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The Sound of '69
Crazy Baldhead
(Self Released, 2008)
The chances are that if you know anything of Crazy Baldhead it’s most likely the cover of ‘A Boy Named Sue’ that’s been aired on the BBC Radio 1 Punk Show consistently for the past six months or so. Here’s the cheat-sheet then: the ‘collective’, for it’s not quite a band, is a low key offshoot project spearheaded by “Agent” Jay Nugent, guitarist for The Slackers. Nugent has flicked through his rolladex and facilitated the coming together of a varying series of musicians in the name of reggae music. Think Suicide Bid only more NYC, more global and more Jamaican sounding. ‘The Sound of ’69’ is a second offering following 2004’s ‘Crazy Baldhead Has a Posse’.
To sum up the intentions of this album let’s turn to the liner notes (completed by Barry ‘Scratchy’ Myers, former DJ for The Clash): “Part of the discovery [into the roots of reggae music] was the Jamaican tendency to plunder the U.S. songbook, rarely giving credit to the original.” Essentially this is what ‘The Sound of ’69’ is, although the music plundered veers more towards the U.K. and is clearly referenced to the original, all nice and legal. Covered here are 11 tracks originally released in 1969 from artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Santana and Led Zeppelin. Each track includes a different singer; it’s a compendium of universal ska/reggae luminaries, from NYC legend King Django to Brazilian Felipe Machado (Firebug), picking up a few Slackers, Pietasters and Toasters along the way.
It’s an intriguing mission statement that for the most part comes off successfully if not a little self-indulgent at times. Highlights of the record are ‘Pale Blue Eyes’, a cover of The Velvet Underground featuring Slackers frontman Vic Ruggiero (in honesty this is so close to being an actual Slackers track), Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Choice of Colors’ with Alex Desert (Hepcat) on vocals, that escalates into a full on dub revision, and that oft-played Johnny Cash cover. El Husey’s (The Rudie Crew) vocals are so laidback, and snot-nosed that something a little special is really added to the original. It’s all offered in a Skinhead reggae manner laced with rock steady that completely changes the focus and style of the original versions. This is no sixties prog-rock, chart-pop outing.
With such an array of vocalists it’s often the case that this doesn’t quite feel like one complete donation, rather a series of individual offerings. To be honest, it can be argued that this is how it’s supposed to feel. The core musicians involved create enough of an identity for this to work which means each individual vocalist is merely a doffing of the cap, a choice example in distinctiveness. There’s the sense that the catalogue raided is one of personal preference rather than any need to achieve recognition with an audience (there are surely more obvious selections that could have been made).
This may not be essential material but it’s definitely an interesting little commodity. If you’re the sort of person that likes to delve deep into the rarities of the Trojan Box Sets, or if you’re intrigued by unique cover versions (not the by-the-numbers dregs of ‘Punk Goes...’, then this is the record for you. That’s not to say the casual bystander won’t gain enjoyment from it. After all how often is it you get to witness the doom and gloom of The Doors merried up with sun-soaked Caribbean flavour? ‘The Sound of ’69’ is at the very least a novel album in that respect.
SkaMutiny Rating: 3/5
Al
