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Jamaica Me Crazy

posted by Captain Planet • March 2, 2005 •

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Willie Williams : See You When I Get There
taken from the album “Armagideon Time” on Studio One (1979)

Rico : This Day
taken from the album “Man From Wareika” on Blue Note (1977)

The food spot formerly known as “Jamaica Me Crazy”, located a block away from us on Nostrand Ave., has changed its name to “Belly Full”. Wow. These tunes don’t have much in common other than their national identification. Jamaica = Reggae, right? Anyway, peep it, and steer clear of the steamed cabbage unless you’re gonna be home alone tonight. Brussel Sprouts = Gas From Hell, right?

Willie Williams has a firm standing in the Reggae Hall of Fame for his tune “Armagideon Time”, which is also the name of this LP. You’ve probably heard the tune, it’s been on a bunch of reggae compilations, the riddim has been re-used and sampled aplenty, and Soul Jazz recently put out the disco version as a single. “A lotta people won’t get no supper tonight, a lotta people going to suffer tonight”. But I think I prefer this super soulful, distant sounding “See You When I Get There”, not to be confused with the crappy Gamble & Huff tune of the same name. The little rhodes noodling is perfect.

A reggae record on BLUE NOTE?! It might be the only one of it’s kind. Rico Rodriguez plays trombone on more records than you knew existed. His own albums are rare and few, but they’re out there. He’s still making new ones, too. Chris Blackwell, the head honcho behind Island Records, was the exec-producer of this one, so I don’t know how it ended up on Blue Note- I like picturing a massive ganja cloud and some 70’s jazz cats vibing with their dread-head-carribean counterparts. Ernest Ranglin is still doing jazz-reggae fusion projects that sound good too, but he never made it to that high tribunal of musical masterminds that is the Blue Note Brotherhood. So, mad props to Rico.

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Psyched Out Funky Pu-Pu Platter!

posted by Captain Planet • February 25, 2005 •

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The Lijadu Sisters : Danger
taken from the album “Danger” on Afrodisiac (1976)

Antonio Carlos & Jocafi : Quem Vem La
taken from the album “Mudei De Ideia” on RCA (1971)

Asha Bhosle & R.D. Burman : Dum Maro Dum (Live)
taken from the album “Live at Royal Albert Hall, London” on EMI (1979)

First entry, jeah! I wanted to drop this highly combustible combo pack as an offering. What you see here, or hear here, is a brief introduction to some of my favorite things– namely, rare old funky gems from foreign countries. Hopefully, after a few months of this blog, some of these tunes won’t come accross as being too foreign at all. That’s when I’ll start to drop the really HEAVY shiz on ya! So, about the tunes…

An entire era before M.I.A. was stirring shit up with her punky, funny, poilitical, crunky sound; The Lijadu Sisters (Kehinde and Taiwo) were tearing down similar musical barriers in Nigeria. Emerging from the midst of Afrobeat’s primordial ooze, these young gorgeous twins sound more like a mix of Le Tigre and Grace Jones than they do Fela. A Track from one of their later albums was put on the highly recommended NIGERIA 70 comilation put out by AfroStrut. I got this record at the WFMU record fair for a five-spot- that’s the beauty of diggin’. Supposedly they live in Brooklyn now, I should look them up.

Antonio Carlos (not Jobim) & Jocafi have had a long-lasting musical relationship, but nothing compares to the heaviness of their work in the early 70’s. Pure, un-abashed Brazilian funk. They’ve been featured on several comps recently, even Afro-funk collections, but I haven’t seen this track surface yet. Screaming guitar, driving bass, yodeling, and horns that punch harder than the Game’s hottest lines.

Last but certainly not least, Bollywood legend Asha Bhosle recorded this ditty with her genius-composer husband R.D. Burman at a live concert in 1978. It was their first time performing in London: two nights, massive crowds, setlists that covered a substantial chunk of the then-contemporary Bollywood hits. I chose this tune (it’s an edited version, as the double-LP doesn’t have track breaks) in part because the original was recently sampled for Method Man’s single “What’s Happening” (the sample could have been freaked MUCH harder), but also because the movie that it’s taken from, “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, is a MUST SEE for anyone who thinks that too much chanting (particularly in conjunction with large doses of opium and heroin) has potentially harmful effects. This same edited version of the song has also been re-released by the wonderful folks who brought us Sitar Beat Vol’s 1 and 2. Thank them, and then go watch that movie!