The Reggae Thread

[BassAgent]

Also very curious about all your ways of listening to reggae and ska. Do you have an extensive vinyl collection, or stylistically curated Spotify playlists?

I do both: I have two big playlists with respecetively vocal and dub reggae, but also have a collection of about 80 albums, mainly pre-1980. I'm very picky about what I buy on vinyl. My most prized reggae record is a 2nd pressing of Johnny Osbourne's Truths & Rights. Love that album.

 

Edited December 10, 2024 by BassAgent

[Reggaebass]

27 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

Also very curious about all your ways of listening to reggae and ska. Do you have an extensive vinyl collection, or stylistically curated Spotify playlists?

I still have my vinyl collection starting from around 1977 so I like flipping them sometimes, I don’t use Spotify much as I find it quite limited, there’s a lot on YouTube now, even some of the rare recordings so I use that a lot 

Edited December 10, 2024 by Reggaebass

[SumOne]

12 hours ago, BassAgent said:

Also very curious about all your ways of listening to reggae and ska. Do you have an extensive vinyl collection, or stylistically curated Spotify playlists?

I do both: I have two big playlists with respecetively vocal and dub reggae, but also have a collection of about 80 albums, mainly pre-1980. I'm very picky about what I buy on vinyl. My most prized reggae record is a 2nd pressing of Johnny Osbourne's Truths & Rights. Love that album.

 

 

I saw Johnny Osbourne play live earlier this year and he still puts on a great show. 3 rewinds of 'truth and rights', I don't think anyone there was getting quite as hyped for it as I was!

 

I have a lot of dub and reggae vinyl, but I more often use Spotify for the convenience - with various quite specific playlists. 

[Tandro]

On 10/12/2024 at 10:08, BassAgent said:

Also very curious about all your ways of listening to reggae and ska. Do you have an extensive vinyl collection, or stylistically curated Spotify playlists?

I do both: I have two big playlists with respecetively vocal and dub reggae, but also have a collection of about 80 albums, mainly pre-1980. I'm very picky about what I buy on vinyl. My most prized reggae record is a 2nd pressing of Johnny Osbourne's Truths & Rights. Love that album.

 

To digress for a second, while I expect it from 90s Dancehall it still surprises/amazes me (though I should know better by now) when I hear a beat or rhythm that I had no idea predates a song that I listened to years ago. Never heard 'Truths and Rights' before, but it instantly took me back to Richie Spice (Youths Dem Cold). Only to realise the Richie Spice song I know contains bits from this and a Dennis Brown song I also never heard before. Thanks gents for allowing me to get to know this stuff!

 

 

 

 

[Reggaebass]

35 minutes ago, Tandro said:

Never heard 'Truths and Rights' before, but it instantly took me back to Richie Spice (Youths Dem Cold)

Very much Tandro, Truth and Rights is quite a classic, and I really like the Richie spice tune, so many reggae/dub riddims have been used for many years, I’ve heard quite a few on house and jungle mixes that my boys listen to, I find Riddimguide and whosampled good fun to go through sometimes, John Holt - Police In Helicopter is one that’s been used a lot, like here, it’s one of my favourite Basslines to play 

 

[BassAgent]

Don't forget Truths & Rights is made on the Take A Ride riddim:

 

[Reggaebass]

4 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

Don't forget Truths & Rights is made on the Take A Ride riddim:

 

Yeah, I think the original was recorded in studio one in the early 70s

[BassAgent]

Yep, Take A Ride is the original, from 1972. 

[Tandro]

WHAT!!!

Mind blown again gents.

The thing is I am accustomed to 90's dance hall riddims being used in tons of songs, and they are popular to me as that is what I am familiar with.

But I never expected that Richie Spice song that I've been listening to for years and was very popular when it came out, to be based on anything else. And then to now learn the Johnny Osbourne song is based on a previous one...I just find all this way cool.

[Reggaebass]

17 minutes ago, Tandro said:

I just find all this way cool

Same here, I’ve spent hours even days researching certain songs, like where they were recorded and who the musicians were,

it was a fairly small community of artists and musicians back then so lots of the same people played on many different recordings, there were only about 10 main bass players in the early days too, and different studios had their own house band, you can go down quite a rabbit hole sometimes and it leads you many other things , I love the history 

[BassAgent]

45 minutes ago, Tandro said:

WHAT!!!

Mind blown again gents.

The thing is I am accustomed to 90's dance hall riddims being used in tons of songs, and they are popular to me as that is what I am familiar with.

But I never expected that Richie Spice song that I've been listening to for years and was very popular when it came out, to be based on anything else. And then to now learn the Johnny Osbourne song is based on a previous one...I just find all this way cool.

If you want to do a deep dive: check out Riddimguide.com.

[SumOne]

Ride the riddim!

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Truth and rights, don chandlers playing is sweet 

 

[Tandro]

Awesome!!! Thanks @Reggaebass @BassAgent @SumOne for the education!

[Reggaebass]

I enjoyed listening to these earlier, the isolated drums and bass is really interesting, I’ve played this many times but I noticed a few subtle notes I’d missed before, cut to the sections in the description 

.

 

[Frank Blank]

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Enjoyed giving this a blast today, hadn’t heard it in a while 

 

[Duarte]

 

[Frank Blank]

 

[Reggaebass]

Loving this from tropical dubwise 

 

[Tandro]

So it's Friday, and I'm gonna make it unofficially Dancehall Friday  After that 'Take a Ride' riddim last week, you all introduced me to Al Campbell. I thought I did not know anything from him (sorry folks, I don't know songs/artists/riddim names, but I'm working on it).  Anyways, it caused me to (re)find this gem from the late 90's that I had loved, but not heard in decades! So on the mellower side of Dancehall (I guess?), bounce your head to this one if so inclined.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2024 by Tandro

[Reggaebass]

7 hours ago, Tandro said:

So it's Friday, and I'm gonna make it unofficially Dancehall Friday

Great idea Tandro, I’m up for that, dancehall covers quite a wide range starting from the late 70s onwards so we shouldn’t run out of tunes 😁, during the 90s I used to listen to a lot of Patra, so I’m going with this one 

 

[Tandro]

17 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Great idea Tandro, I’m up for that, dancehall covers quite a wide range starting from the late 70s onwards so we shouldn’t run out of tunes 😁, during the 90s I used to listen to a lot of Patra, so I’m going with this one 

 

So many parties back in the day with that one when I was a 'bit' younger 😎 (And I never knew 2Pac was in that video! You learn something new everyday)

[Reggaebass]

I listen to to quite a bit of Alborosie, this is a great song that I’ve never got around to learning,so I started breaking down the Bassline today , Soul Train 

 

[Reggaebass]

Happy new year to you all, Dug out an old vinyl recently ,Fatman Riddim Section from a long time back, such a great album , pretty much inner circle but without Jacob Miller I believe , I remember buying this , Robbie Shakespeare on bass 

and another with Jacob 

and