2/28/2013 Rocket Ship Ska Trip

(2/28 in a nutshell… )

Ooooh! This week, we’ve found the original version of a tune The Skatalites covered on a Studio 1 45. They called it “Beardman Ska”, and the original Ernie Freeman cut on Imperial was called “Live It Up”. We played ‘em back-to-back. Bob Andy (with an uncredited Marcia Griffiths) also turns up in Hour 1, as well as Peter Tosh (spelled “Touch” on the label), Joya Landis and a certain Vietnam All Stars headed up by Prince Buster. On Buster’s own label, “The Toughest” was an untitled “Instrumental” credited to Buster’s All Stars. As “The Toughest”, the record gets credited to Vietnam All Stars on Rio… and Studio 1? We’ll get back to you on that. Sherwood B. Funn reprises the mysterious Charlie’s charming “Hawaii Cha Cha”, and The Orb make their Planet debut with “Pomme Fritz (Meat and Veg)”. Out of character for The Orb, but it works well in Sherwood’s bag and is a fine, fun(n) piece of work, and followed up by Ken Nordine’s “Speck of Dust” from his second Grateful Dead Records release (we don’t have his first), Upper Limbo. Billie Tam kicks off The Home Stretch with her Boy Lollipop, the 5@5:05 is a numbers game, and Cultivator deliver up an 8+min. slab of dubbed-out ska called “Aka Hige Dub”, with Rude & Visser hot on their heels. Sound like your bag? Tune in (to the archives), and stay tuned!