Reggae/Ska

[Gaelbert]

I go through periodic obsessions with musical genres. Recently, I've cycled through electronica, to punk, to indie, to electronica again, and now finally to reggae, something that's never interested me that much before. However, now I'm hooked. I'm reading and studying about Jamaican culture, and the first guitar solo I ever played (last Saturday) was reggae style. Unfortunately, the only reggae artist I have and listen to is Bob Marley and the Wailers. And while they are amazing, I'm looking to diversify some. Does anyone here listen to this groovy genre? If so, who?

[Jorkens]

Hmmm, I'm a bit of a reggae nerd. It's brilliant, and Bob Marley is very much the tip of the iceberg.

I'd recommend checking any of these:
Toots and the Maytals
The Skatalites
Max Romeo
U-Roy
Prince Buster
Lee 'Scratch' Perry / The Upsetters (especially compilations of stuff from the 60s and 70s - his subsequent stuff is patchy)
Culture
Burning Spear
The Congos
Big Youth
King Tubby
Augustus Pablo
John Holt
Desmond Dekker
Peter Tosh
Probably loads of others I've forgotten.

The (competitively priced 3CD) Trojan box sets are also quite a good place to start:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=trojan+box+set&x=15&y=16
Compilations make a lot of sense with reggae, because a lot of it (the older stuff in particular) was basically a series of singles made to be played in the dancehalls with no particular interest in producing a unified album... so a ska comp makes a lot more sense than (say) a prog rock comp.

If you want a shedload of history, Lloyd Bradley's book, Bass Culture is great, although the last chapter (on dancehall) is a bit pointless since he doesn't really engage with it and just has a load of older musicians complaining about the lack of skill involved.

Oh, and if you get half a chance of seeing a soundsystem play then take it. It's a totally different experience from listening to the records at home, and it's the way a lot of them were originally intended to be heard ie played very loudly with lots of bass on something that looks like this: http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i221/dubgabriel/speakers0fi.jpg

[RandomLogic]

For ska I'd go with:

Real Big Fish,
Skankin Pickle
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Less Than Jake (arguably more punk than ska)

[SilentNight]

I don't know much ska but as far as reggae goes I'm Quite a fan of Groundation and Lucky Dube.

Groundation is a roots band with some great grooves here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfErMuivqn0) and here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rCwTeG9020&feature=related)

Lucky Dube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khGXgvCZfJk) is softer. More in line with the Wailers. He did a lot of anti-aparthied stuff in South Africa. Sadly, he is no longer with us. :smallfrown:

[The Extinguisher]

IllScarlett. They're a nice mix of Reggae, Ska and Punk.

[CannibalHymn]

I would avoid all nineties ska-punk, but I'm an elitist.

Jorkens has most of first wave ska and reggae pretty well handled. Two-tone ska had a few good bands (The Specials and the Beat/The English Beat, namely), and some earlier punk bands made great use of reggae and ska (The Clash, and the Bad Brains, although I don't care for the latter). Most of modern reggae and ska is either corny, nasal-voiced psuedo-punk pop with cheesy humor that doesn't work or mediocre dance music with a Jamaican guy going on homophobic rants for vocals. So I'd stick to the older stuff. Then again, I'm an elitist.

[Amotis]

Thanks Jorkens, great list, will listen through it asap.

[Sewer_Bandito]

I haven't heard of half these bands, so I'll definately check them out as I love both of these genres. I'm more into ska/punk myself. Bands like
Reel Big Fish
Goldfinger (definately more punk than ska)
Streetlight Manifesto
Suburban Legends (neat blend of disco and ska)
Slightly Stoopid (fantastic reggae/acoustic/sometimes folk stuff, I recommend them more than any other band on this list)
Bedouin Soundclash (one of the most unique vocalists I've ever heard, kind of reggae/pop sound)
UB40
Pepper
Mighty Mighty BossTones
311

[CannibalHymn]

You should check out Twelve Cents for Marvin.

Not my thing, but good as far as ska/punk goes. Their guitarist is an all right guy.

[Jimp]

Aside from what has already been said, I recommend I Voted For Kodos. They're not very big, but are a great ska band.

[Gaelbert]

Wow. That's a big list. Thanks a bunch. I've checked out most of the Trojan Box Sets, so that has taken up most of my research and listening time, but I'll remark on what I've listened to so far:

Peter Tosh. Wasn't too impressed. Then again, the only song I listened to was "Legalize It."
Toots and the Maytals. Good.
Skatalites. They were already on my list, but I still haven't gotten around to them.
Prince Buster. I've heard about him as a sound man, but I wasn't aware he was a musician as well.
UD 40. Real good.
Goldfinger. I've always loved their cover of "Ninety Nine Red Balloons," but I haven't heard their other stuff.

I'm hearing a lot of songs that I've heard before, but never knew what the name was or who they were by. And if I haven't mentioned your suggestion, I'll get to it when I have time. Homework and soccer are conspiring to kill my free time.
Also, I hate to ask this, but what about reggaeton? Anyone know some good ones of those?

[Ethdred]

Great list there Jorkens, and I really agree about those Trojan box sets - I've got a few and they have really broadened my horizons. You won't like every track (probably) but there's some great stuff that I would never have listened to otherwise. I also recommend getting as much Two-Tone as you can - it is _all_ good. As well as The Specials and The Beat, check out Madness and The Selector - Pauline Black is a great front woman. Soundtrack to my youth!

Leaving aside the ska/punk thing, for modern stuff there's a great band called The Big - www.thebig.org. Really good ska, with humour (and lots of swearing). And foxy sax players :) They've just got a new CD out which you can order from their website (and I think there's some downloads to check out there)

[Sewer_Bandito]

I just came across another excellent reggae band yesterday, the expendables.

Unfortunately I couldn't come across a better recording than this, but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOEdNLPPKdg

Edit: I just found a better one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_MSVALPhro&feature=related