R.I.P. Cool Ruler — reggae legend Gregory Isaacs passes away at 59

Night Nurse (album)

Image via Wikipedia

The Cool Ruler, Gregory Isaacs, passed away today in London. Known as the master of  ”lovers rock” — smooth vocals over cool grooves — Isaacs made his mark singing romantic songs. However, he also was an eloquent spokesperson for Jamaica’s poor, addressing social social problems in songs such as “A Riot” and “Village of the Underprivileged.” For me, Isaacs’s most arresting work is in songs in which he carried on the rocksteady sound of master vocalists, such as Alton Ellis and Dobby Dobson (check out his covers of rocksteady classics “Tumblin’ Tears” [Ellis] and “Loving Pauper” [Dobson - below]).

Skindred (“best live band in Britain”) – punk/metal/reggae pop

Thanks to Abdelhalim El Hachimi (of Tales from Bradistan) for turning me on to Skindred, a British band that brings together metal, punk and reggae to create damn good pop music. Below is the first part of his excellent post on Skindred — a lot of info on the band, scads of links, nice photos, and insightful reflections on punk history.

Skindred

Kerrang magazine consistently labels Skindred as the best live band in Britain. I would go further than that and say that they are the best band in Britain full stop. There isn’t much originality or creativity left these days amongst home-grown groups and Skindred stand well apart from the rest of the pack. Their effective fusion of metal, punk and reggae, infused with a pop sensibility, works consistently well and there is literally none like them.

Skindred were formed in 1998 from the ashes of Dub War, the former band of Skindred frontman Benji Webbe. Dub War had a reasonable amount of success but for me the different elements of their sound never came together in the way that Skindred have successfully managed to achieve.

Their first album “Babylon” appeared in 2002 and was subsequently (for the rest, click here…)

UPDATES: more Skindred photos from Tales of Bradistan

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