Rock Against Racism

Rock Against Racism by Destroy Babylon Sound System on Mixcloud

Before The Clash Hit Times Square: Rappers Meets Rockers Midtown

Before The Clash Hit Times Square: Rappers Meets Rockers Midtown by Destroy Babylon Sound System on Mixcloud

When the Clash played their epic 17-night residency at Bond's Casino in 1981, they specifically chose opening bands that they were into and wanted to expose, and kept the bills as musically diverse as their current release, the sprawling triple LP set, Sandinista. When they arrived in the city, they immersed themselves in the burgeoning hip hop scene, collaborating with Futura 2000 and getting the Sugerhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, and Fab Five Freddy to open their shows.

Uptown rappers met downtown punks and everyone in between as they also featured openings sets ranging from Bush Tetras, ESG, and the Slits (notice the emphasis on female rockers), to the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Funkapolitan, and the Fall... for a short time, there were no musical boundaries. This mix proves it- all the artists here opened for the Clash on at least one of their nights at Bonds.

For more on the Clash's time in Times Square, check out this Dangerous Minds post.

Tribute to Junior Murvin & Barry Llewellyn

I was quite saddened when I heard that Junior Murvin passed away the other day. I had a bit of regret- I had been in touch with Murvin's agent during the Fall of 2011, in talks about trying to bring him to New England for a couple of live shows. We also talked about having him voice tunes for either Destroy Babylon or 10 Ft. Ganja Plant. The plan also included Willi Williams, which would've been my Clash-cover-related dream come true... Unfortunately, financial uncertainties stalled me from making anything happen. What can I say- life is precious, time is short, and capitalism can work against you.

During the obligatory postmortem catalog spin, I noticed that my Junior Murvin iTunes smart playlist is 5.5 hours long, so I figured I'd pick out some of my favorite tunes for a tribute mix. As I was compiling, I remembered that I wanted to repost a tribute mix to Barry Llewellyn of the Heptones that I made shortly after he died on Nov. 23, 2011. The two singers sit well together; both put out seminal albums produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry in 1977 at the height of the Black Ark's greatness- both Murvin's Police & Thieves and the Heptones Party Time LPs are on par with Heart of the Congos. On the Rockers soundtrack, Murvin's "Police & Thieves" is followed by the Heptones "Book of Rules", featuring lead by Llewellyn. Both recorded with several of JA's best producers since the mid '60s, and both are truly underrated vocalists.

While Leroy Sibbles gets the most attention for leading the Heptones more often, Barry's vocals are just as strong. There's a rare video clip that further ties these artists together; while filming the multi-part documentary Roots Rock Reggae, the producers had a whole segment on Lee "Scratch" Perry at his Black Ark studio (watch it). The day they filmed him, an all star line-up was in the studio recording a one-off song called "Mr. Music" featuring Barry Llewellyn on lead with backing by his fellow Heptone Earl Morgan (Sibbles is absent), Cedric Myton and Ashanti Roy of The Congos, plus a soaring harmony from Junior Murvin (read a bit more about this at Mick Sleeper's post).

Below is an extended tribute mix to these two fallen legends of JA music. As Rob Carmichael said to me after hearing of Murvin's passing, "Well, there's a glorious high harmony in the great invisible choir." Indeed. So play on, Mr. Music, while I go get back in touch with Mr. Williams and check my savings account... (perhaps we'll do a Kickstarter fund-raiser like Scratch is doing to make a collab happen).

 

Tribute to Junior Murvin and Barry Heptone by Destroy Babylon Sound System on Mixcloud

White & Black Man Clash in Hammersmith Palais

"Midnight to six man / For the first time from Jamaica
 Dillinger and Leroy Smart / Delroy Wilson, your cool operator
 Ken Boothe for UK pop reggae / With backing bands sound systems
 And if they've got anything to say / There's many black ears here to listen
 But it was Four Tops all night with encores from stage right /
Charging from the bass knives to the treble
 But onstage they ain't got no roots rock rebel..."

 - The Clash, "White Man In Hammersmith Palais" (1978 single)

 When Joe Strummer wrote the lyrics for the above single, he was talking about how he felt let down by the reggae show he attended; expecting to hear the socially conscious side of those artists repertoires, they apparently delivered the light-weight stuff.

 Back to redeem themselves, I've compiled 5 tracks from each of the four artists name-dropped in the beginning of this legendary tune, featuring some of the more rootsy, socially conscious and afro-centric material from each.

 

White & Black Man Clash in Hammersmith Palais by Destroy Babylon Sound System on Mixcloud

Studio Kinda Cloudy

I've posted some carefully curated mixes to my Mixcloud page...

#1 - 420 Special (heavy dub, roots rockers)

#2 - SLY (Stone) vs. SLY (Dunbar)

#3 - Dark Blue Note: Grachan Moncur III

#4 - SST Records: First 25 Releases (Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets...)

#5 - The Clash Tour Package (The Slits, Richard Hell, Suicide, Lee Dorsey, Bo Diddley, Kurtis Blow...)