Music is old, really old. I have heard rumours that it even predates CDs. Music is old, and musicians are old. We are living in a unique time in the history of pop music, a time where we can for the first time watch our music icons slowly fade away, at least the ones who haven't already burnt out. We can go and see 60s Rock and Roll Legends in football stadiums. We can discover artists way before our time and go and see them to a 50th anniversary tour or maybe they'll make an appearance at the birthday party [...]

Sound Verite has a pair of tickets to see reggae legend Toots & the Maytals. Formed in the 1960s when ska was hot, Toots scored many hit among them "Funky Kingston" and "Pressure Drop". The Clash covered "Pressure Drop", The Specials "Monkey Man" as well as being featured in the classic The Harder They Come . Toots has a new record out Flip and Twist . Win a pair of tickets by telling me what year did The Who invite Toots & The Maytals on tour as the opening act on a North American tour? Toots [...]

Leonard Howell known as "The First Rasta" , bequeathed the Rastafarians six fundamental principles: Hatred for the white race. The complete superiority of the black race. Revenge on whites for their wickedness. The negation, persecution, and humiliation of the government and legal bodies of Jamaica. Preparation to go back to Africa, and [...]

Toots and the Maytals: Sweet and Dandy [ purchase ] Sweet and Dandy was just one of many songs to put Toots and the Maytals on the map -- after all, these are the guys who wrote the Clash classic Pressure Drop -- but the 1969 original of this song, which was the title cut to their second album with vocalist Toots Hibbert, holds a special place in the canon, having won them the popular vote at that year's Jamaica festival. And [...]

Units - High Pressure Days Music from San Francisco's The Units. Thanks to Caterwauling at Waxidermy for the rip. BONUS BEAT$

It's hard to believe it's time for the forth annual Christmas mix. When I'd first started compiling them, I'd see the occasional holiday song collection here and there. Now, bloggers start posting seasonal tunes in late November right up to December 25th. I prefer to save it for one collection of the best I've come across over the last twelve months - once this is posted, work starts on next year's mix. A good compilation is evocative of the holiday, each song should resonate experiences of past seasons, I believe this one does just that - enjoy! [...]

The Maytals: It's You Single released the same year LBJ signs anti-poverty measure totaling nearly $1 billion. What's changed? Toots & The Maytals: Monkey Man Love the guitar on this one. First heard this track after checking out The "King" Kong compilation from a Memphis library and recording everything to a Maxwell. Now many years later wish I never returned it. I'm sure the vinyl ended up at one of their [...]
I've been so busy lately I barely have time to sleep - sorry for neglecting you once again. Things'll get back on track when I get back from Chicago in November. For now, dig my super rad half joke but mostly serious reggae / ska /rocksteady/modern guilty pleasures of similar influence mixtape, full of tracks from the best Ska compilation EVER, that my friend gave me for Christmas when I was 12. I don't remember what it was called. Anyway, sorry - this shoulda gone out on Monday, didn't get made till Tuesday, and isn't being posted till Thursday: [...]

Wikipedia: Laughter Laughter is an audible expression or appearance of merriment or happiness or an inward feeling of joy and pleasure (laughing on the inside). It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes, tickling and other stimuli. Inhaling nitrous oxide can also induce laughter; other drugs, such as cannabis, can also induce episodes of strong laughter. Strong laughter can sometimes bring an onset of tears or even moderate muscular pain. Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain. It helps humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and provides an emotional [...]

On tap: All they wanted to do was to socialize, the Memphis Group , Chi'town's own , the oft covered tale of a henpecked husband and Ms. Arulpragasam's lingua franca pop. Enjoy Spring break! Faces: Too Bad - 5.23MB Booker T. & the MG's: Hip Hug-Her - 2.55MB The Chi-Lites: Stoned Out Of My Mind - 5.85MB The Maytals: Monkey Man - 5.58MB M.I.A.: Hussel - 7.21MB

Trojan Records was founded in 1967 by Jamaican-English producer Lee Gopthal as something of a sister label to Chris Blackwell's Island Records. It became one of the best-known and successful reggae labels, but it also bought out several independent Jamaican labels and ended up with a pretty good ska and rock-steady back catalog. In 1972, it went through these archives and put out a fantastic (if somewhat inaccurately-named) compilation, The Trojan Story . Although the liner notes were somewhat sparse and the sound rough, you couldn't want a better overview [...]
Dec 28, 2007, 1:06am
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Back from xmas holiday, best of 2007 coming soon ... Devil's Angels OST (Tower 1967) Psychsploitation / surfsploitation / bikesploitation soundtrack to Roger Corman's Devil's Angels with John Cassevetes. Some of this music is collected on Sundazed's anthology of Davie Allan and the Arrows . The Arrows - "Devil's Angels" The Arrows - "The Ghost Story" [...]

Dear Patients: Over the next few days here at the asylum we are goin' to give some big-up stethoscope props to our top two favorite movie soundtracks. Why not top five you ask? Well, here at the asylum we are not that big on original movie soundtracks...especially the sounds of Purple Rain and Saturday Night Fever . So we figured we might as well give you at least two musical biscuits. In fact, these two are the best musical soundtrack biscuits that you have ever heard. Lately we haven't been able to get [...]
PARTY GIRL Charlie Rich The Complete Smash Sessions Polygram : 1992 [Buy It] Our friends at Minnesota Public Radio are putting together a segment on campaign songs, so MW & MPR are forming like organized crime to pose the au courant musical question: What campaign songs should America's most enterprising and indefatigable candidates adopt? BAM BAM Toots & The Maytals Monkey Man Berverly's : 1970 [Buy It] ? [...]
New York, NY February, 26, 2007 - Stephen Marley, GRAMMY winning artist and producer, has announced that he is launching a much anticipated tour this spring. Kicking off on March 30th, the tour is happening in association with the Ghetto Youths International Foundation and will feature special guest "Jr. Gong." The tour will run through May, hitting more than 40 cities with acclaimed artist K'naan also in tow. Billed as the Mind Control North American tour, Ghetto Youths International will contribute one dollar from every ticket sold to the Marley's homegrown charity, [...]

(photo by scumfrog (cc)) It's got really cold, really suddenly here. Since November struck, it went pretty much freezing overnight (literally, Tuesday was fine, Wednesday was bitter) - most of the country is basking in subzero night-times, while in London, with our fug of lovely haze, we're comparatively well-off with an average of +2C. So what better way to celebrate than with the sound of the islands? Everybody loves reggae right? Like, everybody. I do. I love to throw on a Trojan boxset it [...]