Goodwill to all Mannings

Mannings - Christmas is a Rich Man's Dream

Hearing Dubversion’s dancehall xmas tune reminded me that I should have brought this little beauty along. An obscure gem from the mid 80s – “dour” fails to do it justice.

A little research on the all-new retina-destroying Blood & Fire board shows that very few people know anything about this – with hardcore soundmen like Russ D and The Rootsman being the only ones so far able to help me with my quest*. Apparently Metrosound was the label of Peter Metro and they did a few tunes, including an album by the bizarrely named “Sword of Jah Mouth”.

This is one of those tunes which would be better if it didn’t have “Christmas” in the title so you could play it all year round (because obviously Slade wishing it was xmas “everyday” is hellish, though I suppose it would guarantee them gargantuan royalties).

Tough rootical business with minor chordage fitting firmly into the Shaka vibe.

“Christmas is a Rich Man’s Treat
While it is a Poor Man’s Dream […]”

“Christmas is a comfort to the Rich Man
But no food on the table in the ghetto […]”

“Christmas is a promise that never come”

It’s about as far from Christmas cheer as you can get really. I mean you’re allowed a bit of thinking about the poor in your festive tunes, but not this little lot:

“Children pulling bottles from rubbish heaps”

“[…] Bellies Slit”

“Slave ships”

Fair made me lose interest in my mince pies!

* (i.e. “Look at me! I’ve got a record which is really rare! That means I’m either as cool as the people I mention above, or I’m just a buffoon who struck it really lucky one day in a 2nd hand furniture shop!”)

Steppin inna Brixton

Me? On the decks... with MY reputation?

A thunderous night out in Brixton town on Saturday night. A big bag o’tunes and Andy from Harold Hill accompanied me over the river in the pissing rain.

Unsound is seriously alright, though. Everyone knew what they were doing, from the people on the door to the sound engineers, to the visuals crew. The night has been going for ages and I think it shows in a good way – everyone was really professional and relaxed, there was no attitude from anyone all night.

Dubversion was his usual hospitable self, taking time out from an excellent warm up set to introduce us to people, show me how the knobs worked and generally catch up.

The place was completely empty when we got there and completely rammed when we left. Our job was essentially to soundtrack people’s arrival. Dubversion reckons he’s a blagger and “Not A DJ”, but he certainly knows his tunes and he knows his crowd too. Nice selection which had me deck hanging watching the labels spin round in an attempt to see what was playing…

…which included: Honest Jon’s new nyabinghi comp, a nice version excursion on the “Diseases” riddim and Carlene Davis & Trinity’s “Santa Claus – do you ever come to the ghetto?” off a completely stoopid-looking Christmas dancehall compilation. And some other great tunes which I shall not reveal here (go and see him play instead! Give him sacks of money to come and play in your town! Get me and Paul Meme along as well! Session!).

Brixton bwoy Ed Blogistan showed up at some point also. I was quite pissed by that stage. There was a stash of bottled beer for us blaggers, but not bottle opener. The correct technique was to wedge the lid up against a table and bash your hand down on it. Which means my enduring image of the night will be Dubversion himself shaking one aching hand, whilst the other shoves a bottle in his mouth so the froth doesn’t spray all over the place. Style, Style… Style and Fashun, mate. 😉

Anyway I got mashed up, played some 80s dancehall, “Storm” riddim, “Sleng teng”, “Big Up”, “Pepperseed”, some sevens, some cockney chat bizness, some cheesy covers of old pop tunes, etc. Only made two fuck ups (which is of course all I could think of afterwards – as if anyone else cared!) and all the mixes seemed to go alright on the night. Slightly alarmed to discover afterwards that the visuals included a camera set on the decks, so presumably everyone got a good sight of me fumbling spackily around with my records! There is also (gulp) photographic evidence lurking about somewhere…

Comrade Version did a quick half hour after my set to move things up a gear. Which was fucking brilliant, in fact. I’ve had a go at him before about being on ye olde crusty techno tip, but this stuff was a great selection of energetic jump up hip hop, “dance” crossovers with reggae, insane bootleg business, and on and on… He’s not a DJ, he’s a Selector, innit.

Seemed pretty clear that everyone in the place was well up for getting very messy and it would all continue to get mental ‘til the early hours of the morning, but being sad cases with things to do the next day, we made our apologies and left about 1:00am.

Next one is NYE – they’ve got Nicky Blackmarket on! It’s going to go right off!