In the mid-20th century, jazz & rhythm-and-blues influenced and gave birth to many other genres. Ska reggae and rock ‘n’ roll came into their own as they solidified a set of basic ideas in sound, look, and lyrical content. Cross-pollination of sub-genres all over the world produced some very interesting experiments that still continue to this day.
While most popular music fans are aware of modern ska – now a hybrid of rock, punk, and a brass section – not everyone realizes the extent to which reggae and ska influenced the punk and rock scene of the 1970s and 1980s, even outside of the “2-Tone Ska” bands like Madness and The Beat. This collection is mainly about exploring those little musical pockets and one-off singles, where rock musicians borrowed a reggae beat or guitar upstroke here, or a ska-influenced organ riff there.
There’s very little to be found here in the way of saxophone or trumpet and that’s intentional. I had a lot of fun poking through musical history to put this together. You may notice some missing tracks that seem like glaring omissions (“Hey, where’s Dylan’s ‘Man Gave Names To All the Animals’?” “What about Blondie’s “The Tide Is High’?”). That’s just personal preference; feel free to add them yourself. That’s half the fun of homemade music collections. They can always keep changing as the years go by.
Hope you enjoy this compilation.
—Tim H., 2014
————————————————-
01 – Paul McCartney & Wings – C Moon (1972)
02 – Led Zeppelin – D’yer Mak’er (1973)
03 – J. Geils Band – Give It To Me (1973)
04 – Patti Smith – Redondo Beach (1975)
05 – Rolling Stones – Cherry Oh Baby (1976)
06 – Elvis Costello – Watching the Detectives (1977)
07 – The Modern Lovers – Egyptian Reggae (1977)
08 – The Stranglers – Peaches (1977)
09 – Coventry Automatics, The – Wake Up (1978)
10 – 10cc – Dreadlock Holiday (1978)
11 – Members – Offshore Banking Business; Pennies In the Pound (1979)
12 – Joe Jackson – Fools In Love (1979)
13 – Killing Joke – Turn To Red (1979)
14 – Nina Hagen – African Reggae (1979)
15 – Police, The – Walking On The Moon (Live 1979)
16 – Scorpions – Is There Anybody There (1979)
17 – The Ruts – Jah War (1979)
18 – The Terrorists – Happy Man (1980)
19 – The Plugz – Electrify Me (1979)
20 – Slits, The – Man Next Door (1980)
21 – Angelic Upstarts – I Understand (1981)
22 – The Clash – Guns of Brixton (Live 1981)
23 – D.O.A. – War In the East (1982)
24 – Nick Lowe – Heart (1982)
25 – Cutting Edge – Lonesome Cowboy (1983)
26 – Spliff – Carbonara (1982)
27 – Newtown Neurotics – Newtown People (1983)
28 – David Bowie & Tina Turner – Tonight (1984)
29 – Subhumans – When The Bomb Drops (1985)
30 – Hitlist – High Treason (1986)
31 – Beats International – Dub Be Good To Me (1990)
32 – Tim Armstrong – Hold On (2007)
——————-