This is the third single I ever bought. I’m not proud of that. It’s a repetitive and dull song but forgive me. I was only 10. (more…)

This rollicking tune by a Scouse comedy trio is the second single I ever bought. I’m pleased to say my musical taste has improved since then (I think). (more…)

Here’s how reggae riddims evolve: nine versions of the same rocksteady riddim, from Roy Shirley to Ken Boothe via Big Youth and I-Roy. (more…)

This was probably the first Jamaican tune I ever heard – I was nine when it came out – and this amazing film, apparently, is the first music video to appear on Top of the Pops.
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The Equals were Britain’s first successful multi-racial pop group, and one of the few mixed-race bands in that era. The chart-topping Baby Come Back was their biggest hit. (more…)

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Alton Ellis sings the original rocksteady version of the song that grew into multiple hits for artists from Althea & Donna to Sean Paul, way back in 1967. (more…)

Another rocksteady classic from Studio One. Dawn Penn was only 15 when she recorded this in 1967 – and in her 40s when it became a UK hit (as No, No, No) in 1994. (more…)

This is one of the signature songs of the Rocksteady era – the brief bridging period in the mid-Sixties between the bouncy urgency of Ska and the laid-back drum’n’bass grooves and conscious lyrics of Reggae. (more…)

Jack Sparrow (aka Leonard Dillon of The Ethiopians) puts the rude into rude boy with this ska classic from 1965 with innuendo-laden lyrics. (more…)