England Story - YT

Record of the month, despite intense competition from a flood of new 7" material on the Taxi label, has to be England Story from home-grown United Kingdom DJ, YT. Available from specialist reggae shops on white label only, you'll need to leave the house right now to secure this one.

England Story is a heartfelt and long overdue musical tribute to such great Eighties UK sound systems as Saxon, Coxsone, Unity, Volcano, Taurus, Jah Shaka, and to much-loved DJs of the era such as Top Cat, Tippa Irie, Macca B, Tenor Fly, Prento Youth and many more. Delivered in fiery and passionate style, YT even breaks into a burst of fast-style DJ chat towards the end in tribute to such fast-style anthems of the day as Papa Levi's Mi God Mi King.

Delivered over the blistering Eighty Five rhythm, England Story is every bit the equal of Baby Cham's Ghetto Story, the rhythm's prime cut. As an extra bonus, the flip features the same lyric against the Sleng Teng rhythm in appropriate Eighties foundation style.

Oh yes, and it might surprise you to know that YT, AKA Mark Hull, is white and from the sleepy East Anglian backwater of Ipswich. Believe me, you would never guess this from the record.

For another recent musical name check, this time of Jamaican greats from yesteryear, try Marcia Griffith's fine and mellow Back In The Day which came out in 2004 on the Peanut Vendor rhythm. The first lady of Jamaican music sings the praises of King Stitch, U Roy, Big Youth, The Paragons, Dennis Alcapone, Dennis Brown, Count Matchukie and many, many more.

April 2006