Reggae Paradise

As I still have a huge liking for roots style reggae I was wondering what happened last year and decided to take a digital deep dive.
To my pleasant surprise I found quite a few way above average tracks by familiar names such as Adrian Sherwood, Dub Syndicate, Fishbone, Manu Chao, Hollie Cook, Roots Radics, & Mark Stewart and a bunch by unknown artists: Chalart58 & Matah, Chancha Via Circuito ft. Leon Demaria, El Búho & Alex Serra, Iseo & Dodosound, Joe Yorke & Big Chip, Santa Fe Klan, Gambeat, Pachyman, Skaracha, Stick Figure, & Sumac Dub & Jardin Secret.

This 18 track compilation goes all across the globe and ranges from ambient dub to ska to electro borderline rhythms and everything in between, but don't worry, good vibes rule!

About the artists:

Chalart58 - Spanish DJ and musician from Barcelona, sound engineer at La Panchita Studios.
Matah - Spanish-based dub and reggae musician known for energetic, "rub-a-dub" style vocals, releasing music via La Panchita Records.

Chancha Vía Circuito - Producer, DJ/remixer and composer, from Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, fusion of electronic music and cumbia is key factor of his music.

Leon Demaria - Reggae, Dub and Raggamuffin singer/musician of Argentinean origin based in Spain for almost two decades.
El Búho - British-born DJ and music producer, his music mixes Latin American folk rhythms with organic sounds, birdsong and downtempo electronica.

Alex Serra - Spanish musician and explorer from Barcelona, his music ranges from downtempo, soul, reggae, dub & more.

Gambeat - legendary French bassist of Radio Bemba Sound System and La Ventura, who has played with Manu Chao since 1994. He is a multifaceted artist: producer, artistic director, coach, musician, DJ, designer, and creator of his own clothing line.

Iseo & Dodosound - Spanish duo from Navarre , formed in 2014, composed of Dodosound (Alberto García Iriarte) and Iseo (Leire Villanueva López). Their style blends reggae and dub , and they have strong trip-hop influences.

Joe Yorke & Big Chip - UK reggae/rocksteady artists, Joe Yorke is a vocal talent, while Big Chip (Chip Huelin) is a producer/musician, with their work rooted in Jamaican sounds, featuring strong rhythms and dub elements.

Santa Fe Klan - Mexican singer-songwriter and rapper who featured on several songs which were highly certified by AMPROFON in Mexico.

Pachyman - Puerto Rican dedicated craftsman working in the lineage of dub reggae using vintage gear, constructing glorious walls of sound, and developing an intuitive understanding of the power of repetition. 

SKARACHA - Jamaican ska band, hailing from Kingston, this crack nine- piece unit of young bloods and seasoned professionals steps forward to revive the grand tradition of Jamaica’s ska originators, blending brand- new compositions with choice classics.

Stick Figure - American reggae and dub band founded in 2005. The group has released eight full-length albums and one instrumental album, all of which were written and produced by Scott Woodruff, the frontman and a self-taught multi-instrumentalist.

Sumac Dub - French trained violin player and compulsive traveler, enriched by multiple musical influences and largely influenced by the current electro dub scene.

Adrian Sherwood - Legendary English record producer & musician, best known for his On-U Sound label and his dub music, as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode, Sinéad O'Connor, Primal Scream or Skinny Puppy.

Dub Syndicate - On-U Sound's premier dub outfit and a name synonymous with the label from its inception. Emerging from the early Creation Rebel and centered around drummer Style Scott. Scott was also the rhythm force of The Roots Radics, the number one Jamaican session & live band for deep roots music.

Fishbone - California based band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, who play a fusion of funk, metal, rock, reggae, ska, punk and soul.

Manu Chao - French-Spanish musician, songwriter, record producer and guitarist, founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe. He became a solo artist after its breakup in 1995 and since then has toured regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba Sound System.

Mark Stewart - English singer, songwriter, artist and producer from Bristol, founding member of The Pop Group, and went on to front many different projects for On-U Sound and Mute Records.

The Roots Radics - Legendary Jamaican band, whose genesis traces back to Morris "Blacker" Wellington's band, the Morwells, a group that featured future Roots Radics members Errol 'Flabba Holt' Carter on bass and Eric 'Bingi Bunny' Lamont on guitar. Named the Roots Rock Band (mostly on Sky High related productions), and Lawes Rockers, before, in late 1979, the band became the Roots Radics. 

THE SINS Discography: SoCal Punk 1982-87

Here’s something I haven’t seen anywhere else online:  the complete discography (as far as I know) of California punk band The Sins.  I first heard them on the Sudden Death compilation LP (1982), which I bought because Redd Kross was on it.  Impressed by The Sins’ songs, I mail ordered their 7” EP Mood Music (which now sells for three figures).  The songs were short and fast, with violent and antisocial lyrics, but you could tell The Sins had something more than the average hardcore band.  The EP ends with “Skin Walk” (a bluesy riff that reminded me of “Shake Appeal”) and “525” (a 12 bar train song that Chuck Berry could have written). 

The Sins appeared on the Version Sound tape Try A Dull Knife (1983), Kevin Seconds’ compilation LP Another Shot For Bracken (1986) and the Bad Compilation Tapes release Experience The Freedom Of Total Control (1987).  In 1986, Kevin Seconds also released The Sins’ album Beginning From The End.  

At some point in the late 80's The Sins broke up, but Tony Fate (guitar) and Randy Stain (drums) recruited a new singer and bassist for a new band, The Grey Spikes.  Their self-released 1990 cassette (Sex & Hate) was issued on CD in Japan.  Several singles and compilation appearances followed on Tony’s record label (Vital Gesture), and a second Grey Spikes CD (Year Zero) appeared in 1997.

Meanwhile, Tony produced an LP for The Rosethorns (singer Lisa Kekaula and her husband Bob Vennum).  The Rosethorns became The Bellrays, and Tony produced their 1990 debut and 1992’s In The Light Of The Sun.  

Tony Fate joined The Bellrays as guitarist for Let It Blast (1996).  Bob Vennum switched from guitar to bass.  Ten of the 16 songs on Let It Blast were written by Tony.  He wrote all but one of the songs on Grand Fury (2000), and the majority of the originals on Raw Collection (2002), The Red, White & Black (2003), Merry Christmas From The BellRays (2005), and Have A Little Faith (2006).  

Tony left the Bellrays sometime before the recording of Hard Sweet And Sticky (released in 2008), but he continued to play with Bob Vennum in the instrumental band The Black Widows (who released three studio albums and a live set between 2001 and 2016).  Tony joined reunited SoCal punk band Symbol Six in 2011.   His current project is The Rat Brigade.  

Anyway, here’s an hour of music from The Sins, including their EP, LP and compilation tracks.  Most of it sounds (to me) less like hardcore and more like first wave bands such as The Saints and The Heartbreakers.  “Sins Prayer”, “Born To Plagarize” (sic), and “Deadly Morning Rain” have some interesting “free” and improvisational elements.  Tony lists jazz, blues and soul musicians among his influences in this bio.  These aren’t my vinyl rips; I only compiled them.  Thank you to the original rippers and uploaders who shared the music of The Sins!

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: more Lisa Kekaula!

PEZBAND Live At The Big Kumquat 1979 POWER POP LEGENDS on their home turf!

 

PEZBAND Live At The Big Kumquat 1979 

This HOMEMADE LIVE album by power pop legends PEZBAND was sourced from an imperfect YouTube video that I fixed & edited into tracks.  I’ve done nothing else to it sonically, as it’s a wonderful document of a working band cranking out another great show in a long line of great shows.  The set list is solid, as is the sound, & the playing.  It was recorded near where the band formed, in Oak Park IL.

PEZBAND were still commercially viable in 1979, but their association with NJ’s Passport Records was nearing its end.  The label (formed by JEM & SIRE Records) went under completely in 1988.  

They rose to prominence again due to the resurgence of power pop that came from the INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW weekenders & attendant albums, & RHINO’s wonderful DIY: Come Out & Play-American Power Pop 1975-1978 compilation (that included two of their songs; Stop! Wait A Minute, & Baby, It's Cold Outside).  They say the cream always rises to the top, but no one said it would be in such a tall bucket!  

Here’s more on the group from the band’s bio:  Pezband has shared the stage with Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, The Ramones, KISS, Cheap Trick, The Police, AC/DC, & Wishbone Ash, among others.  Pezband’s sound recalls classic British Invasion era bands like the Beatles, The Who, Jeff Beck, Yardbirds, and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac fused with a New Wave sensibility (Cars, Jam, Blondie, Knack).

At the time of this energetic club date, PEZBAND consisted of Mimi Betinis on guitar, lead vocals, Tommy Gawenda on guitar, Mike Gorman on bass, vocals & Mick Rain on drums, vocals.  Betinis’ vocals are almost without echo, & he really delivers, as does guitarist Gawenda who I’d say is from the “close enough for rock & roll school” of guitar playing.  His enthusiasm, fantastic tone, and tasteful volume drives the band.  He plays with complete confidence—as if every bum note he hits is exactly what he intended to play.  I’d say he’s the reason Richard Cromelin of The LA Times described their music as combining “melodic pop, reflecting the McCartney side of the Beatles, with a hard, controlled attack powered by solid chording and squealing Who-like overtones.

All Music Guide’s John Dougan wrote: “Pezband play power-pop with a minimum of bullshit, and a maximum of exuberance and energy. With such great, great songs, Pezband should be huge.”

I couldn’t agree more.  They are one of my favorites, right alongside The Spongetones, The Nerves, The Paul Collins Beat, The Plimsouls, & The Smithereens.

Sparks - Collaborations Don't Work, Do They?!

Brothers Ron and Russell Mael from Los Angeles, USA, have been making diverse music since 1969 under various incarnations of Sparks.

Known for their quirky songwriting, their music has evolved through glam rock, synth-pop, new wave, and art pop, keeping them relevant and influential for over five decades.

Bands like Depeche Mode, New Order, and The Human League have cited Sparks as a key influence.

Listening to Spark’s golden oldie “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us” recently it became very clear where Queen got their ideas for “Bohemian Rhapsody” from…

The first time I got aware of the ‘phenomenon’ called Sparks must have been in 1974 when they had a couple of TV appearances on the Dutch TV music program TOP POP.

If I remember correctly my whole family was watching their performance of ‘Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth’ and afterwards everyone agreed that it was quite weird, both musically and (perhaps even more) visually!

I certainly didn't feel any urge to run to a record shop and buy their singles and albums.

However over the years I kept 'bumping' into them and slowly but surely began to appreciate their work.

Also more than a few blogs were singing their praises which began to make more and more sense…

Any band that comes up with songs like “Your Call’s Very Important To Us. Please Hold.”, “Dick Around”, “I Can’t Believe That You Would Fall for All the Crap in This Song”, and “(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country”, already deserve an award for being cooler than cool.

Since then I have seen Sparks twice, in Utrecht (2023) and earlier this month in Hong Kong, both excellent shows, no such thing as going through the motions at all!

By now they've released an astonishing number of albums, 26 if I'm not mistaken, and there's a similar huge amount of compilations, unreal...

This begs a question though, what are Sparks doing here at JOKONKY?

Well, this was triggered by their last performance at Clockenflap where I hoped they'd join Franz Ferdinand on stage for at least 1 song, but alas, no such luck.

Reason is that they'd recorded a whole album together as FFS in 2015, which wasn't bad either.

One of that album's songs is “Collaborations Don't Work”, which got me thinking as Sparks have done all kinds of collaborations, and successfully too!

I started digging into their oeuvre and found plenty of 'team’ work evidence, both on their own albums (Annette Soundtrack, Indiscreet, & In Outer Space) and as guest performers on other artist/group albums (Gemma Ray, Gorillaz, Les Rita Mitsouko, Max Richter, Orbital, Pizzicato Five, SebastiAn, Simple Minds, Todd Rundgren, & Yoko Ono).

This resulted in a brand new JOKONKY special: Collaborations Don't Work, Do They?

As you will hear, collaborations can work sometimes, enjoy!

JERRY LEE LEWIS Live & Rare with MICKEY GILLEY, CARL PERKINS & JOHNNY CASH!

JERRY LEE LEWIS Live & Rare!

Readers would be surprised how many LPs I have—and I have more by JERRY LEE LEWIS than any other solo artist.  I love the unpredictability of JLL’s live performances, so I also have a lot of radio shows & boots from which the tracks on LIVE & RARE were taken.

There are tracks recorded in locales from Los Angeles to Pasadena (Texas).  JERRY LEE manages to “play nice” in the family friendly environments of Knott’s Berry Farm, and Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit, but he cuts loose in a big way in Nashville.  The Grand Ol’ Opry lifted his ban on the condition that Jerry play his country hits, only to have The Killer perform one of the most raucous versions of Rockin’ My Life Away I’ve encountered.  Jerry Lee was always at his best when he was giving someone the finger, breaking the rules, or burning something to the ground, & JLL’s wreckless abandon inspires longtime guitarist Kenny Lovelace to play one of the best solos I’ve heard from him.

I’m as enthralled by his stage patter & the asides directed at bandmembers as I am his music.  During Blue Suede Shoes he says on mic that: “Drummer lost a little beat, but don’t worry, he’s hip enough, he’ll catch up!”

And Jerry didn’t always restrict himself to the truth in his intros & outros.  He restarts Blue Suede Shoes, saying: “Carl Perkins wrote it, Carl Perkins sang it along with a bunch of others… Elvis did NOT have that record first, CARL PERKINS had the record… and he sold three million records on it.  Elvis Presley recorded the record when Carl was laying in the hospital nearly dead, from a wreck…  I think he tried to steal it from him... I’m just telling’ ya what Carl said, I ain’t got nothin’ to do with it!”

Along the way he made stops in Alabama, London, & Bridlington (wherever that is) and there are a few tracks that even I don't remember where they were recorded.  There’s even a rock medley of Matchbox/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On/Blue Suede Shoes performed with his old friends CARL PERKINS & JOHNNY CASH.  Ladies & gentlemen, please welcome: The Three Quarters Of A Million Dollar Trio!

The Elvis History Blog includes this passage on the famous MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET pairing of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, & Elvis Presley:  Jerry Lee & Elvis took turns singing. When Lewis sang a bit of “Crazy Arms,” Elvis said, “The wrong man’s been settin’ here at this piano.” Jerry Lee responded, “Well, I been wantin’ to tell you that. Scoot over!” In Robert Johnson’s newspaper article the next day, Elvis praised Jerry Lee. “That boy can go,” he said. “I think he has a great future ahead of him. He has a different style, and the way he plays piano just gets inside me.” (http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-jerry-lee-lewis.html)

If Jerry Lee can be believed, just before Elvis went into the army, a decision many felt might end his reign as The King Of Rock & Roll, Presley handed it all over to him, telling Lewis to “Take it.  Take it all.”  True or not, what is true, is that more than any other artist,  JLL was poised to do so.

I accidentally left the logo off, but it's Another Stinky Production, & I'm tellin' ya every fan of JERRY LEE LEWIS needs this compilation.  In the words of The Ferriday Fireball: “If I tell you it’s gonna rain, you'd better bring your umbrella!”

 

Grandpa's Whistling Tracks

Richard says: 

The third part of these compilation tapes from Papa ‘Cil, the bass player of Buy Off The Bar was in fact the second tape he gave me, shortened to fit on a CD.
This time, hardly any of the bands had major success. That never got in the way of having a good time, making incredible music, and becoming legends. Most music on this compilation is from the late 70s. The Sex Pistols gave everybody the message NO Future (unless you Do It Yourself), and from that a thousand bands were going into their teenage bedrooms, parents’ garages, youthclubs, squats, and whatever place they could find to practice.
Here are some that never made it beyond that one vinyl registration that saved them from total oblivion.
The Capitols, The Golinski Brothers, The Idiots, Executives, Johnnie + The Lubes, Ti-Tho (from Hamburg), Restricted Code, The Alleged, and 3-Action! Never released more than a place on a compilation album, up to a handful of singles.
Restricted Code reformed after 36 years and released an EP in 2020, I Got Lost.
Semi-well-known bands like The Great Leap Forward, Mo-Dettes, The Chesterfield Kings, Talulah Gosh, TV21, The Piranhas, or The Distractions released more, and even had a glimpse of the Top 40, though a Peel Session would sometimes be the highest claim to fame and as good as gold.
There are artists here that need a little closer inspection. The Distractions, Arthur Kadmon spend “2 minutes” with The Fall, Arash Torabi went on to play with Beat Hotel, June Brides, Granite Shore, Painted World, and continues to this day as a bass player. Multi-instrumentalist Mike Kellie has over a hundred credits to his name before he passed away in 2017, having had a career spanning from 1967.
Playing with Spooky Tooth, Joe Cocker, The Only Ones, on Johnny Halliday’s Je T’aime Je T’aime Je T’aime, and many more.
The Piranhas of course, had that wonderful saxophone player Phil Collins.

TRACKS  

Amongst today’s tracks, there are four complete ep’s/singles: The Desperate Bicycles, The Capitols, The Distractions, and the split ep The Executives/Johnnie + The Lubes.
My real cool vibes come from The Golinski Brothers, one of the best hopeless love songs ever. Executives – Shy Little Girl should have been a top ten hit.
Another worth pointing out JOSEF K Romance  and  The Chesterfields – Ask Johnny Dee
And last but not least TALULAH GOSH ...don’t you just love them ...

2024 Comeback Comeback

Here's a post to correct significant omissions from 2024’s Comeback Special compilation.  I haven’t found a reliable method to keep up with all the comebacks released in a given year.  Having only recently completed a 2025 comebacks compilation, I’ve already found four that I missed (Bill Fox, Feedbacks, Rwake, and Thee Headcoatees).  EDIT: add OK Go, The Farm, John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, and a posthumous album by The Saints!  

The 2024 Comeback Special included 22 artists who released albums of new original music after an absence of a decade or more.  And yet, I missed another 28 comebacks from 2024: far too many to include on a CD-length compilation.  I had to leave out Belong, Kittie, Manu Chao, Propaganda and Stetsasonic.  (There was also a 2024 release from Plasticland called Spree, but I couldn’t find it online anywhere, and apparently the songs were completed a decade earlier.)

The award for the longest time between albums (40 years!) goes to The Heats, whose self-titled 2024 album follows their 1983 debut, The Heats Have An Idea.  It’s been almost that long for The Prisoners, who returned with Morning Star in 2024.  And over 30 years passed before the 2024 comebacks of the Jack Rubies, Propaganda, Stetsasonic, and Toadliquor.

Last year, Khayem reminded me that Beth Gibbons and Gavin Friday had released solo comeback albums in 2024.  Koen discovered that Jona Lewie also released a new record in 2024. 

The biggest name I missed among last year’s comebacks was The Black Crowes.  The Robinson brothers buried the hatchet and reunited in 2019, but it took another five years to release an album of new songs. At the ass-end of 2025, “Rats And Clowns” sounds quite topical, as does “Cross The Line” by Connecticut hardcore band The Pist (who somehow knew in 2024 that the essential question of 2025 would be, “Am I being detained?”)

I front-loaded this compilation with the grooviest songs, and put the heavy stuff at the end. Like 2024 itself, it starts out fun and ends in anger and despair, with everyone wondering how the hell to make sense of this crazy mess. Here's to better days, friends.