the root and the suck

Two things:

1. Aswad used to be a roots band. This is hard to believe, but go find the album they did with Jah Shaka. Totally sparse roots music. No overdubs, no hooks, no pop. Aswad with all the suck scraped off was roots.
2. Roots Radics. "radics", "radix", "radical" all from same word, all mean the root of things. The roots of the roots. Why did it take me almost 20 years to catch this?
   

about that reggae dvd box set

Now I've had time to watch all three and have something to say.

1. The Harder They Come
   Its a great film, but you know that. The DVD is 16:9 and is indeed a great transfer. Plenty of extras including interviews with just about everyone involved, even Jimmy Cliff. Well over an hour of extras.
2. Reggae In A Babylon
   This one impressed me the least, except that it was interesting to see some of the old UK bands. Thats all it is really. Oh! There was a time when Steel Pulse did not look like complete dorks. 4:3 but looks like it was shot on 16mm and I doubt there was any use of widescreen since its "documentary".
3. Countryman
   I've heard about this since the mid 80s and had the soundtrack but never had a chance to see it till now. Simple story, good simple hero, wicked official men, fight scenes and obeh, nothin not to love. Carl Bradshaw from THTC plays two different roles in this one. 4:3, good color and sound, a 12 minute "making" type feature as an extra.

Reggae Movies

As far as I can tell this is a Japan only thing. Just released today, a DVD box set including:

• The Harder They Come
  a new transfer from the original 16mm negatives in 16:9. There are many different edits of this movie, I couldnt tell you which one this is.
  
  
• Countryman
  have not sen yet, no comment
  
  
• Reggae In A Babylon
  a German produced movie about the 70s UK reggae scene
  

I ordered this from Kinokunia's website and ended up with a free poster and t-shirt. The surprise was that the t-shirt is not the expected THTC logo, but a blue shirt with a yellow star of david like the main character of the movie wore.

Those of you seeking this outside Japan, Kinokunia wont ship to you, try Amazon instead.

versionology

"Jungle Fever" by Truth, Fact & Correct vs "Ala - Mecka - Bickally" by Audio Active.

Dont find any references on jamrid or anywhere. If anyone else knows of a version, please comment.

I promise I wont make a habit of this

In the 20 years I've been listening to the On-U Sound family, I've seen darn few images and almost no videos of the people involved. So when I came across these YouTube clips, I was at least pleased to see the people even if this lead song is one of my least favorites.


Gary Clail & On-U Sound System - Human Nature




Bim Sherman in studio




the making of Bim Sherman's "Miracle"




Adrian Sherwood on the knobs



Audio Active - Happy Shopper



Akabu live




I skipped the few Tackhead vids since they are ones with Bernard Fowler and I dont like that era of Tackhead really. Sure there is a basis to say that the Gary Clail really had nothing to do with Tackhead besides chanting over their tapes, but pretty much everyone I know prefers that stuff to the later records. Interesting that neither vocalist really ended up on the Japanese released Tackhead megamix CD that came out this year.