What a great idea for a piece - at the Quietus, Bill Brewster plumbs the history of white attempts at reggae.
The goal, though, seems to be to find examples of genuine merit - tasty cod. Thus ruling out many examples of compelling naffness.
But even sticking with pulled-off-well, bit surprised that "Walking in the Moon" doesn't figure.
Or "Hotel California" for that matter...
Or how about the odd skanking breakdowns in the last phase of Rush's "Spirit of the Radio"? First one at 3.49....
And isn't Joe Walsh's "Life Been Good" partially reggae? Check the first verse, from 1.12:
3 comments:
Good point about Rush! By the next album, they had a whole reggae-influenced song, Vital Signs: http://youtu.be/Yh5RSv52g6U. It's OK, but overshadowed by the monster breakbeat on Tom Sawyer on that same album.
The next record, Signals, had several reggae-influenced songs, and even lyrics about "Babylon" and "Zion"!
They had a serious fixation on the Police at the time, I think. And Neil Peart had the chops to pull off a passable impersonation of Stewart Copeland.
definitely trying to do something Caribbean aren't they...
can't remember if the original album mentioned Moebius & Roedelius Rastakraut Pasta, or Faust 'the Sad Skinhead'
also didn't Andy Partridge do a whole dub-influenced side album...
i guess postpunk with reggae element or dub-damaged is an inexhaustible terrain
in the annals of iniquity, of course, is Boomtown Rats's "Banana Republic"
meant to write "original article" (ie the Quietus one) not "original album"...
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