Mighty Ballistics Hi-Power - also known as MB Hi-Power - was a British militant punk/dub band. Not reggae or ska as much as raw folk punk with a heavy dub element. They were very political and put on a great live show.
They only released two EPs in their career. This download includes both as well as some unreleased songs that were recorded live (that I nicked off of YouTube, I'll admit it).
Here Come the Blues (1985)
1 Here Come the Blues
2 4 Million on the Dole
3 No Justice for the Poor
4 Privilege
5 Franco's Fleet Street
6 New Face in Hell
Matchless Triple A EP (1986)
1 Ghost Train
2 Spring Heel Jack
3 Black Gold
Unreleased & Live Tracks
1 Black Gold (alt. version)
2 Woman of Straw
3 Under Pressure
4 Ambulance Chaser
5 Wordamouth
6 Gentlemen & Players
7 Teeth - Skin
I posted Nutty Skanker's first album "Who Am I?" which was a cassette-only release from 1994. I mentioned in that post that they have one other album (this time on CD) but I was never able to find a copy of it. An alert Tone-andWaver named Jean-François had the album and decided to share it with us.
1 Sound System
2 Tribute to Kraftwerk
3 Gospel Skank
4 Life is Too Short
5 Smart Drinks
6 Atomic (Blondie)
7 Definitely Rude
8 Mexicanos
9 Naturally Born Black
10 Billy the Kid
11 Nutty Ragga Mix
12 Quadrophenia
13 Who Am I?
14 Les Cadavres
15 Dogs of War
16 All Right
Very 80s sounding and very mellow. All ten tracks have a ska/reggae sound but each song is slower than the last. I'm a drinker, not a smoker, so I like things a little more hyper but I think you who appreciates the "powerful narcotic marijuana" will enjoy it.
This band was from Switzerland and they do have at least one other release - a 7" which has 2 songs that are not on the album. I do not have the 7" yet but it's in my wantlist. I'm in no hurry to buy it just yet. No hurry at all. Keepin' it mellow.
1 Fast Dogs
2 You'll be With Me
3 Because the Rain is Falling
4 A Bunch of Roses
5 Gagaf (Black Ivy)
6 Frankenstein's Bride
7 Sun, Wind and Music
8 Little Thieves Live Dangerous
9 Security
10 Sometimes
This is being posted by request. It is not very known but there is a copy currently for sale on eBay (possibly the only time it's ever been on eBay) so my guess is that it was requested so people can hear what it sounds like before buying it.
It sounds like slower British mod/ska. The a-side is more rockin' but it has that punky-reggae sound and, no, it is not a cover of Talk Talk's song - this was released three years before theirs. The
b-side is the better of the two if you appreciate mellow punk-reggae with out of place synth.
There were lots of different bands with this same name but I'm not sure if these guys had any other releases.
Incidentally I will be selling my copy on eBay in the next few weeks along with a lot of other stuff.
Also, I have quite a few re-up requests that I plan on getting to next weekend. I apologize ahead of time if I don't get to it but I have a 4-day weekend and not much else to do. So, unless an airplane crashes into my house or I get abducted by aliens or something, next weekend is all about re-ups. I'll post at least one new thing too.
This past year wasn't really a great year for ska as far as the number of releases but there were some great ones. It seems everybody slowed down and, instead of playing ska, they switched it up to reggae. Not that I don't like reggae but there was just too much of it. My list here is mostly reggae-free.
There are some notable exceptions I left off of the list because of
the aforementioned "no reggae" but I want to add that I think King Kong 4
is an incredible band. They put out lots of great music in 2017.
So did Susan Cadogan.
The
veterans The Selecter, Save Ferris, and the Busters also had new releases but I like
to to draw attention to bands you may not know as well as these. You'll
buy their stuff anyway.
And you know how I like it when
bands with older rare music make those releases available. 2017 saw old
material from the Bakesys as well as the first two demos from Napoleon
Solo re-released - available at Jump Up Records. The Napoleon Solo record is limited to 100 copies so you might want to jump on that one.
In 2017 The Kingpins re-released their classic album "Let's Go to Work" entitled "Let's Go Back to Work".
It is a re-imagining of the album which includes some remixes and
alternate versions with some additional previously unreleased tracks.
A
band I posted a lot about over the years was the 80s Swedish band
T-Shirts. They had several EPs and singles and one full-length throughout 1980, 1981, and 1982 and
then they broke up. There was nothing else from them until 2017. They
recorded a 2-track 7" called "To My Love/Legal Rights" and it's actually
really good.
When
these old bands get together again after all these years and try to
record new material it doesn't always work out too well but this one
does. It sounds like the same band from 35 years ago.
There were two debut full-length albums that I was really looking forward to. One was a really good album - Heavyball's "When Can You Start?". The other one was terrible. I try not so say anything bad about bands on this blog so I won't say their name. I can't imagine what possesses a talented band to compose an album's worth of songs, then take the time and expense to record an incredible ska album, then, before releasing it to the fans, they put an electronic beat over every song. Not one or even a few songs, but every damn song. My most anticipated release of 2017 was the absolute worst "ska" album I heard all year. How is it that not one person in that band stopped and said "this isn't really what the fans want"?
But here's the stuff I do like:
1. Last Edition - Last Orders
2. The Skalps - Plastic Fantastic
3. The Equators - Bed of Roses (If I had to pick one song as my absolute favorite for the year it would be this)
4. Launchers - Dutty Mouth
5. Vegetable Collective - Penny (there is no video for this song but I love their video for the song Urban Squirrel)
6. The Breachers - Because of You
7. Interskalactic - Clad in Gold
8. Mr. Wallace - Too Rude
9. The Funaddicts - All The Same
10. Heavyball - Top of Your Game
11. Moonhead Project (featuring Dani Radic) - On the Dancefloor
12. Death of Guitar Pop - Whatever Gets You Outta the House
13. And the Wasters - Lion's Share
14. Mercurius Rising - Old Blind Woman
15. Arthur and the Spooners - Going Down
16. Bombflower - Quit That Kind
17. The Crashmats - Watchmen
18. After the Ibis - Sober (if it wasn't for the Equators this would have been my pick for favorite song of the year.)
