 Various Artists Released in 1989 to cash in on the massive worldwide popularity of the movie Scandal, Scandal Ska, like the Titanic soundtrack years later, stormed the charts and ruled at #1 for months until the fever finally died down. Oh, wait, I thought I was writing this for the Parallel Universe Record Guide. Wait, maybe that's what the Loud Bassoon Record Guide actually is. Well, at any rate, this CD is a tie-in to "Scandal" and the soundtrack to that movie, which featured some ska stuff but mainly UK pop hits from the very early 60s. These tracks date from 1960 to 1962, and generally hit Britain a year or so after release in Jamaica. Ska was never as big a rage in the US as it was in the UK, and really, ska remains an outside-the-mainstream genre in the US. Personally, I dig the old ska sounds as opposed to the current crop of ska/rock bands or traditionalist ska bands – seems to me there's enough good old ska to dig into without having to get the new stuff. Does that make me reactionary? I guess that depends which parallel universe I'm currently in – I keep losing track. The simple sweetness of these tracks is akin to the classic Chess records in America, with a bit more shuffle. These are all prime cuts, including Don Drummond's great instrumental "Scandal" and tracks by lots of big names: Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, Laurel Aitken, Cornell Campbell, Ernest Ranglin, and a certain "Robert Marley" in his first recording ("Judge Not"). For people whose familiarity with Jamaican music extends mainly to the 70s crossover stuff brought to us by Marley, Cliff, and Peter Tosh, this will sound like an "oldies" record. But it's so classy and cool that you can get into it immediately. It's like a dreamy cross between reggae and doo-wop, generally midtempo as opposed to revved up like the ska that's been popular with skate kids since The Specials. The disc moves along expertly, really well chosen and paced for maximum groove. It's not one of those reggae discs that sounds samey after awhile – the cuts are all pretty much fantastic, and it's cool to hear some of these guys who got famous ten or more years later in some of their earliest releases – Cornell Campbell sounds like he's got to be a teenager here, quite a shocker for anyone who knows his mid 70s stuff, which is quite heavy. Several instrumentals ("Exodus" by Ranglin, "Russian Roulette" by King Edwards) are scattered throughout, and the topically-titled songs of the period that are included are wonderful: "Mr. Kruschev" by Skitter and the awesome "Christine Keeler" by Roland Alphonso, which actually relates to the Profumo sex scandal that the movie is about. That one is an instrumental, but it's such a smoker that it stands out immediately. My favorite track is probably "Now That You're Dead" by Thelophilus Beckford – a charming jaunt of a song with some great sax lines that sounds kind of like Fats Domino on the island. The biggest drawback to the disc (aside from the very 1989 packaging, which is nothing to write home about – could have been a lot cooler, and some thorough liners would have been nice) is the sound, which is really limited. Many of the songs were clearly mastered from vinyl, and the cleanup job, being from 1989, isn't great. This would be a wonderful collection to reissue, but I can't see it happening. How many times do you think the movie Scandal gets rented a year? Maybe 100? Unless there are a lot more Joanne Whalley fans out there than I'm aware of.
Review by Luigi Randolph |