Sunday 22 May 2011

Reggae like it used to be: a special Yes It's Number One investigation

Didn't you feel there was something important missing from this week's TOTP half hour edit?



Ruby's Flipper now. Well, he's getting there. And again, Mr Travis, is this your show or music's?

Thing is, we feel the Johnny Pearson orchestra aren't quite reflecting the roots riddim fullness of the recorded version.


Paul Nicholas - Reggae Like It Used To Be

Still not exactly Trenchtown and there's still that sax solo, but the percussion and organ are getting there. That look to camera, however, is just unnerving. Nobody can say he isn't making full use of that cane, though.

That song's popularity with prime time music fans made us think. Perhaps due to its loping nature and relative novelty, inauthentic reggae was quite common in its day. We all know about Sting and post-Labour Of Love UB40, but as far as white westerners getting their I and I on and celebrating the act and art of reggae in a way reggae never requested they are the Beatles by comparison...



Let's start with 1971's Ben Sherman shirt of a song Johnny Reggae by the Piglets, written and produced by a man we daren't name not out of PC-ness but because he has a habit of turning up on forums and suchlike where he's mentioned in whatever context. This is a common cause of Nicholas-style inauthentic reggae, the belief that that third beat emphasis rhythm and going 'reggae' a lot makes a record automatically irie. Much as the narrator being called Mavis ages it exactly, even Lorraine Chase blanches at that much of an accent. "He's stupid over football and he looks me in the eyes when he shoots"? I see.

Mind you, it's not just fly by nights wanting to make a chart buck that went for it. Here's Sandie Shaw.



From 1972 and a show called 2G's And The Pop People, a LWT vehicle for The Second Generation (the difficult second TV dance troupe after the Lythgoe-spawning The Young Generation). They could stage a performance - Scott Walker, for instance - but someone, even in an age where The Black and White Minstrel Show was still going, green lighted an inexplicable mix of Shaw's uncomfortable RP-from-Jamaica, a version of music hall standard Burlington Bertie, hats and the lyric "reggae is alive, you can ask Leeroy and Clive". Sandie Shaw retired from performing later that year.

And then... then, there's comedy reggae.



Russ Abbot, or as the track is credited on the 1983 Madhouse album King Wilf and the Rastaplasts, with Burnley Is Babylon. It's that mixture of ITV sitcom theme horns, dub echo, northern slang and the idea of Russ Abbot laying down references to "smoking the 'erb" that makes it such a winner, I feel.

So there's our candidates. Feel free to leave comments adding links to examples of similarly non-roots reggae that can match up to all of the above.

8 comments:

wilberforce said...

simon, great that you've managed to dig up this extaordinary sandie shaw video - hilarious and excruciating in equal measures!

other things to point out: the white guy at the intro miming "hello der!" and doing a bit more "toasting" in the middle, a brief clip of a black couple throwing up their hands in disgust (was that actually in the original footage or did someone edit it in afterwards to make a statement?), the fact that parts of it sound like "a swingin' safari", and sandie's incredibly stiff dance moves...

as for the paul nicholas track, perhaps they were modelling it on ska because you could say that was how reggae used to be! but then again it also sounds like they threw in a bit of calypso - you can imagine the writers thinking "it all comes from the same place after all"...

i actually quite like the russ abbot track as it's a more knowing parody - don't forget by the 80's whiteys had listened to enough reggae to be able to facsimile it a little more accurately...

i remember when white rock stars first started dabbling in such music, the UK rock press would always seize the opportunity to savage their efforts, damning with the immortal phrase "cod-reggae"... i'm sure there must be collectors of this stuff out there somewhere, even if just for "it's so bad it's good" reasons - somebody should start up a blog or website devoted to this subject, in the manner i have with faux funk:

talking of dodgy interpretations of non-white music by white people from rock backgrounds, let me remind you of the early 80's when modern romance, animal nightlife, blue rondo a la turk et al tried their hand at latin music with disastrous results...

Arthur Nibble said...

Obvious choices, but howsabout "Barbados" by Typically Tropical and 10cc's "Dreadlock Holiday"? Both cod-reggae to the extent that you can smell the chips, salt and vinegar.

OldApplejack said...

There must be lots. So why could I only think of Josie Lawrence singing a song about an ironing board in a reggae-style? And due to a C4 copyright claim, it's pointless me even giving you a link!

Actually, I do have a better candidate. Although it might not count as they were always a soul/funk outfit, so reggae wasn't too much of a reach for them I guess. Anyhew, here is Dundee's Average White Band with a reggaefied Walk On By.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_1T3q9z0aUhttp

On a separate note, if anyone has a copy of the Viz Profanisaurus, you may wish to look up Reggae Like It Used To Be. See also Dancing With The Captain and Grandma's Party.

Noax said...

I feel certain that the master of genre-hopping-for kiddies, Mr Mike Batt, must have done a Wombles reggae song, but the only one I can remember is 'Banana Rock' which is more of a reggae/rock fusion. And ace.

It really is quite amazing how many styles that man gets through on "20 Wombling Greats", let me tell you (personal favourites : 'Minuetto Alegretto' and 'Miss Adelaide') and lest you fear I'm getting too off-topic, I'm willing to bet that the cardboard city he danced around when performing 'Summertime City' was put in storage and whipped out for 'Soul City Walk' on this week's show....

wilberforce said...

had a listen to the wonbles' "banana rock" on youtube - i would say not so much a reggae/rock fusion as bubblegum pop with a man singing in a dubious half-arsed pseudo black/west indian accent (mainly consisting of replacing the word "the" with "de"), presumably because the words "banana", "coconut", and "steel drums" are mentioned...

they wouldn't get away with it now!

wilberforce said...

it must be synchronity, but purely by chance i've just stumbled across this magnificent contribution to the "cod-reggae" genre by smokie that i've never heard before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-dpYD7T5t4

also, check out the singer's equally magnificent flares/bellbottoms!

Noax said...

Re 'Banana Rock' - yes, that is a pretty obvious example of something that's now quite embarrassing but the 4 year old me liked it very much!

Amazed I forgot about that Smokie song, especially as I really like it!
Those bellbottoms are quite extraordinary - you could fit two large teapots under those.

Anonymous said...

Here are a few early and rare pre-reggae imitations from the '60s.
Billy Fury with The Gamblers - Turn Your Lamp Down Low (1965).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waLvkJRnzzc

The Locomotive - Rudi's in Love (1968).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLR1P55EZmc