things and time will tell.

Ghetto Priest with Skip McDonald & Adrian Sherwood – Auld Lang Syne c/w The Slave's Lament Not On Label (Graham Fagen Self-released) CD Single, UK, Feb 11, 2005 This New Year's Eve share might be too somber for a party night... but I'm hoping I'm still on good paper after the Louie Vega Xmas disco records and that you'll forgive me if this is less aimed for the holiday dancefloor. I'm no expert, but it seems that Scottish artist Graham Fagen has produced a number of works over the years exploring the history of connections between Scotland and Jamaica (especially via the slave trade). He has collaborated with musicians to produce music and sounds to accompany his installations and visuals, several times working with members of the On-U Sound family. For a 2005 exhibit called Clean Hands Pure Heart , Fagen asked that team to produce a recording that combined the New Year's standard  Auld Lang Syne with another song, The Slave's Lament , also written

Louie Vega & Elements Of Life Christmas Package 2008 - 2023 A not-so-secret secret about me: I like Christmas music. Okay, not all of it, but there are always more quality (not to mention weird and interesting) Xmas records around than you think.  I've never shared any here, so let's fix that.  I kicked off the year with a Masters At Work post , so I'll close it out that way too with some upbeat holiday house from Little Louie Vega. The legendary NYC dance producer is one half of MAW and has been sliding out the occasional Christmas record for years now. Mostly just digital releases, sometimes under his own name and some with Elements Of Life, his band brings more of his love for Latin and jazz to the party.  Jazz bass, Latin percussion, and some great vocalists feature on soul house productions that will guarantee a sunny Christmas day when  you play them. (How come I've never gotten to DJ a Christmas party?) Vega and his EOL team hit some Christmas classics that

Hemsley Morris / Ernest Ranglin – You Think I'm A Fool / Heart Beat Clancy's Records / TRS Records – TRS-CE-1 Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Europe, 2023 (Original releases: 1968) info The mention of Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin playing on the Monty Alexander album I just posted reminded me that I had this single in a pile of 45s waiting to be heard. Ranglin is most famous as a jazz artist, recording since the mid 1950s in JA and internationally, but his guitar work graces plenty of nice ska, rocksteady and reggae recordings from the 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. Here he's credited with the B side instrumental, Heart Beat .  The regularly high quality French label Top Ranking Sound (or TRS Records) smartly paired Ranglin's track with the vocal cut by Hemsley Morris on the same rhythm. Both tracks were originally released in 1968, Morris's rocksteady vocal on Clancy's Records in Jamaica and Ranglin's instrumental take on a Pama single in the UK. A Clancy Eccles

Monty Alexander – Love And Sunshine MPS Records – G-22620 Vinyl, LP, Album, USA, 1975 info _____________________________ I recorded this album and started preparing the post almost six months ago. I intended it to be the follow up to a post talking about the Chicago elections . The punchline was that the people won, we elected a Black, progressive, union organizer as mayor and  Love And Sunshine  landed on my turntable and seemed like a good soundtrack to a hopeful moment. Before posting I realized that I had completely messed up the recording and just couldn't get around to rerecording and fixing it up again until now. My taste may typically run more to the spiritual or free jazz ends of things, but there is something I love about a straight forward set like this one by Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander. Not sure what it is- Standards, pop tunes arranged for a jazz combo, and the complete lack of pretention, maybe? Alexander cut this set for the German MPS label live in front of a

Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie – Zion Gate Tropical Dubwise – TD12001 Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Maxi-Single, Stereo, France, 2021 info A modern Horace Andy follow up to my last post, on this re-cut of his 1973 song  Zion Gate . His voice is in great form as he delivers this reminder to live righteously before it's too late. I appreciate the spiritual clarity at a moment when the world seems pretty dedicated to handing me complication. Andy has released some quality records in the last few years, especially two brilliant LPs for On-U Sound. As much as I like his reinvention in the 90s and 2000s through his work with Massive Attack, it's been great hearing such successful new reggae recordings from this veteran, 50-odd years into his career. Horace Andy teamed up with Sly and Robbie on this single, released just a few months before Robbie Shakespeare sadly passed away in December, 2021. Sly & Robbie lead their classic Taxi Gang band on the backing track and don't disappoin

Horace Andy / Augustus Pablo – Problems / Lovers Mood Pressure Sounds – PSS 001 Vinyl, 7", UK, 1995 info The last time I posted something here was almost six months ago, when we were days away from an important election... and when I had I had convinced myself once again that there was some chance I could pull off posting music on a more regular basis. At least my hopefulness for the election was well founded! Chicago has a new mayor and some new optimism, but life remains complicated. Major changes at work and home given me plenty of excuses from ever diving back into music (or this blog) like I intend to. instead of sad stories though, I'll share some good advice from the great Horace Andy. "Don't let problems get you down, they will put you in a hole." Not sure if anyone is still lurking around this site, but I'll try to keep that guidance in mind and start putting some music up here every now and then if anyone is searching. I hope you find this and enjoy