“Every Spoil Is a Style”

Songs & tracks

Every song the chapter names, in the order the text names them, each with the sentence that introduces it, set as printed.

• 001

  Drum Song

  Jackie Mittoo

  Thus, an oft-versioned rhythm track such as “Drum Song” (originally recorded as an instrumental by organist Jackie Mittoo during his years at Studio One) is still often referred to as “Coxsone’s riddim” even though it was in all likelihood composed by Mittoo and the other session musicians in Dodd’s employ.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 002

  Coxsone’s riddim

  Jackie Mittoo / Clement “Coxsone” Dodd

  Thus, an oft-versioned rhythm track such as “Drum Song” (originally recorded as an instrumental by organist Jackie Mittoo during his years at Studio One) is still often referred to as “Coxsone’s riddim” even though it was in all likelihood composed by Mittoo and the other session musicians in Dodd’s employ.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 003

  Ain’t Too Proud to Beg

  Slim Smith

  We try it with some Slim Smith riddim like “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 004

  Tripe Girl

  The Heptones

  You no have one turntable no more, you have two turntable, so you play the vocal, like Heptones’ ‘Tripe Girl’ or ‘Guiding Star,’ and just about as the music finish after three minutes and change—BOOM!—the version just come in with the drum and bass and the man just pick up the mic at the same time and begin to toast, him a nice up the sound!”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 005

  Guiding Star

  The Heptones

  You no have one turntable no more, you have two turntable, so you play the vocal, like Heptones’ ‘Tripe Girl’ or ‘Guiding Star,’ and just about as the music finish after three minutes and change—BOOM!—the version just come in with the drum and bass and the man just pick up the mic at the same time and begin to toast, him a nice up the sound!”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 006

  Duppy Conqueror

  The Wailers (Lee Perry prod.)

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 007

  Duppy Conqueror Version 2

  The Wailers / Upsetters

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 008

  Duppy Conqueror Version 3

  The Wailers / Upsetters

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 009

  Mr. Brown

  The Wailers (Lee Perry prod.)

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 010

  Dracula

  The Upsetters / Lee Perry

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 011

  Small Axe

  The Wailers

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 012

  Battle Axe

  The Upsetters / Lee Perry

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 013

  More Axe

  The Upsetters / Lee Perry

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 014

  Axe Man

  The Upsetters / Lee Perry

  So although, in Lee Perry’s productions of the Wailers, “Duppy Conqueror” predictably begat “Duppy Conqueror Version 2,” “Duppy Conqueror Version 3,” and so on, the ghoulish-sounding “Mr. Brown” (complete with what Bunny Lee termed a “creep organ”) begat “Dracula,” while “Small Axe” begat “Battle Axe,” “More Axe,” and “Axe Man.” Over time, versioning would provide an opportunity for as many wordplays and title puns as there were versions.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 015

  Java

  Augustus Pablo

  For example, Augustus Pablo’s 1972 melodica instrumental “Java” was originally conceived as a vocal performance, but the vocal track was deemed unsatisfactory by producer Clive Chin and erased.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 016

  Satan Side

  Earl “Chinna” Smith

  Earl “Chinna” Smith: “Satan Side” > Keith Hudson: “Black Heart”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 017

  Black Heart

  Keith Hudson

  Earl “Chinna” Smith: “Satan Side” > Keith Hudson: “Black Heart” Aston “Family Man” Barrett’s bass pattern on Chinna Smith’s “Satan Side” is a great example of the foregrounding of the bass line typical of roots reggae.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 018

  Dub the Pum Pum

  The Silvertones

  This definition spawned more explicitly sexual associations, such as those implied by The Silvertones’s song title “Dub the Pum Pum” (“pum pum” being the Jamaican slang for female genitalia), Big Joe and Fay’s lewd talk-over “Dub A Dawta” (“dawta” being the Rasta term for wife or girlfriend) or the deejay I-Roy’s “Sister Maggie Breast,” a song filled with sexual references and double-entendres:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 019

  Dub A Dawta

  Big Joe & Fay

  This definition spawned more explicitly sexual associations, such as those implied by The Silvertones’s song title “Dub the Pum Pum” (“pum pum” being the Jamaican slang for female genitalia), Big Joe and Fay’s lewd talk-over “Dub A Dawta” (“dawta” being the Rasta term for wife or girlfriend) or the deejay I-Roy’s “Sister Maggie Breast,” a song filled with sexual references and double-entendres:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 020

  Sister Maggie Breast

  I-Roy

  This definition spawned more explicitly sexual associations, such as those implied by The Silvertones’s song title “Dub the Pum Pum” (“pum pum” being the Jamaican slang for female genitalia), Big Joe and Fay’s lewd talk-over “Dub A Dawta” (“dawta” being the Rasta term for wife or girlfriend) or the deejay I-Roy’s “Sister Maggie Breast,” a song filled with sexual references and double-entendres:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 021

  Say So

  Paul Blackman

  “Say So” (a remix of Paul Blackman’s vocal track of the same name) from the seminal LP King Tubbys Meets the Rockers Uptown, is a good study of the simultaneous dissolution and distillation of meaning achieved through this subtractive textual strategy.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 022

  King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown

  King Tubby

  The same technique is used to strong effect on “King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown,” Tubby’s well-known remix of Jacob Miller’s “Baby I Love You So.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 023

  Baby I Love You So

  Jacob Miller

  The same technique is used to strong effect on “King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown,” Tubby’s well-known remix of Jacob Miller’s “Baby I Love You So.” On the first verse of the original track, Miller sings:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 024

  King Tubby’s Key

  King Tubby

  King Tubby’s “King Tubby’s Key” remix reduces Earl Zero’s entire “Shackles & Chains” to a mere four lines, but the net meaning remains equally potent, as suggestive lyrical fragments churn out of the soundscape:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 025

  Shackles & Chains

  Earl Zero

  King Tubby’s “King Tubby’s Key” remix reduces Earl Zero’s entire “Shackles & Chains” to a mere four lines, but the net meaning remains equally potent, as suggestive lyrical fragments churn out of the soundscape:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 026

  Don’t Get Weary

  Tony Brevett

  For example, Tony Brevett scored a hit in 1974 with “Don’t Get Weary,” the first two verses of which ran:

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 027

  Don’t Get Crazy

  Tappa Zukie

  Tappa Zukie follows the “talk-over” format of the sound system on his deejay version of “Don’t Get Crazy.” Zukie chants in call-and-response against fragments of the prerecorded vocal performance, using Brevett’s “weary” theme as a point of departure for an exhortation of Rastafarian faith, and largely transforming the romantic implications of the original lyrics (original lyrics in parentheses):

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 028

  Don’t Get Weary Joe Frazier

  I-Roy

  The deejay I-Roy cut his own version of the track, titled “Don’t Get Weary Joe Frazier.”

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 029

  Talking Blues

  Bob Marley

  An example of this is Jah Woosh’s deejay version of Bob Marley’s “Talking Blues” as covered by the Maroons.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 030

  Ethiopian Version

  King Tubby

  For example, King Tubby’s “Ethiopian Version” remixes Rod Taylor’s “Ethiopian Kings,” which moves at a tempo of quarter note = 69 beats per minute, while the delay unit is set at a completely disjunct tempo of approximately 168 bpm.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 031

  Ethiopian Kings

  Rod Taylor

  For example, King Tubby’s “Ethiopian Version” remixes Rod Taylor’s “Ethiopian Kings,” which moves at a tempo of quarter note = 69 beats per minute, while the delay unit is set at a completely disjunct tempo of approximately 168 bpm.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 032

  Heavy Duty Dub

  King Tubby

  As much as echo and delay were used to decenter rhythm, it also had the effect of decentering harmony, such as on the bridge section of King Tubby’s “Heavy Duty Dub,” in which the resolution of a chord progression is subverted by the use of echo.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 033

  Miss Wire Waist

  Carl Malcolm

  On his remix of Carl Malcolm’s “Miss Wire Waist” (titled “Wire Dub”), engineer Karl Pitterson demonstrates how crucial this type of timbral manipulation was to dub.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 034

  Wire Dub

  Karl Pitterson

  On his remix of Carl Malcolm’s “Miss Wire Waist” (titled “Wire Dub”), engineer Karl Pitterson demonstrates how crucial this type of timbral manipulation was to dub.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 035

  Fittest of the Fittest Dub

  King Tubby

  On King Tubby’s “Fittest of the Fittest Dub,” for example, we hear the squealing sound of the master tape coming gradually coming up to playing speed, followed by the random noodling of the pianist.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 036

  Beware Dub

  King Tubby

  On King Tubby’s “Beware Dub,” this tactic is even more dramatic, with nine chaotic seconds of studio dialogue and a false start by the band, all routed through echo and reverb units.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 037

  Operation

  Lee “Scratch” Perry

  Lee Perry’s “Operation” and Prince Buster’s “Big Youth” are two examples of tracks composed via the splicing together of various recorded performances, essentially creating sound collages that use reggae music as their source material.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 038

  Big Youth

  Prince Buster

  Lee Perry’s “Operation” and Prince Buster’s “Big Youth” are two examples of tracks composed via the splicing together of various recorded performances, essentially creating sound collages that use reggae music as their source material.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 039

  Mr. Bassie

  Horace Andy

  (1971 version)

  Horace Andy: “Mr. Bassie” (1971 Version) > Horace Andy: “Mr. Bassie” (1978 Version)

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 040

  Mr. Bassie

  Horace Andy

  (1978 version)

  Horace Andy: “Mr. Bassie” (1971 Version) > Horace Andy: “Mr. Bassie” (1978 Version)

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 041

  Stalag 17

  Techniques All Stars

  riddim

  The bass, now more closely adapted to the generic “Stalag 17” riddim, repeats a single line, instead of modulating with the chord changes.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 042

  Three Blind Mice

  Leo Graham

  Leo Graham: “Three Blind Mice” > King Tubby & The Upsetters: “Three Times Three” > Jah Love Sound System (Featuring Deejays Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales & Charlie Chaplin): Set Excerpt Including “Three Times Three” (ca.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 043

  Three Times Three

  King Tubby & The Upsetters

  Leo Graham: “Three Blind Mice” > King Tubby & The Upsetters: “Three Times Three” > Jah Love Sound System (Featuring Deejays Brigadier Jerry, Josey Wales & Charlie Chaplin): Set Excerpt Including “Three Times Three” (ca.

  song Open ↗ YouTube
• 044

  Every Man Ought to Know

  Max Romeo

  At 2:25, the track starts again from the beginning, with Brigadier Jerry intermittently joined by the deejays Josey Wales and Charlie Chaplin, improvising a lyrical theme based on Max Romeo’s 1973 song “Every Man Ought to Know,” which adapted the lyrics of a well-known hymn to a Rastafarian theme.

  song Open ↗ YouTube

Albums, compilations & series

Albums, compilations and series, again in the order the chapter names them.

• 045

  King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown

  Augustus Pablo

  “Say So” (a remix of Paul Blackman’s vocal track of the same name) from the seminal LP King Tubbys Meets the Rockers Uptown, is a good study of the simultaneous dissolution and distillation of meaning achieved through this subtractive textual strategy.

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 046

  Exodus

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  It wasn’t widely known until 2006, for example, that the same British electronics whiz (Roger Mayer) who devised Jimi Hendrix’s signature sound processors was a Bob Marley fan who worked with Marley and the Wailers during the 1977 recording of Exodus. But until more information of this sort comes to light, such direct influence will remain speculative.

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 047

  Heart of the Congos

  The Congos

  A connection is much easier to draw between dub and psychedelic music on the basis of their common reliance on these production techniques, and a visceral connection can clearly be drawn between these performances and dub mixes created during the period of roots reggae in Jamaica, such as selected works of King Tubby, Prince Jammy, and Augustus Pablo and especially works from Lee Perry’s Black Ark period (such as the Congos’ Heart of the Congos or George Faith’s To Be A Lover).

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 048

  To Be A Lover

  George Faith

  A connection is much easier to draw between dub and psychedelic music on the basis of their common reliance on these production techniques, and a visceral connection can clearly be drawn between these performances and dub mixes created during the period of roots reggae in Jamaica, such as selected works of King Tubby, Prince Jammy, and Augustus Pablo and especially works from Lee Perry’s Black Ark period (such as the Congos’ Heart of the Congos or George Faith’s To Be A Lover). Sheila Whiteley refers to this connection between the music and the psychedelic experience as “psychedelic coding”; …

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 049

  Aquarius Dub

  Herman Chin-Loy

  (The earliest such collections would include Herman Chin-Loy’s 1971 collection Aquarius Dub, producer Clive Chin’s 1973 Java Java Dub, and Prince Buster’s early 1970s The Message Dubwise.)

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 050

  Java Java Dub

  Clive Chin (prod.)

  (The earliest such collections would include Herman Chin-Loy’s 1971 collection Aquarius Dub, producer Clive Chin’s 1973 Java Java Dub, and Prince Buster’s early 1970s The Message Dubwise.)

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 051

  The Message Dubwise

  Prince Buster

  (The earliest such collections would include Herman Chin-Loy’s 1971 collection Aquarius Dub, producer Clive Chin’s 1973 Java Java Dub, and Prince Buster’s early 1970s The Message Dubwise.) From the early 1970s, Perry, Tubby, and Thompson were each associated with different studios, and would emerge as exponents of the new form.

  album Open ↗ YouTube