Album Reviews
"Foundation Ska" is 32 mighty, mighty boss tunes cut by the Skatalites -- Jamaica's answer to the Motown house band and Booker T. and the MG's combined -- in their 1964-65 prime with producer Coxsone Dodd. Rancid fans may be shocked to hear how relaxed, how devilishly sexy, many of the tempos are here. But real ska isn't music for slam dancing; it's for dirty dancing, for slow, cool grinds on a warm island dance floor. Ska's ricochet syncopation was already in vogue in Jamaica when the charter lineup of the Skatalites -- featuring saxophonists Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook, pianist Jackie Mittoo and trombonist/composer Don Drummond -- put their own stamp on the swing, creating a sun-ripened blend of stateside R&B, big-band brass voicings and that no-hurry sensuality that's oh-so-Caribbean. On their own records and in their prolific appearances as sessionmen, the Skatalites changed the face and funk of Jamaican music forever. The vintage killers here -- like "Simmer Down," "Christine Keeler" and buoyant recastings of the theme from Ex
(Posted: Dec 26, 1997)
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- Noise Brigade
- The Rascal King
- Royal Oil
- The Impression That I Get
- Let's Face It
- That Bug Bit Me
- Another Drinkin' Song
- Numbered Days
- Break So Easily
- Nevermind Me
- Desensitized
- 1-2-8
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