I know we’re all supposed to be uber cool in the blogging community, name checking obscure 80s electropop b-sides and holding forth about what’s on the pirates. But…

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I do not hate the reggae version of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”.

I mean, yes, obviously I hate the very idea of post-Syd Floyd, with all their coke-addled indulgence and middle-class-guilt and muso-ness and all that. (innit).

Which is probably why I have studiously ignored them, apart from listening to “The Wall” about twice (love the cartoony bits in the film by Gerald Scarfe as well) and “Moon” I think I have heard about once in my life.

So when a mate at work bunged me a copy of the reggae CD, I put off listening to it for ages. But it’s… alright, actually. Frankie Paul’s on it, nice production (on the clean side, but not sterile), some nice sound effects (not dubby enough, but OK).

It’s interesting that reggae-heads who seem to like it are the ones who have little conception of the original LP. Possibly because die-hard Floyd fans aren’t usually die-hard dub fans, which means some people are trying to escape from their hippy pasts…

What’s confounding is that it’s a godawful idea, that shouldn’t work, that it should be easy to slag off… but y’know, it’s worth checking. Definitely make a good present for someone’s stoner mate who is into Pink Floyd and likes the idea of dub…