Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

For some people, ska music died with the passing of Britain’s two-tone movement in the 1980s. But they only knew it as a post-punk dance craze anyway. As Jamaica’s peppy precursor to reggae, pioneered by legends like Jackie Mittoo, Don Drummond and Prince Buster, ska has a long and vibrant history whose influence still reverberates today.

In England, the ska banner was first held high by Desmond Dekker, a Jamaican singer whose songs “007 (Shanty Town)” and the classic “The Israelites” sent syncopated shock waves across radioland in the 1970s. By the end of the decade, ska was bubbling up big time in Old Blighty, with two-toners The Specials and The English Beat opening for the likes of Elvis Costello and The Clash.

Into those heady days stepped Adrian Miller, Mr. Rude Boy himself, a young Jamaican who found England’s music scene totally inspiring. “The whole climate was more experimental than what was going on back home,” recalls Miller. “There were older musicians like Saxa and Rico, who had first started doing ska back in Jamaica, playing with young groups like The Beat and The Specials. It was an amazing time.”

 

It’s been easy to dismiss Sinéad O’Connor as a kook, a volatile artist who seemed hell bent on career self-destruction by refusing to have the American national anthem played before her U.S. concerts and ripping up Pope John Paul II’s photo on Saturday Night Live. The backlash was swift and severe. The outspoken Irish-born singer suffered a nervous breakdown, attempted suicide and announced her retirement from the music business—several times. Last year, O’Connor took out a full-page ad in the Irish Examiner newspaper, pleading with her critics to be left alone. “I have been the whipping post of Ireland’s media for 20 years,” she wrote in the 2,000-word open letter. “If ye all think I am suc...

Mittoo was a founding member of The Skatalites and a legendary Studio One keyboardist who backed Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and others. His music played a crucial role in reggae’s foundation and he left a rich recorded legacy of his work in both Jamaica and Canada, where he lived through the 1970s and ’80s. This reissue of a rare album, recorded in Toronto in 1971, captures Mittoo at his best on gems like the majestic instrumental “Grand Funk” and the soaring, gospel-tinged reggae workout “Soul Bird.”

Released as part of the Classic Album series, this excellent DVD tells the story of reggae’s breakthrough into the mainstream. Featuring interviews with Bunny Wailer, Island Records’ Chris Blackwell and others, plus rare footage of Marley and the band in the studio and on stage performing “Stir it Up” and “Concrete Jungle,” the documentary explains how Catch a Fire crossed over to a rock audience. Bonus footage includes a previously unseen, incendiary b&w performance of “Get Up Stand Up.” Crucial stuff