Style Scott: drums, percussion; David Toop: flute; Sowell: lead guitar;
Bing Bunny: rhythm guitar; Earl "Chinna" Smith: rhythm guitar;
Prince Far I: percussion; Steve Beresford: toy synthesizer, melodica, whistle.
Produced by Prince Far I; mixed and overdubbed by Dub Syndicate.
Bing Bunny: rhythm guitar; Earl "Chinna" Smith: rhythm guitar;
Prince Far I: percussion; Steve Beresford: toy synthesizer, melodica, whistle.
Produced by Prince Far I; mixed and overdubbed by Dub Syndicate.
▼ PRINCE FAR I & THE ARABS: FINAL CHAPTER from "Cry Tuff Dub Chapter 3" LP (Front Line) 1980 (UK)
PURCHASE CRY TUFF DUB CHAPTER 3
15 comments:
Just recently heard Cry Tuff, but Message From The King was a daily listen, I mean up to five times a day, for all of 1979, the year punk happened in the Midwest. I remember running into Brits in Chicago and Indiana. They liked some of our bands, but thought they were sort of quaint. Didn't we know that this all happened in 1977? On the other hand, they, unlike most Americans, approved of my Prince Far I obsession.
Most of the punks that broke through in the inner city of London in 1976/7 either grew up listening to Reggae or were at least familiar with rocksteady dub; and the skinhead culture from the late 60s on adopted reggae through rude boy ska. As for the rest of us stuck out in the suburbs and urban satellites further north and divorced from West Indian communities, John Peel probably did more to champion Jamaican music and cross-pollinate the cultural threads.
Ari Up of The Slits - John Lydon's wife's daughter - does back up vocals on this album.
@ ib
yeah, you're spot on, esp about Peel.
A pal got me into what I'll call heavy dub back in the late 70's onwards & I recently had been trying w/o success to find something similar to what I remembered. On a whim ( well, hoping it'd be a show where he played my band, The Rhodesians...) I downloaded an mp3 of a Peel show from 1980 & ooh yeah, Prince Far I - just the ticket.
Hey, How Marvellous. The name "The Rhodesians" vaguely rings a bell... Wouldn't swear to it, though.
Thanks for the comment and the link back.
well, John Peel played it about three times I think - me at 16 bein' so bloody thrilled. I think the first play, I'd come home from the pub & my parents had been listening (not their usual choice of show) & were all-fire excited to tell me we'd been on Radio 1 .
Rough Trade shifted umm about 50, & all these years later I still have the (many) remaining copies I was left with.
All quite an adventure - recording in a church hall, up to London for mastering at Porky's in Portland Place, then taking the master to the factory & later, folding up 50-odd sleeves to go to Rough Trade with.
Brilliant stuff! If John Peel played it three times I almost certainly must have heard it. I'm heartily envious.
Have you posted the Rhodesians on your site ? Even better, if you still have copies left maybe I could buy one from you ?
It reminds me a bit of hearing about the Television Personalities colouring in the xerox copies for their sleeves; or even Ian Curtis getting paid on the side to stick together the sandpaper sleeves for the Durutti Column at Factory.
email me yr address, I'll get one in the post over xmas.
We were too tight to pay for proper sleeves & one of the guitarists worked at a printers, so a large sheet of one-colour on white got folded up for each faux-gatefold sleeve.
DIY is the best way to do anything, How Marvellous. It always comes out sounding and looking a whole lot better in the long run.
absolutely!
I am sure i have heard of the ~Rhodesians too, no idea why cos i was way too young back in that day...
I was lucky to be raised in inner city Manchester with some amazing music around me, we had a city centre club called the Gallery which was owned by West Indians (in the 80s, eventually closed down and almost forgotten as other people revised the history and mythologised about other clubs that really weren't that popular until the gangsters started selling drugs there) so lucky me was exposed to loads of wonderful, sensual reggae, dub, and soul music...Prince Far I stands out for his deep bass growl and his easy manner...made double hip by the Singers and Players/On U Sound association...what a VOICE!!
Great post yet again!!
Thanks, LV. Great picture you paint of the Dub scene in Manchester in the 80s... Cheers!
Nice recollections all round - thanks.
Merry Christmas.
I love this.
You and Jon have the best comment section in Blog-land.
Your conversations are over my head, but interesting on the bits and pieces I pick up.
This is a tuff tune to let go of once you allow it in. I love it, too.
If sounds evoke smells, this one is pungent with citrus and indoor fireworks.
DIY is the best way to do anything, How Marvellous. It always comes out sounding and looking a whole lot better in the long run.
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