WOEBOT

Reggae Compilations.

This piece goes out to Paul Meme (find his bitchy letter to me in the archives). Paul gets his wrist smacked for describing TWANBOC as the true global villain, practically calling us a slave trader, coming on all Naomi Klein with a degree in reggae, when he wouldn't know his Channel One from his Studio One. His mum makes him wear earphones at home, she says turn down that racket Paul, he says, aw mum it's The Stranglers they're brill. He didn't have the courtesy to reply to my generous email or even my blog entry. So here by way of a mammoth fuck you to Paul, is a mini-guide to Dancehall Reggae Compilations. That'll learn him.

I love compilations. Especially if they're well put together. There is a certain kind of compilation which serves Jamaican music extremely well, one which is designed as a mop-up of the biggest recent hits from the yard. Often this is curated for the foreign market as a means of giving New York and London diaspora (especially, though not exclusively) a snapshot of what's happening back home.

The original model is of course Trojan's Tighten Up series, which went through upwards of 15 volumes. Its only real competitor being Syd Bucknor's Pama label with it's brilliant Hot Numbers Comps. With the success of Roots in the late seventies these round-ups must have seemed a bit anachronistic, especially when album-length reggae was being so excellently serviced by Island. The aesthetic of the "one-hit-wonder" which, while still dominating Jamaica, was abandoned abroad for a focus on particular Artists.

As soon as things went underground again (Lloyd Bradley gives the twin dates of Bob Marley death and Lee Perry's torching of The Black Ark) then the comp became valid once more.

Maybe the first Reggae comp in the form in which it exists today is the first Greensleeves Sampler. It featured Eek-A-Mouse's Wa do dem, Yellowman's Zugungzuguzungguzeng (draws breath) and Scientists Dematerialise. All licensed from different Yard labels.

The really dominant Dancehall reissue label throughout the 80s and up untill the early nineties was Jet Star. Their Reggae Hits compilations, divided one side chat, the other side lovers, were massive. Jet Star also issued 12"s of the tracks they licensed. You bought the comp, then went out and hunted down the real killa tunes, and then shopped the comp down at the M&V. This tended to be alot of work, and with the same tracks being issued by Jet Star on the single, the collector's instinct of wanting all material in it's original format and label was sort of pointless, though granted the better frequency response of phat 12" vinyl was sometimes seductive. Nowadays I just buy the comps, fuck it eh! It sometimes feels like a more genuine response, rather than faking proximity to the source by doing too much groundwork. Groundwork for me involved among other things taking the trip to Halfway Tree, Kingston myself in 1991 and visiting Jet Star in 1994.

The Jet Star Reggae Hits series soon ran alongside New York's Profile label's Dancehall Reggae compilations which were fucking great, put together by Bobby Konders, with a strict all killer no filler aesthetic. These were the years of Shabba Rank's ascendancy, when Hip-Hop was rubbing shoulders with Ragga. Also springing up were Greensleeves Ragga Ragga Ragga compilations which outshine their slightly spotty Mid-Price Reggae Hits series.

The absolute unquestionable don of Dancehall Reggae Compiling is the VP label. This is run buy the very senior Clive Chin, veteran of the great Impact label (who are being given the retro rub-down by Soul Jazz as we speak). The Strictly the Best compilations kick arse. You do have to be slightly careful as at the moment they're alternating volumes between the lovers (on even numbers) and chat (on odd numbers). So for example volumes 25, 27 and 29 are packed full of wkd sonx (as Bobby Gillespie would say) and surreal chatty nonsense, and 26 28 and 30 are a wee bit glutinous. VP also put out the yearly Reggae Gold compilations these are good, but too slim to really capture the excitement up close and are (once again) often too strongly pitched towards the lovers stuff for my tastes (the odd track can be nice though). And if that wasn't enough, slightly off the subject here, VP have also recently put out two completely incredible retro dancehall comps under the moniker Dancehall 101. These are essential purchases and piss on the Greensleeves Best of Early Dancehall comps, (which admittedly cover an earlier period). Once again in two volumes with a bloke leaning on the front of a car on the sleeve. I thought these were very lacklustre.

Compilations rock, and for musics which revolve around the "scenius" dynamic, as a format they just can't be beat. Don't be a scaredy-cat, jump in!

Don't Go!

With Tim, then Jon, then Simon going rather quiet its time for all you sidebar jockies to repoint your browsers. First up is Luke at Heronbone while he doesn’t always talk music, he does talk musically (sorry Luke, that was shite). Next up is the really enjoyable Agony Shorthand which I ripped off Jon (The Beatnik’s Beatnik, who has a nice package in the post). Then the glorious Spizzazzz a joy ladies, a real joy. Finally, and despite Tom nearly packing it in, the freshly rejuvenated NYLPM. Oh and come back here when you’ve finished right!

Treo.

It's a fairly pointless aside, but maybe you'd be interested to know. I do all my writing on a Treo, a tiny handheld keyboard communicator, on buses, in cafes, at work. I then email it from the same device and it pops up here on the web. You have to be a pretty huge geek to work out how to do this.

I can be listening to atrocious 80's lovers pop in a coffee franchise and let you know about it, like I am right now. I don't know if this has any relevance to writing about music as an activity per se. It might be a more suitable mode of communication for War Journalism, "we've just been hit by a shell" etc. Though didn't JG Ballard describe music journalism as "the real reportage"? Music goes off like veg, it loses it's freshness quickly, before becoming useful as manure.

What a handy metaphor! After all culture's energy is reinvested in old music to reconfigure it's location or even to use it as a base for newer music (especially vis a vis sampling). Music journalism is even more ephemeral and temporally specific, unless, to extend the analogy it's the equivalent of a gardners guide to compost.

So either these entries are beamed-in bulletins from the tip of the wave (hey Matt don't flatter yourself) or they're an exercise....shit just spilled my latte.

Tricky Rascal.

On the subject of Dizzy Rascal. My brother saw the new regenerated Tricky signing autographs in Waitrose. Why? Has he just released a new radish?

Tricky has a new diet doesn't he. That's cool. Tricky is very small too apparantly. Just like Captain Roscoe with the crossbow. Just think how sad DR would think I was if he read this. Its turning into Hello! for speedfreaks this blog.

Gutter Garage Webring.

Like the dissoloution of the magnificent seven so they shall mourn the implosion of the unofficial guttah garage webring.

(horse slopes into brokedown village - cloaked stranger addresses laid-back local):
Whatever happened to Sneaky Luke, the rake on Mare Street, the hotwired wag? Him gone vicious straight edge maaan, him the rat in Saddam bunker, me bredda. What about the rushing hyperactive prophet of NYC, the 'riginal NRG flasher, the blissed-out barbarian ol' Third Eye Reynolds. Him deep in guttah archives bredda, working on dna source of da retro formula. (sergio leone whistle-gust of wind). And whose asking? (sweeps off cape-gasps) Praise da almighty father it is, no it cant be, yes IT IS! TWANBOC you are alive. TWANBOC in all but name my fine fellow. (unfurls parchment-villagers gather around) and here is the latest missive from the guttah.

Spectacular intro but not much to report really. Dizzy Rascal has a new track in the racks, a charming little instrumental called "Hoe". Er where's the rapping Dizzy? Stick to what you do best. Talking of Dizzy, how many times have you heard mention of his sparring partner on "I love You"? That chick completely makes the song, undercutting DR's bluster (ever heard Project Pat's Chickenhead?), she's one terribly sexy lady. So who's she? Heard another Dizzy Track the other day, maybe its called "One Big Cycle" (now no cussing if its a Roll Deep ting!) Saw Dizzy in Uptown, me lurking at the back in a top hat and tails looking like a comedy toff. He's not so "buff" in my view. Surly and small. The tension over this tracks general release is beginning to take its toll on me. Soon all the beatniks will have a copy. I might even be able to have a conversation with someone about music without them looking lost and confused....

Rap tracks I like? Seen U B4 by JB is great. The production is just good enough for my ears not to bleed (hey I dont want Kenny Gee, but a likkle polish can help). More hard jackin linear riddims? Try baby pulse by youngster and 116, those clackety clack castanet 808s are just fine. A little sublo pressure for your delectation? Try the dutty firewire riddim.

As for the pirates, I'm a bit behind. Email Luke at Marajuana-Smokers Anonymous and pester him. His bredda Scoob is on the frontline so he blinking well out to know.

McCartney.

What a lovely man. Ever see that pretty documentary in which he's interviewed by his daughter Mary about early life with Linda? After The Beatles melted down he had to scrape by on beans until his accountants could sort out the wreckage. He and Linda went and lived in what looked like a barn from the charming super 16mm footage they shot. Seriously....a grubby hole without windows in the highlands.

Now for the bit where I tell you about when I met him: I actually met Paul once in Soho. It was ten years ago. He was wandering down Greek Street in his tonsure of the day, remember that Mullett? Now he has what looks like a wig. Ditch the wig Paul. Anyway he was trucking down Greek Street with his hands in his trouser pockets, blazer breezing behind him (Lennon liked that same pose in his white suit, head buried somewhere in a thatch of locks and specs). I wasnt going to miss my opportunity, went up and said hi Paul. We chatted: "So what do you do?", he said "I'm a runner for Ridley Scott" I replied (because even at an early age I knew how to drop names). Paul told me that was the way to go, start at the bottom and work your way up. The Cavern, Hamburg Strip Joints and beyond.

This spiel has been prompted by seeing a truly wonderful ad featuring Paul for Radio 2 on the telly. Now there's a Radio Station, never been the same since Jimmy Young left, Radio Caroline thats my kind of Pirate. Paul does a stunning rendition of Band on the Run accompanying himself with bottles, sitars and radio feedback, and what a brilliant song that is too. Bloody magnificent. Johnny Tosspot who writes for The Wire, and who only reviews cds by "firstname"/"secondname" artists like Gunther Bernard and Arne Sondheim and Peter Wishart thinks it all very amateurish but he knows fuck all about anything (life and love included). This is lovely, do a whole cd of this stuff Paul.

Actually I've known about him doing this things for ages. He mentioned to some rock dork in Q (or was it Select) that he did "Brian Eno style experiments with elastic bands" - genius! And if you want to get all historical about it, Lennon wasnt the only one flirting with the avant-garde, McCartney was hanging with AMM.

Sign the petition!

Easy E.

Oh and Easy E was the nephew of Charles "Express yourself" Wright, that must have made sorting out the sampling fees easy. With the Watts 103 Street Rhythm Band he made a great LP (also called Express Yourself) and a double gatefold LP which came up in converstion with my friend Christian the other day. Charles Wright we decided was a funk auteur. Embraced a whole clutch of styles well.

Oh and Spike Lee was Bill Lee's son. Bill played on a handful of Strata East records with jazz heavyweights like (guessing) CecilMcBee and Clifford Jordan, as well as laying down a Mingus/Cassavetes bassline down for She's gotta have it.

Oh and Chuck D was Stokely Carmichael's chauffeur's son in law. Except he wasn't cos I made that up.

Nas.

Nas's Dad is Olu Dara. Olu Dara is a percussionist who played on alot of Bill Lasell's Celluloid recordings. I could check but I think he plays on those 5 okey-doke early Rap 12"s that Laswell put out (you know, the one by Fab 5 Freddy, who wasnt a rapper but a graffiti artist).

Nas is quite like the second George Bush. And hip-hop is a dynasty. I'd have to look in the AvantYob Manual but I suppose this makes him a Beatnik as well. Nas's early records were all "Great Mid-Period Hip-Hop" like "NY State of Mind". He's survived, like Busta Rhymes, as a platinum wrapper. See him duet with Jennifer, givng props to her street shtick. I don't really like him, neither does Jay-Z so I'm not exactly in good company. Luke, Hackney's rusty radio, the fopp on crack, thinks he's a great poet.

Norah.

Daughter of the living embodiment of Hindustani music (Ravi Shankar, dudes). That's some heavy shit to negotiate. Norah has decided that the way forward is to forge some superficial-sounding, I didn't say superficial, cocktail jazz with west coast space rock overtones (listen to the solo record by ex-Mamas and Papas John Williams, the wolfking of LA, the record Dylan copped the cover for Desire from). See Norah at the piano, and while her band nod and smile at eachother (tell them to concentrate and stop larking around like sad twits), Norah looks maybe embarassed or worried at her "lite" music. "Heavy" is finger-bleeding ragas.

I like "Don't know why", just like I like California (the enemy, but what a great place to be!). It buzzes in one ear and out the other like James Taylor. She does need to pare down the instrumentation a bit, especially on the newer single. I'd like to hear Slint backing her, they did a minor key thing which was jazzy but they'd have to be quiet mind, none of their Mahavishnu Orchestra theatrics!

The Right Reverend Marc Arcadipane.

Being an unbearably intense person, I'm sure if there was a club of dilletantes I would immediately be refused entry. I would be told to "take it easy", that they'd get back to me. What's referred to here as dilletante-ism, means for most people racing around the whole field of music attempting to catch up with EVERYTHING, being unable to commit to one genre wholeheartedly simply because of the volume of music. There doesn't seem to be anything disingeneous about that. Unless, that is, if you are indeed a foppish cherry-picking trendy, in which case get orf my laand!

Was worried posting the Heavy Metal thing beneath (straight after the hip-hop spiel) that I would be pegged as someone with "eclectic" tastes. I don't like the idea of that one bit, mainly because I view the field of music as one entity (I told you I was intense). To start saying, as you do when your aunt asks you what music you listen to: "...well I like Jazz and Rock and blah and blah....." always strikes me as fundamentally misleading if you're lost deep within the continuum of music.

I'm glad Reynolds made the distinction between the "dilletante-as-consumer" and the "dilletante-as-creator". For me this is the hinge of the argument. He scans the lexicon of garage for phrases expressing the seriousness and authenticity of the matter in hand, "for real", "life is not a game to play" etc. In my opinion, with regards to what he's referring to as "culture-warriors" it's more appropriate to look for the metaphors of BELIEF. Your "culture-warrior" is a believer, he's "keeping the faith" to hi-jack a term we're all familar with.

For sure The Mover, changeless monolith that he is, has more in common with other single-minded visionaries like Sun Ra, La Monte Young than your average UK Bouncer, but the same effect is present. Brian Eno, oft-quoted egg-head, spoke somewhere about music revolving fundamentally around belief. If you believe in it, it works for you. Very cynical on one hand, and possibly what prompted him to make "a believer's music for non-believers" (thats my idea, and it's patented). Ever enthusiastically bought a record to find someone's slagged it off? What do you do? You either loose faith in it, or cling to the doctrine.

I'd go further and say the "dynamics of belief" is the great reality force-field which impels us into music. The artist believes with an intensity and therefore we believe in what they are doing. Obviously at the more manic end this spirals off into kookiness even quasi-religiousity. You've got to wonder about a figure like La Monte Young, who I find fascinating more as a phenomenon than a musician. The original "Johnny-One-Note", I'm always pondering whether the "emperor has any clothes". It cracks me up that you can even pay to be a member of the MELA board, a certain fee guarantees you an audience with La Monte himself (the dude has style no?), the original Ambient Con-Man?

Beatnik vs AvantYob: The Third Episode, "Missive from the Darkside"

My false teeth fell into my tea when I got an email from none other than Nick Terry, get this, former editor of Terrorizer magazine, practically ground central for Thrash Metal, in Nick's words "a true AvantYob publication". For centuries Nick has been surveying the narrow mountain pass, which links his black empire of Metal to the sunny pastures in which you and I frolic (end of Tolkein-esque metaphor). What did he have to say: "I heartily approve of your beatnik vs avantyob classification system." In consequence I'm writing this from a small island in the caribbean to which I have retired, having finally made the mark in life I knew I could.........

The first point Nick makes is that Slayer are not "nu metal", he's right, what was I thinking? Thrash Metal, doh! Nick informs me (lonely stray hobbit that I am....OK OK enough) that for New Metal I should: "think Korn, Papa Roach, Deftones, especially Deftones, who worship The Smiths ferchrissakes.....pretty much beatnik metal anyway and diametrically opposed to everything Slayer stand for." But was delighted that I got Slayer in the right column anyway. So I done good. Nick mused that he saw quite alot of beatnik qualities in Metal in general, though I guess he'd agree it's generally AvantYobbish, particularly pinpointing "....the obsessive cataloguing and classification" to which I replied:

"Right, gotcha. I think that maybe metal's strengths lie in the fact that it (maybe) generally isn't beatnik. A Smiths fetish immediately earmarks the (Deftones) as beatnik. To be even harsher on myself than you've been, Slayer's dalliance with Rick Rubin and the Sex Pistols cover version might even swing them in the Beatnik direction a tiny bit, it's quite a "concious" musicological angle of theirs. I just don't know the territory hence their totemic inclusion. I'm not sure if the obsessive cataloguing marks them as Beatniks, you see the same thing with Gabba obsessives, these guys usually have no idea about "what's the other side of the fence" so to speak. I think this rabid territoriality is pretty AvantYob (ie Daft)." witter, witter, witter..........

Nick agreed with the cataloguing thing (a very small victory for TWANBOC) and informed me: "I wouldn't be so harsh on Slayer re: working with Rubin and recording punk covers, they did a whole album of what they thought was 'punk', which meant very early US hardcore - exactly what they were listening to as dumb Caliteenagers in the early 80s. It didn't win them many fans. And certainly there are a lot of metal records which have otherwise beatnik characteristics which just rock too damn hard to be completely regarded as beatnik pure and simple."

......then went on to explain: " in the 90s I think parts of metal went self-conscious, postmodern and avantgarde in differing proportions  and thus became infected by some beatnik values - an inevitable sign 'o' the times, really. But the best stuff was often very avant* in especially the Norwegian black metal scene, while still remaining quite thuggish. Political incorrectness does not automatically a yob make (thinking fascists, of whom there are all too many, tend to make disgustingly bland music, no matter how hard they are trying to be avant** - eg Blood Axis, later Burzum.)

The consequences for the whole theory, which Nick described as "a classic Weberian idealtype" are that there may be (and fairly not just in the field of metal) a sliding scale between the Beatnik and the AvantYob. But if you ask me, when the chips are down, everything falls one side or the other, Nick certainly had no trouble sifting though his Terrorizer 1990s top Metal 100(0) and separating the black sheep from the white. As for the lists that Nick sent me.....and I was really torn here, for the time being they will remain my closely guarded secret. Go and buy Slayer's "Reign in Blood" first, which Nick assures me is: "pretty much the definitive metal record of all time.", show me the reciept (email a jpeg) and then I may consider your request, phew I'm off the hook there........

*I assume he means Avant-Garde in this context...Avant-Garde unknowingly so. But as we know from our experience of Darkcore era Jungle. Avant-Garde does not mean not AvantYob......confused? You clearly haven't been paying attention.....

**and AvantYob here....Mark Sinker must have had a pig of a time with this barbarian.

6 Great Mid-Period Hip-Hop LPs.

So here it is, the first proper guide to Hip-Hop's golden era put together by an avowed outsider, ahem. Why is it that people assume they can "get down with the programme" without looking like a complete tosser (Jennifer "from the block" Lopez, Tim "diggity" Westwood and not a few hip-hop hacks, you know who you are)? Its wickedy wack old bean......

So firstly it should be stated that the true medium of Hip-Hop is the 12". End of story. However unlike other 12" dominated genres like Disco, or Jungle, or Detroit Techno there are bundles of truly great Hip-Hop "elpees" which aren't chockablock full of filler or lame attempts to master a variety of different genres (step forward practically every dance artist who ever made a long-player). In spite of this, one of the main reasons I put this list together is that I get sick of hearing people reccommending long-playing drek by Jay Z (he's a great singles guy notwithstanding) or even 80 minute turds by the combined uber-gang of Mannie Fresh, Timbaland and The Neptunes (these dudes make hot singles and placate the industry with nearly-all-filler LPs, the only exceptions being Missy Elliott's 1st and 3rd LPs and Lil Wayne's "Tha Block is Hot")

All these records are sort of findable. Many of the ones I've purchased have been re-issues, hey I'm as lame as you are, and I won't be offering a companion CD to this article with the express intention that if you don't own any of these records you bloody well ought to shell out and support the artists, who unlike the platinum gang, are probably right back where they started from. This is quite explicitly a buyers guide. My only caveat being that the bootleggers are doing a good trade with this stuff. Oh and don't you dare slsk this stuff....I'll haunt you.

Anyway without further ado here is the list:

1. Black Moon: Enta da Stage (Wreck 1993)

Number One! This is a fucking great record for which the word gruff was practically invented. Not as immediately hooky as others in this list, it's "deep" heavy shit which should appeal to those after a true sonic fix. Strictly middle frequency stuff, not that the bass doesn't go boom, the production is as furrowed as the brows on the cover. Like some of these other records it's dominated by gruff male "hunched" yob-gang rapping. That's immediately a problem for some twee liberals, but so what, they're not a bunch of effete pansies, get over it. I don't hear sexism, maybe war between the sexes.... The disc was produced at D&D studios (generally viewed as the home of hip hop) where DJ Premier produced his slew of classics. Built at a time when the resources of Jazz-Funk samples must have appeared infinitely fecund. You can almost hear Da Beatminerz palpable excitement at these mahagony off-key breaks. It's suffused with sensi (smoked like a salmon), tinged with dancehall reggae (Black Moon occasionally flip into patois), and bolstered with low frequency bleeps. I could practically write an entire book about this one record (entitled "No Moon more Black"), I haven't even started talking about what they actually say...........

2. Diamond and the Psychotic Neurotics: Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop (Chemistry 1992)

Number One! The best kept secret indeed! Diamond's loops and breaks are both deliciously scrumptious and pack more crunch than a transit full of frosties. I confess I'm not really a lyrics man. If you weren't born and raised in the States you'd be very hard pushed to get what he's going on about most of the time: "I shoot it like a Jammy in, girls get the pantys in, even with a fanny in I might win a grammy and, maybe I won't so I'll chill like the pope, see I'll never mope cos I know my shit is dope, like colombian fishscale, ask my man Ishmael, Diamond D got props like a Cop." OK it's fairly clear: metaphorically speaking he's a decent shot and the ladies like him, he might win an award for his music, but he's philosophical about it, having the cool demeanour of the catholic leader (who like Diamond is also purported to smoke pot), he knows his records are good, in fact they're even as good as excellent super-strong imported south-american marajuana, if you want a character reference just ask his friend Ishmael (who pipes up) "Diamond gets as many nods of respect from his colleagues in the field of rap music as a policeman has notebooks, aviator glasses, walky talkies and doughnuts."*The point is that this "ultra-compressed" poetry flows wonderfully over hard-rocking breaks, if the ideas pitched and poetic flow is moving slow enough for you to actually pick up whats being said then its a bad rap. As far as I can see its about turning language into sound, and to be honest as a foreigner and outsider I think you're uniquely placed to really get this back from hip-hop. You're not mired down in basketball gags, you just nod your head to the hypnotic flow. This record is my favourite for this kind of surreal obfuscation.

* Please will no swanky yankies try and pick up my mistakes.

3. Showbiz & AG: Runaway Slave (Payday 1992)

Showbiz and AG were affiliated with Diamond's Digging in the Crates collective, shortened to D.I.T.C. There is another famous D.I.T.C. LP by Lord Finesse. I've heard it and I don't rate it. I have the Fat Joe one "Represent", thats alright. Digging in the Crates is the act of thumbing through second-hand records. We mentioned earlier that the records in this window of time are the results of sampling a certain kind of music. No it isn't Jazz rap, as Sacha Frere Jones joked (the only person to write about Hip Hop with any style, excepting the original shaolin David Toop) that if critics had paid attention to hip hop five years previous and the records it sampled then, they could have called it TV Rap. Well that's a bit of a conceit. Being a nobber record collector I know that you travel through the field of music in the same way as you cross a terrain, that's to say from connected node to connected node. This lot went from James Brown to Tower of Power, The Delfonics, John Handy, Flaming Ember, Kleer, George Duke and Billy Cobham. (All get sample dues on the Diamond LP). This is the window of time I'm referring too when i say (rather drily) Mid-Period. Quite quickly these guys ran out of sparkling hooky loops. They ended up ploughing through library records for breaks (hey great no sampling fees!) just because everything else has been bled dry. Signs of change? RZA going digital and ditching his Stax box-set and of course Timbaland. Runaway Slave, Great record by the way.

4. Gang Starr: Daily Operation (1992 Cooltempo)

May this serve as lesson to anyone a liitle too eager to write something off. I had an itinerant 1991 and therefore turned to tapes for my kicks. Three were on heavy rotation, a Charley Lee Dorsey comp (with nutty liner notes by Joe Strummer), The Ragga Twins "Reggae owes me Money" and Gang Starr's "Step in the Arena". That's a great record, quite clean in a way though. I remember my bro buying "Daily Operation" and thinking ("been there done that") and just ignoring the thing. Well guess what, I done screwed up. Just as mainstream interest in Gang Starr dried up so did Premier really master his art, bad timing Premo! The sheer style Premier brings to this record floated a thousand brilliant 12"s and the careers of Jeru the Damaja (whose "The Sun Rises in the East", distinguished by "Come Clean" nearly made it onto the Nearly list below), MOP, Nas and a raft of others. This record is a stone classic and "Hard to Earn" is great too. Premier is an effortlessly brilliant producer. His genius lies in his approach, not his raw materials, which means that practically every track is a winner.

5. A Tribe called Quest: The Low End Theory (1991 Zomba)

Once again wedged in the 1991-3 window and (like all of the LPs) sporting connections to the others. Exactly the same thing happened with this record. I had the (inferior) Daisy Age debut and overlooked this while my bro' picked it up, bastard! Possibly the biggest of these records commercially (Quest surfing the Jazz rap wave) and maybe the daddy. Ron Carter of CTI fame even lays down bass on "Verses from the Abstract"- but hey don't be fooled, this record isn't remotely "loungey" it's real skull cracking stuff. Best track "Show Business" with Diamond at the helm. Look out for a cameo by the nascent Busta Rhymes then of Leaders of the New School (whose TIME LP was also in the nearly Nearly list).

6= Main Source: Breaking Atoms (1991 Wild Pitch) / Ultramagnetic MCs: The Four Horsemen (1993 Wild Pitch)

A head-to-head here with these two on the WIld Pitch label. Would the person who stole my Wild Pitch singles comp kindly return it to me? Number 6 "joint" because they both score a 70% hit rate to the other records 95% (thats still awful high) but such is the kick of their greatest tracks that all is forgiven. The Main Source LP is loveable for the wounded masculinity of "Looking at the front door" and the storming "Just Hanging Out" with the Large Professor's gourgeous bouncy loop of Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam" and alot else besides. All these dudes know their ragga, just remember Shabba Ranks was riding very high at this stage, booming from all the best jeeps. The violent red, gold and green righteousness of reggae might have seemed a credible influence/direction following the daisy age dalliance. Those colo(u)rs, just look at these record covers!

Finally the Ultramagnetic MC's "The Four Horsemen", a nasty, sick, evil, fucked up record. This, I reckon is the point zero of Lapdance culture (not exactly something to celebrate but we can't avoid it vis "In da club"). I hear you with your Blowflys and 2 Live Crews, but maybe they're parochial sensations, also maybe they're nice people. Kool Keith is clearly not a "nice" man. This is somewhat different from these other records which all have a warm heart. Fans of concussive PCP Gabba, 4Hero era-Darkcore, and Sheffield Bleep and Bass should go straight to side D and the 4 track mash-up. It's hard to hear the joins on this killa symphony, the stabs seem slightly different track by track but thats the only clue you get to the cues. Keith goes yadda yadda in his bitchy whinge threatening rappers with just about every preposterous insult his stinking mind can concoct. Aaah lovely you've gotta hear it!!

So thats it. In true hip-hop style (indulge me readers) I'd like to give a shout out to a few people. Firstly Big Johnny Lyall from back-in-the day (now the Monarch of Scottish Hip-Hop and man behind the Scratch club, Johnny owns an original copy of the Main Source LP!) also Neil "Babes" (former UK Subbuteo champion and now watch that centre-forward digit on the 1200s! Neil hipped me to the Black Moon) and last but not least Phal "Bust-it-out" Cullum (keep rocking the funky breaks bad bwoy!). (weeps) I love you guys! (draws breath) I'm gonna wind it down before I get too carried away. So in conclusion I give you:

The "Nearly" List:

(Those records not quite hot enough to make the TWANBOC top 6, but which nonetheless are groovy) bear in mind this is a fraction of the possible candidates. Submit your faves and I'll blog 'em up baby.....

Del the Funky Homosapien: No Need for Alarm(1993 Elektra)


Better than his Daisy Age debut (that old cliche). King of the West coast Hieroglyphics crew and latterly Gorillaz MC (oh no!). This album fits our time period, has some ace tracks, but not enough. Cullum, who has the patience of a buddhist monk, will tell you I'm quite wrong. Features mysterious Parisian Toure.....

Souls of Mischief: 93 til Infinity (1993 Zomba)


More Hieroglyphics crew. Worth admission for the title track alone, a built on a 33rpm Billy Cobham track played at 45, but then you're wandering around a deserted cinema. Nah, its pretty OK.

KMD: Black Bastards (1993 Subverse)

Not as good as their Daisy Age debut, the brilliant "Mr.Hood" (I bought it the day it came out- haters!) but still pretty cool. This was bootlegged for years. The story goes that the record company freaked when they delivered it, dropped KMD and canned the LP. Doh!

Freestyle Fellowship: Inner City Griots (1993 Island)

This is any interesting record. Emblematic of this fecund moment of time. Freestyle Fellowship were a kind of improvising outfit, shades of The Last Poets. There is a touching/brave grassroots community feel to the record. Take those earlier comments about Reggae (vis routes from Aquarian rap) and times them by ten, not nihilistic like the Ultramagnetics record but in many ways as dark and foreboding. The rap on "Six Tray" has a Cronenburg/Crash styled theme, which is doubly dread in its context. These are AvantYobs with their faces pressed against the glass.