Haile Selassie Video for Reggae Lunch Lovers

I love this one. Check it out.

Lambsbread's Origins in "Death"

Great story in the New York Times about Bobby & Dannis Hackney, leading members of the Vermont reggae band Lambsbread that listeners of the Reggae Lunch are very familiar with.

This very interesting story talks about their musical roots in Detroit and speculates on an interesting future.

There is a link to a song there that is an excellent cut from their 1974 band, Death.

From http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/music/15rubi.html?ref=music

March 15, 2009
This Band Was Punk Before Punk Was Punk

By MIKE RUBIN
Winooski, Vt.

ON an evening in late February at a club here called the Monkey House, there was a family reunion of sorts. As the band Rough Francis roared through a set of anthemic punk rock, Bobby Hackney leaned against the bar and beamed. Three of his sons — Bobby Jr., Julian and Urian — are in Rough Francis, but his smile wasn’t just about parental pride. It was about authorship too. Most of the songs Rough Francis played were written by Bobby Sr. and his brothers David and Dannis during their days in the mid-1970s as a Detroit power trio called Death.

The group’s music has been almost completely unheard since the band stopped performing more than three decades ago. But after all the years of silence, Death’s moment has finally arrived. It comes, however, nearly a decade too late for its founder and leader, David Hackney, who died of lung cancer in 2000. “David was convinced more than any of us that we were doing something totally revolutionary,” said Bobby Sr., 52.

Forgotten except by the most fervent punk rock record collectors — the band’s self-released 1976 single recently traded hands for the equivalent of $800 — Death would likely have remained lost in obscurity if not for the discovery last year of a 1974 demo tape in Bobby Sr.’s attic. Released last month by Drag City Records as “... For the Whole World to See,” Death’s newly unearthed recordings reveal a remarkable missing link between the high-energy hard rock of Detroit bands like the Stooges and MC5 from the late 1960s and early ’70s and the high-velocity assault of punk from its breakthrough years of 1976 and ’77. Death’s songs “Politicians in My Eyes,” “Keep On Knocking” and “Freakin Out” are scorching blasts of feral ur-punk, making the brothers unwitting artistic kin to their punk-pioneer contemporaries the Ramones, in New York; Rocket From the Tombs, in Cleveland; and the Saints, in Brisbane, Australia. They also preceded Bad Brains, the most celebrated African-American punk band, by almost five years.

Jack White of the White Stripes, who was raised in Detroit, said in an e-mail message: “The first time the stereo played ‘Politicians in My Eyes,’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When I was told the history of the band and what year they recorded this music, it just didn’t make sense. Ahead of punk, and ahead of their time.”

The teenage Hackney brothers started playing R&B in their parents’ garage in the early ’70s but switched to hard rock in 1973, after seeing an Alice Cooper show. Dannis played drums, Bobby played bass and sang, and David wrote the songs and contributed propulsive guitar work, derived from studying Pete Townshend’s power-chord wrist technique. Their musicianship tightened when their mother allowed them to replace their bedroom furniture with mikes and amps as long as they practiced for three hours every afternoon. “From 3 to 6,” said Dannis, 54, “we just blew up the neighborhood.”

Death began playing at cabarets and garage parties on Detroit’s predominantly African-American east side, but were met with reactions ranging from confusion to derision. “We were ridiculed because at the time everybody in our community was listening to the Philadelphia sound, Earth, Wind & Fire, the Isley Brothers,” Bobby said. “People thought we were doing some weird stuff. We were pretty aggressive about playing rock ’n’ roll because there were so many voices around us trying to get us to abandon it.”

When the band was ready to record, David chose a studio by pinning the Yellow Pages listings to the wall and throwing a dart; it landed on Groovesville Productions, a company owned by Don Davis, a successful producer for Stax Records. Groovesville signed the band, and in 1974 it began work at United Sound Recording Studios in Detroit, where it shared space with Funkadelic, the Dramatics and Gladys Knight. At the time David was 21, Dannis was 19 and Bobby, still a student at Southeastern High School, was 17.

“They were just so impressive, and the sound was just so big for three guys,” said Brian Spears, who was director of publishing at Groovesville and oversaw their sessions. “I knew those kids were great, but trying to break a black group into rock ’n’ roll was just tough during that time.”

The apparent nihilism of the name Death was also out of step with the times. “Nobody could get past the name,” Mr. Spears said. “It seemed to be a real detriment. When you said the name of the group to anybody, it was like, ‘Man, why you calling the group Death?’ ”

The Hackneys said Mr. Davis brought a tape of Death to a meeting in New York with the record executive Clive Davis. Afterward Don Davis told the brothers that Clive Davis had liked the recordings but not the band’s name; there could be no deal unless they changed it. “That’s when my brother David got a little angry,” Dannis said. “He told Don Davis to tell Clive Davis, ‘Hell no!’ ”

Part of the reason David refused was because he was writing a rock opera about death that portrayed it in a positive light, Bobby Sr. said. “He strongly believed that we could get a contract with another record label,” he added. “We were young and cocky, but David was the cockiest of us all.”

That defiance has become central to Death’s underground legend: what could be more punk rock than telling the suits to take a hike in the name of artistic integrity, even if punk didn’t quite exist yet? But separating fact from lore is tricky after three decades. The Hackneys remember Clive Davis’s label affiliation as Columbia Records, but Don Davis — who initially didn’t recall working with a band called Death — said in a phone interview that Clive Davis was with Arista Records, although he couldn’t remember the specifics of the meeting and if the group’s name was an issue. A spokeswoman for Clive Davis said he had no recollection of the group or of any meeting concerning it.

Death and Groovesville parted ways in 1976. Don Davis produced two No. 1 hits that year, one of which was Johnnie Taylor’s “Disco Lady.” The Hackneys, meanwhile, pressed 500 copies of “Politicians in My Eyes,” backed with “Keep On Knocking,” on their own Tryangle label but found it nearly impossible to get radio play in Detroit. Disco had begun to dominate the marketplace — thanks in part to “Disco Lady” — and control of radio playlists was shifting from local disc jockeys to corporate consultants. Bobby said 1976 “was really a tough year for us,” citing “the disco ebb tide” with particular chagrin. “We just figured nobody wanted to hear rock ’n’ roll anymore.”

As their disenchantment grew, the brothers were invited by a distant relative to visit Vermont. “So we came up here to clear our heads for a couple of weeks,” Bobby said with a laugh. “That was like 30-something years ago.”

“We’re still clearing our heads,” Dannis said.

Settling in Burlington, the brothers released two albums of gospel rock as the 4th Movement in the early 1980s. David became increasingly homesick and moved back to Detroit in 1982, continuing to make music until his death. In 1983 Bobby and Dannis formed a reggae band, Lambsbread, which became a familiar presence during Vermont’s late-1980s jam-band boom; eight albums later Lambsbread is still active on the New England college circuit. The two brothers bought a house together east of Burlington in Jericho, built their own recording studio there and raised families. Bobby Sr. and Dannis each have five children.

Bobby’s children were crucial to Death’s resurrection. The Hackneys had never shared the details of their Death experience with their kids. “We had moved on in our lives and thought that chapter was over because we went through so much rejection with that music,” Bobby said. “We just didn’t want to relive it, and I especially didn’t want to relive it again with my children.”

But last year Julian heard the Tryangle single at a party in San Francisco and recognized his father’s voice. Soon after, Bobby Jr. did a Google search that revealed the Holy Grail status of the band’s only release. This news astounded Bobby Sr., who dug the master tapes out of storage last May for the first time in three decades and sat down with Dannis for a listen. The music “literally took our breath away,” Bobby Sr. said.

“We looked at each other, and we said: ‘This is truly some of the best rock ’n’ roll we ever heard. Wow, David was right.’ David knew it, and always believed it, much more than we did.”

Bobby Sr.’s sons were equally impressed. Bobby Jr., a veteran of several Burlington hardcore bands, formed Rough Francis with two brothers and two friends to play Death’s music as a tribute to his family. (The band’s moniker comes from his Uncle David’s nickname.)

“We were just trying to find ways to inform people” about Death’s music, Bobby Jr. said. “When I first heard it, I thought: ‘This can’t be real. People have to know about this. This is crazy!’ I felt like I had found Jimmy Hoffa or something.”

The young Hackneys weren’t the only Death enthusiasts. In August 2007 a record collector named Robert Cole Manis, having heard “Keep On Knocking” on a 2001 bootleg compilation of obscure punk singles, found a copy of the Tryangle single on eBay and acquired it for $400 and $400 worth of rare records.

“It was true love when I first heard it,” Mr. Manis said. “I think the record is just phenomenal. It’s timeless. It’s an amazing document.”

While surfing the Internet last summer, Mr. Manis saw a posting from a friend of Bobby Jr.’s on a punk message board announcing the rediscovery of the Death tapes. Mr. Manis excitedly tracked down the Hackneys in Vermont and helped put them in touch with the Chicago indie label Drag City, which he had worked with on a previous reissue project.

The music is an “undeniable combination of classic and punk rock elements,” said Rian Murphy, a spokesman for Drag City. “You can put the needle down on that record in any given place and just be completely transported.”

The Hackneys and Drag City are discussing reissuing the 4th Movement records too, and Bobby Sr. and Dannis are considering playing some live shows as Death, with the Lambsbread guitarist Bobbie Duncan taking over on guitar.

Death’s newfound acclaim has surprised the Hackneys but, Bobby Sr. said, David had predicted that Death would find fame one day. “David came to me right before he died, and he had some master tapes of ours,” he said. “I jokingly said to him, ‘David, I have enough of our stuff, man, I’m running out of room.’ And he said, ‘Bob, you’ve got to keep all this stuff, the world’s going to come looking for it one day, and when the world comes looking for it, I’ll know that you’ll have it.

“You can only imagine the emotions that I go through in my quiet moments when I reflect on that.”

1987-08-19 Vermont Reggae Fest Review 1987

A month after the 1987 Vermont Reggae Fest I took an opportunity to review the music. The original sound board tapes were pretty overmodulated, but this features some VHS hi-fi tapes that I had found that belongd to Rob Cooper. Thanks to him for loaning them to me.

Music included: Cleon Douglas, Dub Syndicate, One People, Jah Cutta & Determination, Afrikan Roots, Lambsbread, but the Meditations were rained out.

Click to listen, right click to download:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890819vrfreview.mp3

1989-08-16 Channel Two Dub Band

Greg Matses of Channel Two

This show featured the set by the Channel Two Dub Band at the recent Vermont Reggae Fest. I do the news and then the show starts.

We hear some dub sides from some recent 7" records from Jamaica, then some Macka B before swinging into the entire Channel Two Dub Band set. Big respect to the Channel Two posse.

Click to listen, right click to download:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890816channeltwodub.mp3

1989-08-09 The Effect

The program contained the set by the Effect at the latest Vermont Reggae Fest. Other reggae sings are splattered around it.

Other artists featured included: the Mad Professor, Macka B, and also some snippets from the opening of the festival, which is actually me reading a traditional Rasta prayer.

Click to listen, right click to download:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890809theeffect.mp3

1989-08-02 Reggae Fest Review

Over 20,000 people jammed North beach in Burlington on the previous Saturday, and I took the opportunity to share sound board tapes from all of the bands who were there.

The Effect, Channel Two Dub Band, Opaline Steel Band, Sundog, One People, Bop (Harvey), Lambsbread, Killer Bees, Paton Banton, Mighty Diamonds. Great to remember those excellent times!

Make sure to get both parts, click to listen, right click to download:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890802reggaefestreview1.mp3
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890802reggaefestreview2.mp3

1989-07-26 Preview of Vermont Reggae Fest #4

Lots of announcements and preparatory information for the fourth VRF. Music from each band, review of the schedule, parking and other elements.

Music included a preview of all at the VRF that year: The Effect, Channel Two Dub Band, Opaline Steel Band, Sundog, One People, Bop (Harvey), Lambsbread, Killer Bees, Paton Banton, Mighty Diamonds and a lot more.

Click to listen, right click to download:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890726vrf%234.mp3

1989-07-21 Bubblin Pot

I sat in on Kevin's show on Friday night, "Bubblin Pot," and I had a great time. I brought a big stack of new records I brought back from Jamaica, and now was a good time to play them. Lots of fun and appreciation as we do reggae in a seven inch record style. Think how much we lost when they killed King Tubby. Hello Plattsburgh! Greetings to Doctor Wenty down at Bamboolawn in Jamaica! Pardon for some occasional slackness.

Music included: Junior Reid, Lady Gee, Junior Spice, Papa San & Lady Gee, Tiptam Crew, Culture Rap, Thriller U, Super Cat, Screwdriver, Barrington Levy & Half Pint, Jimmy Riley, Papa San, Hopeton James, Super Rye, Gregory Isaacs, Paul McCraid, Sanchez, Coco Tea, Jammy's Posse, Tiptam Crew, Pliers, Johnny P, Half Pint, Admiral Bailey, Pinchers, Wicker Man, Hopeton Lindo, Peter Metro and a lot more.

Right click to download, click to hear right away (get both parts):
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890721bubblin_pot1.mp3
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890721bubblin_pot2.mp3

1989-07-19 Masters of the Universe

Hour of the Wolf News gets it all going, interesting to hear discussions about the Soviet Union. Reggae sounds good with some voice clips dropped in, and there are some examples here. Of course, wouldn't yopu know that Lee "Scratch" Perry would do that sort of thing. Lots of new records in and a lot more than that. Lots mof fun being had in the studio today. Thanks to Bobby and Sean for making it nice.

Artists include: Lee Perry, Mighty Diamonds, Pato Banton, Mad Professor, Macka B, Dub Syndicate, Toussaint Webb, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Yellowman, and a lot more.

Right click to download, click to listen right away:
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890719_master_of_the_universe.mp3

1989-07-12 Vermont Reggae Fest Preview

Getting excited about the 1989 Vermont Reggae Festival, I took a day to preview the artists and features that were coming.

A good conversation with Bobby Hackney of Lambsbread about how people get booked and the process through which it happens. Pato Banton (UK) starts us off, with his My Opinion part 2, Mighty Diamonds (JA), Killer Bees (TX), Lambsbread (VT), Bop (Harvey) (DC), One People (MA), Sundog (VT), Opaline Steel Band (VT), Channel Two Dub Band (VT), and the Effect (VT). We hear from all these groups in this show.

Right click to download, click to listen right away (get both parts):
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890712reggaefestpreview1.mp3
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890712reggaefestpreview2.mp3

1989-07-05 From Yard

I have just returned from Jamaica and the western USA. I brought some records back, played them and had a lot of fun. Lots of phone calls welcome me back after a five week absence. Includes a look at Tracy Chapman's influence in Jamaica. Hello to Dr. Wenty.

Music included: Johnnie P, Howie Smart, Junie Ranks, Lady G & Papa San, Sunshine Day, Foxy Brown, Sanchez, Paul McCrade, Coco Tea, Lady G, Culture Rap, King Tubby Lament, Pliers, Junior Reid, Steel Pulse, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley & the Wailers and a lot more.

Get the files at (get both files)
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890705fromyard1.mp3
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890705fromyard2.mp3

1989-05-24 Jamaica

I read the news this week as Steve Dolley is away. Thankful for this little small island, the "stone that the builder refused" that has produced so much awesome music. More touting of the Vermont Reggae Fest entertainment to come.

Artists include: Brigadier Jerry, Killer Bees, Dr. Pablo & the Dub Syndicate, Sound Iration, Yellowman, Steel Pulse, Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Ansell Collins and a lot more.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890524jamaica.mp3

1989-05-17 Sallie Digital

Hour of the Wolf News leads us off. Some announcements about potential artists at the 1989 Vermont Reggae Festival. We heard some of them. Some requests from Sallie Chafer on the line. I got to play a lot of re-released music from the 1970's.

Artists included: Dub Syndicate, Bunny Wailer, Killer Bees, Identity, Lambsbread, Pato Banton, Abyssinians, Chalawah, Nora Dean, Dandy Livingston, Toots & the Maytals, Lord Creator, I-Roy, and a lot more.

Down the files at (get both files)
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890517salliedigital1.mp3
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890517salliedigital2.mp3

1989-03-01 Time Will Tell

We get the hear a small bit of Kathy Biscardi doing the first half of the Reggae Lunch, plus the Hour of the Wolf News. It was awesome that Roger Steffens left us with a special gift, a rehearsal tape of Bob Marley & the Wailers from 1978. Very sweet. It starts about 60 minutes in.

Music included: Peter Tosh, Lee Scratch Perry, Toots & the Maytals, Rhythm Rulers, Justin Hinds & the Dominos, Prince Buster, Dub Syndicate, Macka B, Sandra Cross, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Andrew Tosh, 1978 rehearsal tape of Bob Marley & the Wailers playing Time Will Tell, and a lot more.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890301time_will_tell.mp3

1989-02-22 Roger Again

The Hour of the Wolf News is on the rampage again. Lots of Reggae events, and Roger Steffens (above) is in town with his Bob Marley Tribute lecture and video series, plus Reggae Dance Party at Border.

Music includes: African Head Charge, Jus Cee, Rhythm Rulers, Dennis Walks, Bob Marley & the Wailers, played some of the Roger Steffens interview from 1988, Live Wya, Sister Audrey, Aisha, Ziggy Marley, Peter Tosh, Andrew Tosh and a lot more.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890222rogeragain.mp3

1989-02-15 Covers

This LP is not on this show, but was funny.

A look into non-Reggae songs that have been redone in the island genre. Lots of fun here, as some of them are serious covers, some are humorous, some are instrumentals and the like.

Music included Reggae covers of songs like: Show & Tell, Sexual Healing, Some Guys Have All the Luck, My World is Empty Without You, Blackbird, What's New Pussycat, Louie-Louie, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Obla-Di Obla-Da, World is Black & White, Games People Play, I'll Be There, What's Goin On, Whiter Shade of Pale, Hip Hugger, Billie Jean, Ticket to Ride, Peter Gunn Theme, Pink Panther Theme, These Eyes, and gthn our closing number from Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890215covers.mp3

1989-02-01 Well Laid On

The title comes from the news story that Delaware had finally eliminated "whipping" as a criminal punishment. The law had specified that the lashes had to be "well laid on." Well, this was an inspiration for some musical snaps of the whip. The fist part of the show had some of the best tightly wound roots I know of in the 1960-70's style.

Music included: featuring three new releses by Trojan Records, two from the "Producers" series featuring Harry Mudie and Leslie Kong and the third being a three record set called "Tighten up," Clancy Eccles, Derrick Morgan, Dandy, David Issacs, Upsetters, Untouchables, Lloyd & Claudette, Kingstonians, King Stitt, followed by Sandra Cross, Count Ossie, Lambsbread, Bob Mafrley & the Wailers and a lot more.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890201well_laid_on.mp3

1989-01-18 Clown Talking

Another complete "Hour of the Wolf News," a nice station ID by Jeff Cooper, and then the music. The title has to do with the excellent song by Ini Kamoze and the obvious reference to the election, where one clown gets replaced by another. Tell me about it, it is sad to look back from summer 2008 and see the same stuff then.

Music included: Blue Riddim Band, Dub Syndicate, Bim Sherman, Culture, Singers & Players, Bonjo Iyahbinghi Noah, Prince Fari, Ini Kamoze, Bob Marley & the Wailers, African Head Charge, Elektro-Reggae, Junior Murvin, Kofi, Carlene Davis, Marcia Griffiths, Krystal, Studio One Band, the Maytals and a lot more.


Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl890118clowntalking.mp3

1988-11-02 Comet in the Sky

It was great to get a complete set of the "Hour of the Wolf News" for this week. Steve Dolley always did a great job on this. Gotta have those morning farm prices. A nice mix of songs featuring some great female artists. The new release by Sandra Cross gives this show its title.

Music included: Gwen Guthrie, Junie Ranks, Sister Charmain, Sister P, Maxi Priest, Sandra Cross, Sugar Minott & JC Lodge, Ghetto Dub, Lambsbread live at Vermont Reggae Fest 1988, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Dub Syndicate, and a lot more.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl881102cometinthesky.mp3

1988-09-07 Slice of Life

Beyonce and a roots outfit

Just a few slices of the passing parade of Reggae music scene dealt out on this September afternoon. Good to have Steve Dolley back with the "Hour of the Wolf News." Lots of fun as the school year cranks up once again.

Music included: Mad Professor, Macka B, the Robotiks, Yellowman, Studio One Band, Roland Alphonso, Prince Buster, Ruben Alexander, Roots Dub Band, Dub Store Special, Jackie Mittoo, Studio One All-Stars, Sons of Arqa, Bob Marley & the Wailers, and a lot more.

Get the file at
http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/rl880907sliceoflife.mp3