Right from being told by the man behind the counter at hipster-boho record store Sounds of the Universe that the new Chris Morris reggae 10" was a bit "off-key" I had to have it. Very queer that the emporium that has made such a fortune re-re-repackaging Studio One for the unadventurous and launching the truly awful 100% Dynamite series should even consider stocking the record.
The A-side of the perfectly packaged Chariot records 10" features Bigga Dread. Musically the pastiche is bang-on, dub inna Aba Shanti stylee. Without the kind of accurate sonic detail in the form of Morris's over-ripe croon (a budget Dennis Brown), matched with a DigiDub plod rhythm and Casio FX, we'd be in cod reggae territory. Cod Reggae as in Stackridge, Faust, Snow, 10cc, The Clash and Ace of Base. Of course that the pastiche is so stunningly accurate sharpens the satire immeasurably. The Bigga Dread "Batty Dread" track goes, hilariously, "Natty Dread sitting in the park, in his car, after dark, waiting for the young boy to suck pon his cock." It's tremendously improbable and brilliantly suprising. I've never had a problem with Reggae's "offensive" lyrics - it's habitual bashing of Gays and Women (probably for no better reason than I'm neither) but boy is it funny hearing the culture being skewered so perfectly, just desserts and more effective than a march in Manhattan. Expect a Rasta Fatwah on Morris's head.
The flipside features two tracks by Carlton "Killawatt" Valley, Morris's deejay parody, the alias instantly charming for it's accuracy. The "Special Request" track is once again perfectly done, styled as an early Dancehall version of Derrick Harriot's "Solomon" rhythm in the vein of Dennis Alcapone's "Riddle I This". It features our hero Carlton Valley chanting "Special request to the man like Fred West cos you are de best" inciting the girls to leave him alone because "you might find me hands around your neck real tight." Morris switches between Deejaying and Chorus like the perfect singjay, his vocals distorted in a Stone Love sound-system fashion. Of course it sounds like a rip-off, but close enough to the real thing for one to ponder that the lyrics wouldn't be that out of place in the Dancehall. Compare it to the content of something like Cutty Ranks's "The Stopper" for implied violence or the slack-era "Toilet Sex" by Welton Irie (replete with Welton's charming pig oink) and you begin to wonder what on earth you let Reggae get away with.
The absolutely best comparison with the Chariot 10" is a track released by Prince Jammys in the mid-eighties in Jamaica by a cockney called Dominic called "Boy George". What the hell he was doing out there ("come from England and me mash up the Yard") I don't know, except there is a micro-tradition of tourists finding their way into Reggae studios, very often German women being given the proverbial "come and see my etchings" by leary producers. The lyrics to "Boy George" are less shocking than TOK's "Chi Chi Man"'s with it's incitement to burn gay people or Buju Banton's "Boom By By", shoot them: "me no wine pon man, man me no kiss, AIDS is a disease me no wan catch it" but in his drippy weekend-patois and despite the full authenticity of Jammy's rhythm track, he sounds like such a jerk.
I missed the Morris TV specials, some of them sounded very ham-fisted. Ditto Blue Jam. But this is satire of the highest order; subtle and sophisticated in many ways, and satisfyingly blunt in others.
Posted by Woebot at January 23, 2003 12:45 PM