Aswad are one of the more famous British reggae bands. Originating from London, their members had Jamaican heritage but grew up in England. Released on 1982’s A New Chapter of Dub, “Dub Fire” is a dub version of Aswad’s Love Fire. It isn’t that the lyrics are bad or anything like that; the dub version is just…
21/04/2018: “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc.
The 80s gets a bad rep sometimes, in terms of fashion and music. But there’s a whole load of songs from the 80s that will…
20/04/2018: “Rock The Casbah” by The Clash
I will generally try to keep politics out of this blog. It can be incendiary, alienating people needlessly when all I’m trying to do is…
19/04/2018: “Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)” by Nas
Illmatic, along with other albums such as Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and the Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers, helped to redefine hip hop in the 90s….
18/04/2018: “Journey In Satchidananda” by Alice Coltrane feat. Pharoah Sanders
A lot of Alice Coltrane’s music can probably best be described as being “cosmic”. She often viewed her music as a spiritual expression; she was…
17/04/2018: “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” by Augustus Pablo
King Tubby tends to turn everything he touches into gold. This is no exception. To those who are unfamiliar with the dub tradition in reggae…
16/04/2018: “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” by Roy Ayers Ubiquity
I must have heard this song hundreds of times. Even more when you include the various remixes and bootlegs that crop up periodically! And the…
15/04/2018: “Oh Yeh Soweto” by Teaspoon and the Waves
Covers of songs can do many things. Sometimes they elevate the song to new heights, bringing out the best bits and adding a fresh new…
14/04/2018: “Play With Fire” by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are one of the enduring legacies of British rock and roll. They are still very much going, with the band members in…
13/04/18: “Cat’s In The Cradle” by Harry Chapin
A lot of great songs tell a story. “Cat’s In The Cradle” (1974) features some of the most compelling story telling ever put down in…