Dancehall retirement - Tribute to Krispy Disco

 

Sleeve design for a mix-cd I made for Mello

Not too long ago, on a Saturday night, I drove to the south side of my hometown Zwolle with two crates filled with Jamaican 45`s in the back of my car. It was cold and dark outside. A heavy pulsing steppers dub from Jah Warrior boomed out of the speakers in my car. That night I had an appointment with another avid reggae collector. He was interested in buying some 45`s from me. In my mind I was already preparing the selection of tracks that I was going to spin that night. High Note, some Studio One, Techniques, Firehouse, Jammy`s, Black Scorpio, Harry J, Redman; the labels flashed through my mind.

Suddenly, I had to think about the journey which those 45’s had made. Right now, in the trunk of a my car, through a cold fall night, on a smooth asphalt road on their way to the south side of the Dutch city Zwolle. And back then in the early eighties, just pressed at Dynamic Sounds, Sonic Sounds or Tuff Gong. From the warehouse or a small distributor by car or motorbike through the burning sun, over a road full of potholes through the mountains. Passing Flat Bridge and through Fern Gully straight from Kingston to a small record shop in Ocho Rios. Bought there by Count Mello, the selector of the Krispy Disco Sound System.

Krispy Disco was a small local sound system. Like how a lot of Jamaicans operated their own sound. In the good old days you gained much respect from the community when you owned a sound system in Jamaica. “Im boss man! Im haffe a sound!”. And that is how Count Mello started out by the end of the sixties. As a side activity to the pastry shop Krispy Patties which he ran together with his brothers. He played his sound on parties and dances, or just from the back of the shop on the market. The bass blasted out of his big set of speakers! That must have been some experience in those days. Where would Mello have played all those 45’s? I don`t know, but on many occasions he must have loaded them in the trunk of his car. Packed in tape boxes and scandal bags on their way to a local party. A lot of people must have danced the night away on the hits of Culture, Peter Metro, Brigadeer Jerry and Frankie Paul. By the end of the eighties the digital riddims like the Sleng Teng must have blasted out of the speakers! Feel the vibes!

Count Mello (2009)

Mello ended his sound system activity around 1990. In 2003 I met him at his house. When I told him that I was interested in reggae music, boxes and scandal bags full of 45’s and albums start to appear from under his bed and from several different closets in the house. And every time I thought I saw it all, more records appeared from somewhere. With the car they picked up some other boxes with albums from the storage behind the pastry shop. Thousands of 45’s and a couple of hundred albums. A small set of speakers and the mixing desk of the sound system were still connected in the back room of the house. Now in modern style with two CD players. But eventually also the turntable appeared from under the bed and was plugged in for the occasion. There in the back room at Mello`s family house I selected the 45’s of which a part was now in the back of my car. Occasionally I put on some of the tracks and then the heydays of Krispy Disco Sound System revived for a short while. They had to laugh over the tracks I selected. They were vintage and brought memories, or there was a nice story behind it. And on many occasions a little piece of Jamaican history was unfolded by the lyrics but also the various riddims showcased a peculiar and interesting music history. “You flop them, man!” Mello said when he liked the selection that I played. If I was involved in some sound clash.

And so I had many sessions in the last couple of years at Mello`s family. Sometimes the entire afternoon and evening till late in the night. And all those sessions came with a delicious meal of rice and peas, Jerk chicken, curried goat or another typical Jamaican dish.

And then I packed around 500 45’s neatly in a box and shipped them with UPS to the Netherlands. At home I listened to every 45 carefully. I added most of them to my own collection and I sold some to other collectors. And that`s how the 45’s, and a piece of Jamaican dancehall history, ended up in two crates in the back of my car on a perfect smooth road heading to the South side of Zwolle. Later on that cold September night the top room of an average town house was lighted up by the sounds and vibes of Jamaican dancehall. A dancehall salute! To Krispy Disco Sound System. That was how the 45`s I sold will disappear in the orderly organized record archives of a reggae collector in the Netherlands. From now on they will be handled with great care, they will be cleaned till they shine, and when they play, the music will be listened to instead of felt! The sounds they carry will never again blast out of the more then man-sized speakers to hit a dancehall crowd. They will never decide a sound clash anymore. They went with retirement! Those 45’s of Krispy Disco.

Flying D

Krispy Disco indeed!



Stamped 45 label



Harry J, Joe White & Sylvan Morris - Roosevelt Ave. Dub 1975 – 1978 (Dr. Buster Dynamite)

This album is a strictly vinyl release on the Dr. Buster Dynamite label pressed in the limited quantity of 500 copies. The Dr. Buster Dynamite label is associated with the famous Jamaican Gold CD label. The label that brought out some well documented releases from various Jamaican producers like Clancy Eccles, Bunny Lee, Lloyd Daley, Byron Lee, Alvin Ranglin and Derrick Harriott. From shuffle, ska, rock steady, soul  to reggae; Jamaican Gold documented all outings of Jamaican music. Almost  all releases came with a small but extensive history booklet  with detailed information about the tracks, the artists and the producers written by Jamaican music documentalist Aad Brakus, alias Dr. Buster (Dynamite). Early 2000 it became very quiet around the Jamaican Gold label. Huub Hermus one of the thriving forces behind the label had passed away, and since then no new Jamaican Gold releases came out. Many fans of the label were still waiting and hoping for more releases.  The label was the subject of many discussions on the various reggae message boards on the net.

September 2011, Dr. Buster Dynamite came back again. Strictly vinyl this time with 2 new releases; “Bunny Striker Lee presents a skanking rockers party” focusing on some nice 12 inches from the seventies, and the Harry Johnson, Joe White and Sylvan Morris album. This album presents some nice dub cuts from Harry Johnson’s studio. It brings together the best tracks from three very hard to find dub albums from the seventies; Joe White - Jah Jah dub (Roosevelt), Cultural Dub (Harry J) and Sylvan Morris – Morris on dub (Jay wax).  The sound quality from this 180 grams vinyl album is splendid! Most tracks come straight from master tape and are technically well cleaned and transferred. As a master sound engineer Sylvan Morris will be very satisfied! In all the tracks you can hear the sound quality of Harry J`s Studio and Sylvan Morris` approach. Technically and musically the balance in the music is great. The dubs may sound  a bit less raw than some of the other studio`s that marked the sound of Jamaican dub music in the seventies, but they are certainly not less attractive. You can hear the work of a top quality sound engineer.  What also makes this set attractive is that most versions are recognizable and well known riddims. The first track, Expression dub, is a haunting melodica delivery from Joe white over a chucking version of Perry`s “Curly locks” riddim. Another recognizable track is “breakdown dub”. A skanking dub with spooky sounding snipes of Sheila Hylton's voice are bringing you a version of her hit “breakfast in bed”. And if you occasionally don`t recognize a riddim, you can always fall back on the traditional extensive liner notes to find out which it is.

Actually this dub set is almost entirely a Joe White album, because his melodica work is present  in most of the tracks. Joe White is a multi-instrumentalist like Augustus Pablo and like Pablo mostly known for his melodica work.  In my opinion, compared to Pablo, his style is very different. He plays his melodica sharper, more swinging and less dreamy. The  track “skank indigo” that versions Harry J`s famous Liquidator riddim is a nice example of that.  Another outstanding track is “Black Impressions”  a melodica version of the Heptones hit “Book of rules”. Everything is working in that track; a heavy bass line, melodica, percussion, piano. Sometimes the riddim is empty (strictly drum & bass), then nicely timed back to full force. Super dub Jamaican Style! Then there is “Undermind dub” that almost has the feel of a Channel One dub, with lots of echoes and delays. For a dub album the music and the mixing are well varied in style and atmosphere which makes it a very enjoyable album from start to finish. 

After all the heavy dub work the album closes of with an original instrumental Joe White tune “Meditation of Sound”. Fully blown by Joe in the Far East style it certainly provides you with a moment for meditation. Could there be any better closure for this great album on which Joe White puts a mark on most of the tracks? But like the music it is all in balance; Harry Johnson (the producer), Joe White (the artist) and Sylvan Morris (the Engineer).  The great picture on the front of the sleeve shows it all!

In my opinion this is another outstanding release of Dr. Buster! High quality music, nicely documented with a extensive liner notes and interesting photo`s.

Flying D.

Reggae - “The first encounter”

When I was a little stereo :)

Often people ask me how I first encountered reggae Music and how I got so hooked on it. The strange thing is that I can`t recall my real “first encounter”. And in the same way I am not able to answer the question “what was your first reggae record? But what I do remember is how the music hit me and never let me go. First I want to go back to a moment that illustrates for me what reggae music can do with people.

It was at the end of the eighties. As a youngster I went with five friends on a summer holiday in Spain. The type of holiday which later on became subjects for compromising TV shows in Holland. Five youngsters in a small apartment in Salou. A small town full of youngsters with lots of beaches, beer and parties. To me it felt close to the heart of Babylon, and so I had absolutely no fit with my environment at the time. One afternoon I stayed behind in the apartment by myself to get some peace of mind. From the little balcony on the third floor I overlooked a small but busy shopping street. Constant noises from car horns, voices, and music. I was standing on the balcony listening to a reggae tape that I brought from home. While I was observing the people who strolled on the street below. When the tape started playing a re-mix of the “Throw me corn” riddim I couldn`t resist to turn up the volume of the ghetto blaster to the max. And then, down in the little street below, I saw it happened. The people in the street were hit by the music in a positive way. Some of them started to swing, others looked up at the balcony with a big smiles on their faces and put up their thumbs as a sign of appreciation. For me it was so cool to observe this from where I stood. The setting was not special at all,  but once more it became clear for me just how much of a positive influence, like no other, reggae music had on people.

The same happened to me when I had my “first encounter” with reggae music. The patterns of drum and bass hit me like no other music and they created this enormous boost of energy in my body. Energy that caused an urge to dance and made me feel completely free to express myself. Reggae music touched me deeply, and that feeling never left me. From that “first encounter” I started a thorough search for the roots of this music and culture behind it. It became a fascinating journey on which I discovered beautiful music, interesting people but above all, a lot about myself.

“What was your first record?” I can`t recall that one. My interest in reggae grew slowly. Actually at the time I was one of those persons who hardly bought any music at all. I was not interested in radio and music charts like most people at my age. It was somewhere in the early eighties that I became infected by the reggae fever. Just after the heyday of the roots, and just before the transformation to the digital dancehall. It started with tapes that I got from friends, with tracks of which it wasn`t important to me who the performing artists were. Later it appeared to be artists like Dillinger, Mighty Diamonds, Wailing Souls and Burning Spear. The first records in my recollection were Black Uhuru “Red”, Frankie Paul “Strictly reggae music” and very important Augustus Pablo “King Tubby`s meets the rockers uptown”. I bought this last album in a small second hand record shop without having a clue of what this album was about. Red, gold and green edge around the sleeve. That must be reggae! This album put me early in my reggae journey on the track of dub music. At first it started out with buying some records from time to time, but as I said before I do things thoroughly. Around the mid eighties my pattern of buying records became one of an avid record collector. From limited available reading sources I started to dig deeper and deeper into the history of reggae music. King Tubby and Lee Perry were my early heroes. The strange thing was that in those days the more popular English reggae bands such as Aswad and Steel Pulse completely passed me by. Even the albums of Bob Marley were not for me of interest in those days. I bought those much later! What hit me most was the raw Jamaican sound almost strictly built on drums and bass. From my point of view no other than the Jamaican musicians are able to play the riddims with such an unpredictable thrill. Let`s call it “the vibe”! And I love this vibe!

Those who know me personally know how “this vibe” changed my life in an unpredictable and exciting way. Meanwhile I am exposed to a huge amount of Jamaican music; live, on vinyl or through Sound Systems. I met lots of interesting and extraordinary friendly people from all over the world who all handed me a little piece of the puzzle. Adding to my eagerness to learn more about Jamaican music and the underlying culture, of which I am very grateful for. My taste in Jamaican music and my knowledge about the culture behind it has broadened from Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, Reggae, Dancehall to Ragga. It is still an amazing journey. And I hope a never ending one!

Flying D.