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Reggae Britannia BBC4 - starting this Friday!!

Ive missed all of this, and probs dont have time to watch it all....

can anyone recomend the best couple to look up on iplayer?
 
The doc was better than I could have expected and well worth another watch. Would have liked to have seen it set over three parts like they did with the soul one so you could have more about the fans as well as the artists. Would also like to have seen more about the skinhead/reggae scene but I guess they were limited by time.
 
toblerone3 said:
The live show on now about current Jamaican reggae musicians is fucking amazing.!!! :):D:cool:
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yes i enjoyed that a lot... was interesting how obvious it was who was going to make it and who was just a chancer.... it seemed to say thathowever corrupt the music industry might be, if someone is genuinely good and keeps working then they will eventually get somewhere, whereas if they are fake then no matter how much money and influence they have they won't do anything at all.
 
BlackArab said:
The doc was better than I could have expected and well worth another watch. Would have liked to have seen it set over three parts like they did with the soul one so you could have more about the fans as well as the artists. Would also like to have seen more about the skinhead/reggae scene but I guess they were limited by time.
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The rocksteady doc was brilliant. what a line up at the concert at the end!!!! There's a whole programme on it's own about skinheads and reggae/soul etc.....
 
Oooh well i certainlly wanna watch the storyville, the rocksteady and babylon documentaries.
 
coccinelle said:
The Rocksteady film is a beautiful and gentle film and it's an absolute joy to see the old timers brought back together by Moss Raxlen (the producer). How many of the artistes in the film will still be around in 5 years' time?
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Yes I really rated that one last night ..... I've thought for a long time that U-Roy is an absolute genius ..... and I loved nearly all the other artists/songs featured too ..... :cool: :)
 
Good links from KT and audiotech for the Ruts and Misty in Roots :) .... a version of Misty are still going, they still kick arse live at festivals, saw them fairly recently ....

And if you get a chance to see Steel Pulse live (they are also still going) then do it. they're excellent.
 
The Rock Steady documentary was Stranger Cole's story really, not much of a history of Rock Steady. No mention of Duke Reid, Sonia Pottinger, Delroy Wilson, the Paragons, Caltone, too much I Threes........

Anyway, as a piece on that group of musicians it was great and really nicely done. The footage of them joking about, arranging and practicing at Tuff Gong was worth it on its own, really enjoyed it.
 
I'm not sure what the Police had to do with reggae in the UK :rolleyes:

It was nice to see Smiley Culture and Tippa Irie featured - and Viv Albertine gave a good account of herself
 
Divisive Cotton said:
I'm not sure what the Police had to do with reggae in the UK :rolleyes:

It was nice to see Smiley Culture and Tippa Irie featured - and Viv Albertine gave a good account of herself
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Yes - 'cockney tranlator' - a forgotten gem that one!

Good shout for misty in roots - saw them play with the redskins back in the day.
 
Divisive Cotton said:
I'm not sure what the Police had to do with reggae in the UK :rolleyes:

It was nice to see Smiley Culture and Tippa Irie featured - and Viv Albertine gave a good account of herself
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I think the police suffer from the fact that sting has subsequently proved himself to be an utter bellend.

If I can get all pseudo here - whilst not a reggae band they were very effective at combing the aesthetic with harder 3-peice rock sounds, reuslting in a stark minimalism married to a keen pop sensibility. Their first two albums are not white boy wattered down reggae aimed at the mainstream - (see post labour of love UB40 for that) but something thats a succesful alchmemy that creates something new. Listen to 'walking on the moon' - there's so much space you could drive a truck through it but it hangs together, its a work of minor pop genius.

They weren't some rock band having a ham fisted stab at a reggae numbers ('Dreadlock holiday' anyone?) but excellent musicians who understood the forms they were playing with to the extent they could strip them apart and rearrange them into something new.

Its intersting that I cant really think of any bands who have succesfully repeated the same rock/reggae (as opposed to punk/reaggae) trick - (although the 80s is littered with the half baked embrassments of those who tried - i.e. men at work) I think they had a unique musicality thats hard to replicate.

Basically if you looking at reggaes influence on music generally you cant really ignore the police.

I'm not - and wasn't - a massive fan btw - the wankers tax is pretty hefty - but I think you have to give them their due. My own band does a bit of dub-punk (whihc can sound shit if done badly) so I admit to being slightly jealous of how they did it - having stuart copeland on drums probably helps quite a lot.
 
editor said:
Do we really have to thank Eric Clapton for launching Bob Marley's international career?
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I was surprised by that too, but maybe that's what Marley needed to be accepted by the "serious" rock fans. It seems laughable today, but I can imagine that was quite a barrier to vault back in the day.
 
ringo said:
The Rock Steady documentary was Stranger Cole's story really, not much of a history of Rock Steady. No mention of Duke Reid, Sonia Pottinger, Delroy Wilson, the Paragons, Caltone, too much I Threes........

Anyway, as a piece on that group of musicians it was great and really nicely done. The footage of them joking about, arranging and practicing at Tuff Gong was worth it on its own, really enjoyed it.
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Aye it had a feeling of 'Stranger Cole meets.....' as if it was some series.... But the ommissions notwithstanding it was a pleasure to watch. I would have happily sat in that recording studio just marvelling at the voices especially Ken Boothe.
 
bollocks, was gonna try and watch some of it at work tonight, but its all blocked.....

and they've taken it off virgin media :(

Ill have to try and find download links.
 
Kaka Tim said:
Basically if you looking at reggaes influence on music generally you cant really ignore the police.

I'm not - and wasn't - a massive fan btw - the wankers tax is pretty hefty - but I think you have to give them their due. My own band does a bit of dub-punk (whihc can sound shit if done badly) so I admit to being slightly jealous of how they did it - having stuart copeland on drums probably helps quite a lot.
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I agree with this, really -- the Police get a lot of abuse, a fair bit of it correct ("wankers tax" :D :p ), but they WERE important in the way KT describes.

The Bed's Too Big Without You still did a certain something for me when I heard it again ...

( :oops: )
 
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