things and time will tell.

For the three of you still following these, sorry for the absence! I'll be trying to catch up a little this week. A request: Even if you are pretty sure that a group of white, British (and German?), punk rock women doing noisy covers of classic reggae songs could not possibly be your thing, give this one a chance. If any of you enjoy it, we could go some interesting new directions with this little music exchange... The Slits ‎– Man Next Door Human Records ‎– YUS 1 Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, US, 1980 A1 Man Next Door A2 In The Beginning There Was Rhythm B Animal Space The Slits ‎– Man Next Door Y Records ‎– Y4, Rough Trade ‎– RT 044 Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, UK, 1980 A Man Next Door B Man Next Door (Version) The women who formed the Slits as part of the original 1976-77 wave of London punk bands stood out in the decidedly male dominated scene. There were some lineup changes along the way, but the band remained almost entirely women until they ...

Last week was challenging. Several days of cloudy skies, snow(?!), and me playing "Ain't No Sunshine" repeatedly. Now let's go a different direction. I hope people enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend and made time to step outside to take a deep breath. Everybody loves the sunshine. Ramp ‎– Everybody Loves The Sunshine ABC Blue Thumb ‎– BT-274 Vinyl, 7", Promo, 45 RPM US, 1977 A  Everybody Loves The Sunshine (Stereo) B  Everybody Loves The Sunshine (Mono) One of Roy Ayers' greatest albums doesn't feature him playing a note. The brilliant vibraphonist produced and composed for the sole album released by RAMP (aka Roy Ayers Musical Productions). The handful of recordings released under the RAMP name have a cult following these days, not just they were sampled by A Tribe Called Quest or because Incognito covered their songs and named albums in tribute . It's because they were really that  good. Listen to this on headphones and the m...

The world of remote working, social distance and closed schools has been pretty disorienting. Hard to tell some days how much I've accomplished, no matter how hard we work. That said, knowing that I managed to make at least one of you into a new Billy Boyo fan makes me 100% confident that this has been a productive week in my life. So, by request, one last visit to our high school MC. __________________________________________ Billy Boyo ‎– Zim Zim Silver Kamel Audio ‎– BB5640 CD, Album, US, 2002 Billy Boyo's career seems to have disappeared almost as swiftly as he had come on the scene. By about 1985 he pretty much disappeared from recording. Another handful of singles trickled out over the years, but I believe his exit from music went along with leaving Jamaica for New York. Years later, there were rumors that he had been shot and killed, but they appeared to be untrue when news circulated in late 2000 that Billy Boyo (at age 30?) had just died from brain cancer. ...

Bill Withers died almost two weeks ago now. Here's a final installment (for now, anyway) in my little tribute to him and one of the most perfect songs ever written. Isaac Hayes ‎– At Wattstax Stax ‎– SCD-88042-2 CD, Album, US, 2003 The 1972 Wattstax concert took place in LA, organized by Memphis based Stax Records on the seventh anniversary of the Watts Riots. Promoted as "the Black Woodstock," The Staple Singers, The Bar-Kays and Richard Pryor performed, Jesse Jackson MC'ed, and the concert was filmed and recorded for a movie and album released in '73. Not one for subtlety, a gold plated Cadillac drove Isaac Hayes up to the stage in the middle of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where he took the stage wearing a vest of golden chains. The whole set was recorded, but only one Hayes track was included on the original Wattstax album. But what a track it was... A 17 minute live version of Ain't No Sunshine is something special. The full set wasn...

Continuing our brief tribute to the late, great Bill Withers... Horace Andy ‎– Ain't No Sunshine Jaguar ‎– J 189 Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM Jamaica, 2006 A    Horace Andy  -  Ain't No Sunshine B    Mafia & Fluxy  -  Ain't No Sunshine Version In the early 70s, Jamaican vocalist Hoarce Andy had a hit on the island with his cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine." What we have here is an early 2000s remix of that cut by musicians and producers Mafia & Fluxy. Horace Andy has one of the most distinctive voices in reggae, crossing decades and genres yet still managing to remain relevant. Since the 1990s, he's been best known to non-reggae obsessives for his work with Massive Attack, but he's been on the scene since the early 1970s, originally releasing records for Coxsone Dodd and his legendary Studio One label. Even by the prolific standards of reggae singers, he's put out an impressive number of memorable songs and that in...

A broken hard drive cost me a lot of music, time, and peace last week. I've been piecing things together, but lost a plenty of music and am running even further behind in these posts than I would have been. I'll try to make up for lost time a little in the coming days! ____________________________________________________________ We lost Bill Withers, a truly great songwriter, last week. The man didn't just produce hits, but timeless, popular songs that spoke to regular people. I don't know the ins and outs of his life story, so you won't have to be bored with my usual trivia festival, but the handful of details that I've heard only made Bill Withers more special for me. He started his career later than your typical pop star, already in his thirties after spending a decade or so in the service. He was cutting his first recordings while working as a mechanic and released "Just As I Am," his first album, in 1971. Despite a string of classic songs and...

I do intend to get back to some Chicago music (and even another visit to George Washington Carver Area High School ), but first another visit to JA and Billy Boyo, the "high school MC" from my last post. I'm passing on two of his strongest singles, including one of my favorite reggae records ever. Please, grab this! ________________________ In the early 1980s, the dancehall explosion in Jamaica brought scores of artists who, instead of chasing the international stardom of Bob Marley or the cult of roots reggae collectors abroad, brought the focus back home. Deejays and singers of the new reggae style were more focused on the hometown audience, rocking mics at the dance over the "version" (dub or instrumental) side of crackly, JA pressed 45s. The lyrics could touch on "roots and culture," but you were at least as likely to hear a 3 minute tribute to the virtues of Clarks shoes as repatriation themes or devout Rastafarian tributes. Both Billy Boyo s...

Continuing with the youth and school themes... Billy Boyo ‎– School I Attend Rhythm: Fever Producer: Henry "Junjo" Lawes Label: Volcano ‎– [no catalog number] Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM,  Jamaica, 1982(?) Side A - School I Attend Side B - Version For a few years in the early 80s, a fad of child deejays took off in Jamaica. Preteen dancehall stars Little John and Little Harry each had their moments, but for me Billy Boyo was the standout in that class. Nine years old when he first started rocking mics at the dance, Billy's short career produced a surprising number of memorable cuts. In this one, Billy raps about "the school I attend" over a version of the Fever rhythm cut for producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes. Musical Youth made it big in America claiming they were singing about food when they changed the Mighty Diamonds' " Pass The Kouchie " into " Pass The Dutchie ." But Billy Boyo, probably 12 years old on this track...

With Chicago Teachers Union members across the city who are both missing their students pretty bad right about now and still trying to keep up the struggle, I thought this single might be appropriate... Baby Huey & The Babysitters 'Mighty' 'Mighty' Children (Unite Yourself This Hour) Curtom ‎– CR 1939 Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, US, 1969 For a few short years in the late 60s, James T. Ramey transformed himself into Baby Huey, a 300+ lb force of nature in the Chicago music scene. After a handful of singles on smaller labels and a wild reputation for their live performances, Baby Huey & The Babysitters were picked up by Curtis Mayfield's Curtom record label. Curtis himself produced three band's last couple of 45s as well as Baby Huey's only LP, "The Baby Huey Story - The Living Legend," which was released by Curtom posthumously after the 25 year old Huey died in 1970. One of those two Curtom singles included the Babysit...