Red Gold & Green #32 - 50 Years Ago Today

I was 9 years old in July of 1969, the perfect age to be captivated and obsessed by all things space travel related. Unfortunately my parents didn't think I was quite old enough to stay up into the wee small hours to watch Neil and Buzz taking mans first steps on the moon, Dad did though and took a series of grainy photos of the TV screen to prove it. Those old photos are in a box somewhere in this house. Also in a box, I hope, is a handwritten and drawn school project entitled 'Space and Space Travel', created by yours truly in 1970 or thereabouts. If I'd have had my wits about me I would've located it long ago and shared it with you today - some other time perhaps.

Here's an aptly titled Bunny Lee production, released in 1969 by Derrick Morgan, who, after periods of ill heath, is still going strong at 79. This one's for Neil, Buzz, Micheal and Dad.

Derrick Morgan - Man Pon Moon 

Monday Long Song / Red Gold & Green #30

Across three slabs of wax, the 2002 Soul Jazz compilation 'Studio One Scorcher Instrumentals' offers up pretty much what it says on the tin - 19 scorching tunes originating from the legendary Brentford Road studio of Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd. From the album, 'Shockers Rock', officially credited to Tommy McCook, Richard Ace, The Skatalites & Disco Height, is a truly bonkers 1978 cut-up/remix of Roland Alphonso's 1965 ska cut 'Cleopatra'.

Tommy McCook, Richard Ace & The Skatalites - Shockers Rock

Red Gold & Green #13 - Prince Buster

And so finally, finally, this turbulent year draws to a close. A year in which so many thousands of innocent people around the world lost their lives in horrific circumstances, the balance of political power shifted to a terrifying degree and where the grim reaper's scythe laid waste to unprecedented swathes of the entertainment industry. As a rule, I like to draw a line beneath what's gone before and stride forward into the new year with a renewed spirit of optimism, though this time around, like many of us I suspect, I'm struggling to muster any positive feelings at all for 2017. Let's hope we're all wrong.

One music industry loss that slipped by almost unnoticed this year, at least by the mainstream media, was that of the mighty Prince Buster, in September at the age of 78. His influence and legacy are virtually incalculable and certainly too far-reaching to summarise in a mere few hurried lines. So I'll stick to doing what I do best and play some music. This song seems a particularly apt one to go out on.

Happy new year everybody and thanks for stopping by over the past 12 months.

Prince Buster - Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think

Red Gold & Green #2 - Justin Hinds and the Dominoes

If you know just one song by Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, it'll probably be the ska classic 'Carry Go Bring Come', produced by the great Duke Reid in late 1963 and released on the Treasure Isle label early the following year. Hinds and Reid revisited the song in 1967, this time recording a rocksteady arrangement and, following Reid's death in 1974, Lawrence 'Jack Ruby' Lindo produced a further, straight forward reggae version for Hinds' 1976 LP, 'Jezebel'. Justin Hinds died in 2005 at the age of 62.

Justin Hinds and the Dominoes - 'Carry Go Bring Come' (Ska)

Justin Hinds and the Dominoes - 'Carry Go Bring Come' (Rocksteady)

Out of Space

You join me here at Swede Towers as a major, long-delayed project gets underway. After nearly 5 years of being boxed up and beyond reach, I've begun the process of dragging my CDs, blinking and spluttering, back into the light. While the collection is nowhere near the size it once was, the space that the CDs take up in the house is far more than we have to spare. I've mused on the various options open to me for too long, now, to quote Secret Affair, it's time for action. Step one, dispatch jewel cases. Step two, put each booklet, disc and back cover into resealable cellobags. Step three, repeat process throughout entire collection. Step four, assess how much space I've saved. Step five.....more musing.

This could take some time.