Most of you who know me know that within the past year or so I've expressed an interest in Roots Reggae and Dub music. I've been exposed to Reggae ever since my parents went to Jamaica for vacation in the late '80s. My mom brought back a cassette of this dude named Bob Marley. I was never a huge fan of Mr. Marley but I particularly liked the production on some of the earlier Wailers recordings, specifically the "Burnin'" album. It was really interesting because at that time, my brother was listening to a lot of Shabba Ranks and Buju Banton which was an evolution of what my mom was listening to with The Wailers. What I'm getting at is that I really like to compare the two sounds and how there were produced. Electronic vs. Non-electronic, if you will. I enjoy dancehall music that embraces electronics and doesn't try to make the synthesizers sound like real instruments, but my favorite style is Roots and Dub which is mostly done with non-electronic instrumentation, but then with Dub it is processed through tons of effects; mostly analog.
Anyway, today I was sifting through a 6 disc CD-R set my brother made me a few months back, the first time I really got to check it out. Out of the 70 some odd tracks, I only really enjoyed a handful. All of which were older and more pure in their production. The vocals are very important too. A lot of it just sounded like sweet love songs with an upbeat piano hit. Not my cup of tea. But I did stumble across a huge classic from the 80s; Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm." It has been sampled time and time again over the years by a plethora of artists but none still compare with the original. Much like one of my all time favorites, Barrington Levy, Tenor Saw has a very unique and oddly comforting voice. The groove isn't anything to shake a stick at either; absolutely infectious! Tenor's career was only a short 3 years. In August 1988, his body was found at the side of the road outside Houston, perhaps victim of a hit and run, but his legacy lives on through this track if not any other. Until I can find more Tenor Saw material, a task that proves more and more difficult by the hour, I would like to share this track with you. Enjoy.
Tenor Saw – "Ring the Alarm" - 4.1 mb | download here
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2 comments:
Weird...The short of my story is...in the mid 80's my sister married a guy from Dublin. The biggest reggae fan I've ever met. Needless to say I have a soft spot for sweet reggae music and dub. Tenor, well this song makes me think of Max Romeo..."I chase the Devil" his voice is definitely not as "sweet" but perfect for this tune. I've been going back to early ska / reggae / dub on the iTunes at work lately...thanks for the reminder of this perfect tune!
hey no problem dude. thanks for swinging by the ol' blog. and yeah I was just listening to Max Romeo just yesterday. "Lucifah, son of da mornin', I'm gonna chase you out uf ert!" hehe yeah!
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