The Skatalites – The Skatalite!
welcome back to the Skaject folks! today we’re looking at The Skatalite! a 1969 record by the Skatalites –
The Skatalite! opens with Yard Broom – an extremely fun lil track with some sublime grooves to it. huge fan of this one. Carry-Go-Bring-Come, which features Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, is a charming lil track. v nice. Twelve Minutes to Go definitely goes places. Magic’s a sax and trumpet heavy track – what a good time. Strolling In is more pleasant grooving, just a lot more sax on display here. Dan-De-Lion’s nice, a feels a lil transitional – it’s mellow and doesn’t jump out a ton on it’s own. Apanga brings some really cool guitar in to open, but kinda loses me in the middle. Eastern Standard Time’s another laid back track – that main hook has that bittersweet kinda feel to it. nice time. Rough & Tough features Stranger Cole, who provides some very nice vocal performance on top of a track that’s dang pleasant, but i like the solo sections a lot less than the verses here, ngl. Musical Store Room kinda does bring out that music room feel, in that i can kinda feel the full band participation in a way that feels real band-practice kinda way, haha. When You Call My Name brings back Stranger Cole and brings in Patsy Todd for the full Stranger & Patsy experience – this is a nice lil back-and-forth track. closing things out is River Bank – another instrumental track, and a very nice way to wrap the bow up on the record.
faves – Yard Broom, Twelve Minutes to Go.
dislikes –
it feels like a disservice that i don’t have more to say about this record. there is some fantastic early ska on display here, some real jazzy stuff, but man do i not feel equipped to say more than “brass good”, yknow?
still, i will say that this was an extremely pleasant listen – i had this on loop for most of a few days and it was fantastic soundtrack to my days. not a ton here leapt out and is going to like, dominate future listening patterns, but i really did enjoy this one.
The Skatalite – 7/10
next up we’re gonna be checking out another Prince Buster record from 1969, The Outlaw!
previous: Scandal In a Brixton Market | next: The Outlaw
previous Skatalites record: Ska Authentic | next: Return of the Big Guns
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