Byron Lee and the Dragonaires – Dance the Ska
welcome back to the Skaject folks! today we’re looking at another Byron Lee and the Dragonaires album, this time it’s Dance the Ska.
alrighty Dance the Ska kicks off with Fat Back, and instrumental track that sounds GREAT – it looks like this is a cover of Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria, and dang it sounds excellent. the incredibly smooth Watermelon Man follows, this one a cover of the Herbie Hancock track. i like this one too but not quite as much tbh. Monty Morris features on Oil In My Lamp, another very pleasant track – the group vocals are fun and the beat on this one’s infectious for real. I Won’t Let You Go brings back another collaborator from the previous album with Keith & Ken, and damn this track is smooth as fucking butter, hell yeah. i’m less excited by Wings Of a Dove, which features the Blues Busters. Dumplins closes out the A side – from some prior singles listening i know this one was a pretty big Byron Lee & the Dragonaires hit. this one’s a little unassuming at first but it def grows on you, especially as it starts layering each element of the track together. it’s a real fun track. Ska De Wah opens the B side of the record and yknow this one is extremely chill. v good vibes for this. You’re the One is just aight. Behold has ths Blues Brothers come back for vocals, and this one’s a real nice ballad. Frankenstein Ska is just great. fantastic instrumental track. Rough & Tough is the final Keith & Ken track on the record, and i’m kinda middlin on it. Joy Ride is a real jazzy closer, with sax hanging out front and center for the bulk of the track.
faves – Fat Back, I Won’t Let You Go, Dumplins, Frankenstein Ska
dislikes –
yeah yknow what i know a lot of these records end up just being collections of singles, so it varies a bit whatever gets collected in a record based on label and release, but damn this one had a lot of hits on it. i really enjoyed the really high-energy big band style – i can tell this is the type of ska that bands like Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra were listening to and getting a ton of inspiration from, haha.
but yeah big ups on this release.
Dance the Ska – 7/10
next up we’re gonna check out a Prince Buster record, National Ska: Pain In My Belly.
previous: Plays Jamaica Ska | next: National Ska: Pain In My Belly
previous Byron Lee record: Plays Jamaica Ska | this is the last Byron Lee record we’ll look at as part of the main skaject
Discussion ¬