Various - Scratchy Sounds
Artist
Various
Title
Scratchy Sounds
Label
Trojan
Format
CD
At last, Trojan are moving away from releasing the same set of (albeit excellent) tunes in different combinations under different album titles, and it looks like they have bought the rights to some more obscure, much sought after releases.
After the excellent Don Letts selection CD, Trojan return with a collection from that other Clash DJ, Barry Myers AKA Scratchy.The sleeve design/inner sleeve graphics give the listener a good idea where this CD is coming from, showing Myers selecting from a pile of records that includes the Stooges "Funhouse" as well as a pile of dusty JA 45's, and the tracks Myers has chosen here feature a similar raw adrenaline aggression.
It's a strong and original selection of revives,spiritual roots and rude boy ska, with little or no filler ( if you ignore the rather pointless inclusion of the easily available Max Romeo, Delroy Wilson and Heptones tracks).
Probably the strongest track here is the long deleted "Invasion" by Jackie Edwards, originally on Grounation label and a seriously collectable tune for roots specialists. The full discomix cut is presented here, and it is essential listening with it's magical lyric and elemental, thundering dub. Also unmissable is the crashing cut to "Stop the Gun Shooting", this version by Errol Dunkley. With so many rather ordinary, "dub by numbers" budget price Tubby's releases on the market, it's easy to become blase about the sheer power of his music and its deep originality: this track is an urgent reminder in case we may have forgotten, with a drum effect sounding like pounding waves or respiratory motion.
Another rarity is the pugnacious thug force of Tappa Zukies "Revolution dub", another long deleted tune, brimming with edgy violence.
Equally worthy of mention is the rude boy rock of "Copasetic" by The Rulers, and the loneliness and frustration of Bruce Ruffin's "The Bitterness of Life." Another rarity to urgently pick up is the 1979 version of Niney's "Blood and Fire". This cut doesn't have the punchy soul riff of the original cut, but is a spacious, spiritual affair, with a meditative chant and bass pull. Niney speaks of this music "clearing his brain, purifying the blood" then as the rhythm guitar scythes and the timbale tones tighten,Niney ups the pressure, "it makes my blood boil, my blood is on fire!"
Also notable is the astonishing purity of Slim Smith's massively echoed vocal on the Hugh Roy DJ cut, "Love I Bring."
I leave the final words to Keith Levene ( founder member of The Clash and Public Image ), in which he explains why dub meant so much to the "key players" from 1976 :
"I respected that rock and roll format for what it was, but what I wanted was a new vocabulary to work within. The blues weren't anything to do with me you know? I wanted to get away from that 12 bar bullshit. The Ramones had been the ultimate in that 12 bar form, they had taken it to a logical extreme, but I wanted to investigate what lay beyond that. That was why dub music and version on those Jamaican dub plates fascinated me, because they had nothing to do with accepted structures and formats at that time. Nothing to do with 12 bar structures! Nothing to do with the blues or rock music. Those dubs sounded so strange, like music from another planet - they sounded like rhythms from an African settlement on Mars! I loved them, and they influenced me a lot. John Lydon was influenced by them a lot too. Dub had nothing to do with rock n roll vocabulary, but was dealing with frequencies and sounds that had never been even invented before that time!" (Keith Levene, "Looking for Something" Interview, 2004)
Reviewed by Greg Whitfield
