that were to shift the island’s musical axis away
from the all pervasive influence of America. Among those early recordings was a
Buster-produced song by the Folkes Brothers called Oh Carolina that became an
instant hit in Jamaica. In a typically bold and unheard-of move that was to
characterise Buster’s innovative career, he used the Rastafarian percussionist
Count Ossie for the backing track. But more importantly he also asked the
guitarist, Jah Jerry, to emphasize the afterbeat instead of the downbeat. The
same radical syncopation was used on many of the other tracks, including
classics such as Little Honey, Humpty Dumpty, They Got to Go and Thirty Pieces
of Silver. Ska had been born.
Most of the singles from those sessions were hits in his
homeland, and Buster never looked back. Over an eight-year period he released
hundreds of productions on various labels, many of them chronicling the gun
happy “rude boy” activities of an increasingly violent, newly independent
Jamaica. He became rich, living the high life of sharp suits and fast cars, though
remaining an aggressive champion of the underdog.
As ska slowed down in the mid 60s and turned into
rocksteady – a transition Buster did much to nurture – he set Jamaica alight
with a series of records featuring his mythical character Judge Dread, a
super-tough magistrate who handed out ridiculously long sentences to
recalcitrant rude boys.
But his influence went far beyond Jamaica. Many of his
own compositions, as well as those he produced, were released on the seminal
Blue Beat label in the UK, where ska became the music of choice for many mods
and skinheads.
He was the first Jamaican to have a top 20 hit in Britain
– with Al Capone in 1965 – toured the country regularly to sell-out crowds, and
appeared on Ready Steady Go in 1964. It was also in Britain that he converted
to Islam and changed his name to Mohammed Yusef Ali after a meeting with the
boxer Muhammad Ali.
As the 60s drew to a close, Buster moved with the times
to produce records for some of the new breed of Jamaican DJs, including Big
Youth, and continued to work with well-known artists such as Dennis Brown. He
even ventured into early dub music.
But by the early 1970s, when rock steady was
transmogrifying into roots reggae, Buster’s influence and interest began to
wane – partly because as a Muslim he found it difficult to move along with the
Rasta-influenced tide. He moved to Miami to pursue various business interests,
including the running of a jukebox company he had set up.
His influence did, however, resurface in the late 1970s,
when his music was the key inspiration for the ska revival in Britain. In 1978
a London band called Morris and the Minors renamed themselves Madness after
Buster’s classic song Madness is Gladness, and in 1978 their first single, The
Prince, went straight into the top 20. The band later reached number seven with
a reworking of the Buster song One Step Beyond.
Their hero resisted a comeback then, but did reappear
onstage in the late 1980s and 1990s, and toured Japan with ska legends the
Skatalites as his backing group. He even recorded again in 1992, and in 1998
re-entered the British charts for the first time in 31 years with a new version
of an old song, Whine and Grind. Essentially, though, his comeback was low key.
In 2001 Buster was awarded the Order of Distinction in
Jamaica for his contribution to the development of the country’s music
industry. He had long since received countless accolades from his peers, but it
was nonetheless fitting recognition for a man whose self-proclaimed title as
King of Ska was never seriously disputed.
Prince Buster, musician, born 24 May 1938; died 8
September 2016
Fay Hallam - 'House of Now' (Well Suspect) review by Seosaimhm Blog
Its not been too long since Fay Hallam had a new record on the store shelf. Last years Corona was a sublime release that captured the mood of a Riviera getaway. Lovely Bossa Nova rhythms and torch songs on that LP are a great introduction for anyone not familiar with her work. Whether that be with The Bongolian a few years back or with Making Time all those years ago and the many incarnations she has had between, you really should check out her back catalogue and witness how she has evolved over the years. Personally I was dancing to a different drum for many years so she had moved from centre stage in my musical world, and that was not due to the quality of her output, far from it - as I listen to her it strikes me that she has been continuously flexing her artistic muscles and reaching towards new and different heights - she was on the journey whereas I was stagnating somewhat.
As I say over the past year or so I have been listening to more of her stuff and actually enjoying it for what it is .... pure and simply, good music. If you are one of those guys who qualifies whether to listen/purchase something with "is it Mod music?" well then I guess this LP may not be for you. Sure there are a clutch of tracks that you could take in isolation and get nods of approval from the High Priest of Mod Cool ( Peg is an out and out organ groover that would not be out of place down your local mod club) but my take is that this is one of those LP's that needs to be listened to in totality with a degree of awareness rather than just wall paper soundtrack. There are some classic moments here that anyone would be glad to have in their canon - Colours is a contender for my favourite tune of the year - a rich, swirly, age of Aquarius hazy mid seventies introspection. Do you know how to love me is an up tempo, steeped in soul, stomper - maybe not northern but certainly blue eyed and with an awareness of classic soul. 'I can hear you' is a reflection on changing times and changing people. 'His Name is King' will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie Django Unchained, Hallams vocal delivery totally nails this dramatic ode to the Anti-hero. I could write something about all the tracks here but I think I should leave some little surprises for you to discover and make your own mind up on
Maybe its the fact that Andy Lewis is at the console on this one but I get the feeling that there is a more relaxed tho still businesslike approach to the affair. There's still that love of soul and funk underscoring everything and its been reinforced with a lushness and depth in the production, without being over produced, that makes this one an easy listen without being easy listening.
House of Now is released 14th Oct 2016 on the Well Suspect Label. An essential release for Q4 of 2016
Simon O'Brien dusts off his parka to meet his musical heroes from 80s Mod band The Jam at their stunning exhibition in Liverpool reports the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07tc12t
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The Mark Three release second LP, 'Happy Today', on coloured 12" vinyl
https://marklegallez.bandcamp.com/
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