From: rnelson@alexandria.lib.utah.edu (Robert Nelson)
Subject: Re: Steel Pulse... What happened??
Organization: Marriott Library, University of Utah
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 22:11:51 GMT

In article <1993Jan27.205806.11929@nosc.mil> mike@jammin.nosc.mil (mike pawka) writes:
>From: mike@jammin.nosc.mil (mike pawka)
>Subject: Re: Steel Pulse... What happened??
>Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 20:58:06 GMT
>In article <rnelson.90.728165594@alexandria.lib.utah.edu>, rnelson@alexandria.lib.utah.edu (Robert Nelson) writes:
>|> Pop reggae bothers me alot.  Like Inner Circle's "I wear sunglasses at 
>|> night" What the hell does that mean?  Look at Third World today: their early 
>|> albums are drop dead classics: 96 degrees in the Shade, the Slavery Days 
>|> cover tune.  Now I hesitate to even buy one of their albums; despite the 
>|> best concert I have ever seen live was Third World/Caribbean All Stars in 
>|> 1987.
>|>
>	I agree ...
> 
>|> Maybe I've become an elitist who can't recognize that musical trends 
>|> evolve.  I can't expect to hear Big Youth's "Everyday Skank" or the Mighty 
>|> Diamond's "Right Time" repeated over and over again in 1993 as those albums 
>|> are approaching their 20th anniversary.  But since the major labels have 
>|> rekindled their interest in the last 5 or so years in reggae music, I've 
>|> been disappointed by the subsequent releases of too many groups like Third 
>|> World, Inner Circle, UB40, Aswad.
>|>
>
>	What I'm saying is that perhaps because of the increased interest by the
>public and major labels, the indies are releasing more stuff like Cocoa Tea, 
>Freddie McGregor, U-Roy, ect.

The indies were releasing these acts all along.  labels like RAS, Heartbeat, 
Shanachie have been the ones working hard, with little money and access to 
major press outlets, TV, etc (When's the last time you read about Coco Tea 
or U Roy in Rolling Stone ?).  Once the reggae labels have laid the 
groundwork, the majors swoop in and sign up the artist.  Shabba Ranks 
on Epic wouldn't have been likely without his many releases on VP and 
Greensleeves, seen?  The majors are extremely fickle.  If the dancehall 
crossover ever fades, goodbye Supercat, Cobra, etc.  At least RAS, 
Heartbeat care about the music/musician (although I'm not naive enough 
to realize they are profit motivated as well).  I'm just proposing that 
reggae fans should give their business to these indie reggae 
labels, who love reggae music, instead of the huge corporations, who see 
reggae as a trend upon which to cash in.  (Island Records was built on the 
fouondation of classic 60s ska/reggae sales.  Then Chris Blackwell abandoned 
reggae for rock and roll; or at least relegated/ghettoized it to the 
background on Mango.)  

If a major label finds Coco Tea worthy (ie. profitable) to sign all I would 
like to see is that Junjo Lawes or another Jamaican producer continues to 
produce the album.  I'm sick of Bobby Konders mixes on all these dancehall 
releases.  There is entirely too many hip hop beats on these releases.  Let 
dancehall be Jamaican dancehall.  The majors are hedging their bets and are 
leeching out the reggae-ness of their releases.

>|> However I love the Wailing Souls, Alpha Blondy, 
Spear albums on major >|> labels.   >>	Have you listened the the Soul's "
All Over The World"? Some of it sounds>like the "pop" 
trend.>>							mike

Agreed.  But there are some heavy bass tunes on there: Picky picky head, She 
pleases me.  Plus any album with a U Roy guest toast is all right in my book 

Robert.