The Stingrays - Dinosaurs

The debut album from The Stingrays released in 1983 , probably owes more to psychedelia and prime 60s' Nuggets type garage than the psychobilly scene that that they were often lumped in with.It still retains a frantic rockabilly beat on some tracks especially "Blue Girl" complete with great slap bass playing . "My Flash On You" and the sly " Joe Strummer's Wallet " are particular highlights on this very diverse album . The last track on the album "Ah What! " stands up really well, it sort of reminds me of Love and is probably my favourite on the album at this moment in time .

Psychobilly was mostly ignored or briefly mentioned with a snobby attitude by the music press of the time , so I am not holding out for any articles in any of the retro music mags anytime soon , am getting pissed off with repetitive Beatles , Stones , "how great the 60s' were " type articles and endless 50 best of whatever lists content of these mags at the moment. They must be taking us for fools . And I subscribe to one of them . And I have just renewed it and got a free CD wallet . Hold on ! Oh well, it's something to read on the bog .

Vinyl Dinosaurs here .

African Rubber Dub - Bim Sherman

Am crediting this as a Bim Sherman dub album, although as there is so little info about this that I am not so sure. At the moment this album seems to be a bit hard to get hold of as well . Mixes by King Tubby, Prince Jammy and tellingly Adrian Sherwood as this has a very distinctive On U Sound type flavour to the overall sound ,although I suppose to define a definitive "On U Sound" sound is near impossible . Musicians include Style Scott, Bingy Bunny , Sly & Robbie , Roots Radics Band and The Gladiators . Lots of Niyabinghi style drumming ,warm percussive instruments , horns and Bim Sherman vocals drifting in and out make up a sort of soothing dub album , although as I have a bit of man flu at the moment this may be influencing my feeling towards it but whatever state Im in I still love this album. I do have volume 2 as well so if anyone wants this too , let me know . For now vinyl rip here .

20 Reggae Classics - The Music That Inspired A Generation

After seeing The Specials blow the roof of Hammersmith last Friday night thought I would post this Trojan compilation released in 1984 which acknowledges ,via the cover art ,Two Tones role in releasing covers of tracks first released in the UK on Trojan Records in the late 60s' and early 70s' .It was through listening to The Specials,The Selecter, Madness etc as a kid that led me ,and probably many out there, to Reggae,Ska,Dub,Rocksteady. It contains tracks covered and made hits or featuring on best selling albums by artists including The Specials,The Selecter,Bad Manners,UB40 and err Boney M amongst others .All tracks absolute classics and all have been available on numerous compilations ,you know the ones ,out during the summer cos Reggae to the masses seems to be all about sun kissed beaches,palm trees,Shaggy and Big Mountain. But this one is quality , if you don't have all of these tracks get them now . Vinyl rip here.Then buy Trojans "Tighten Up!" series .

1. Red Red Wine - Tribe, Tony
2. Sweet Sensation - Melodians
3. Love Of The Common People - Nicky Thomas
4. Johnny Too Bad - Slickers
5. Pressure Drop - Toots & The Maytals
6. Liquidator - Harry J & The All Stars
7. Skinhead Moonstomp - Simaryp
8. Long Shot Kick De Bucket - Pioneers
9. Please Don't Make Me Cry - Winston Groovy
10. Many Rivers To Cross - Cliff, Jimmy
11. 007 (Shanty Town) - Desmond Dekker & The Aces
12. Rudie A Message To You - Dandy Livingstone
13. Version Girl - Boy Friday
14. Cherry Oh Baby - Eric Donaldson
15. Fattie Fattie - Clancy Eccles
16. Keep On Movin' - Bob Marley
17. Time Hard - The Pioneers
18. Monkey Man - The Maytals
19. Rivers Of Babylon - Melodians
20. Train To Skaville - Ethiopians

Oh yeah , The Specials. Saw them at Brixton in May and at Hammersmith on Friday , bruised all over and got an accidental smack in the mouth but loved every minute . Must admit after watching them on Jools Holland earlier in the year I was a bit apprehensive but was completely blown away both times . It must be a world tour next , after that who knows ? New material ? With or without Jerry ? Even if they just left it that ,well, its been an absolute blast and far beyond what I could have imagined.

Dr. Phibes And The House Of Wax Equations - Live Glastonbury '93

Been meaning to re-upload this for sometime, was available through Last FM page but link has expired . Anyway here is Dr. Phibes' performance from Glastonbury '93 where they had a large "Dr. Phibes" balloon hovering over the festival for the duration of most of the festival (Im sure there is a story about it losing it's mooring and causing chaos at higher altitudes above the site to a plane or hopefully a police helicopter).I did go that year but got sort of distracted and missed them , as you do or did at Glastonbury , but managed to pick up a C90 of the set the next day . Audience recording but still very much worth a listen . Apologies in advance as I'm not 100% on the correct track-listing and also for the piss poor knocked out "cover" ,novice at photoshop/image type software, feel free to make a better one and send it to me.Check out wiki and first post for more on the "should of been massive" and seriously under appreciated Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations. Glasto '93 here.

Thanks to Keith for these links to some quality French broadcast recordings .

http://dl.free.fr/rs8ltGsRu

http://rapidshare.com/files/281224805/Phibes.exe.html

King Tubby Meets The Aggrovators At Dub Station - Tommy McCook & The Aggrovators

Another classic dub set featuring King Tubby and The Aggrovators along with the mighty Tommy McCook leader of The Skatalites . Produced by Bunny Lee and mixed by King Tubby, this contains more tracks worth a place in anyones playlist type thing of dub, including the much used hook to "Ring Of Fire" on "Happy Dub" ,a version of Dave Brubecks "Take Five" on "Jah Love Rockers Dub" and the deeply cavernous sound of the title track "Dub Station" ,the set is worth having for this track alone.Yet another example of the genius of King Tubby. First released in 1975 and re released in 2007 with 12 extra tracks . Here .

King Tubby's Special 1973 - 1976

There seem to be hundreds of compilations out there claiming to be the work of King Tubby and all of varying quality.This one issued by Trojan not long after his death in 1989 must rank as one of the must haves. The first thirteen tracks comprises an album Tubby mixed for Niney Holmes with The Observers rhythm section ,don't know which album as the otherwise excellent sleeve notes by Steve Barrow don't say. The remaining tracks is a compilation of mixes Tubby provided for Bunny Lee with The Aggrovators . Contains a lot of mixes to familiar rhythms to some such as " Ali Baba" , "Skylarking " and "Queen Of The Minstrels" . Listen out for snatches of vocals in places from the likes of Horace Andy,U. Roy ,Dennis Brown and Delroy Wilson . This whole set would make an ideal introduction to old school dub , and once your hooked there is no going back as you may also find yourself on a never ending quest for the perfect dub album . I never seem to come across any bad ones especially those with production dating to the 70's and have avoided most digital productions so far.Has been issued on CD but this is a quality vinyl rip . Here .

Space - KLF & The Orb

Quite rare Jimmy Cauty (of the KLF) solo project released under the alias of Space , originally intended as The Orb's debut album .After Jimmy Cauty left the original line up of The Orb to concentrate on the KLF he took the tapes with him and removed all of Dr. Alex Patterson's contributions and released it on the KLF communications label .This makes a great companion piece to The Orb's proper debut "Adventures Beyond The Ultra World" taking the listener on a journey through space from blast off to splash down via a quick trip through the solar system from Mercury to Pluto and all planets in between with the aid of synthesizers , samples , classical music , space coms , and a creepy take on "Twinkle , Twinkle , Little Star". Early ambient house classic much darker than the KLF's earlier groundbreaking "Chill Out" album ( if anyone wants this do the comment thing) and described by Jimmy Cauty as " a record for 14 year old space cadets to go and take acid to for the first time" . If your older than 14 and have no acid at hand , a dark room and a bottle of red may get you slightly off the launch pad or just as a good bit of classic ambient to chill to, either way this is still a 38 minute trip worth taking . The limited CD issue was split into tracks indicating the planets visited on the journey track it down if you can. This is a good ol' vinyl rip consisting of two tracks , Space 1 and Space 2 . Here.