Nu-Hu - War Games (demo tape 1986)

 It seems that there was a reggae band in Cleveland, Ohio in the 80s called Kaya. I know nothing about this band and I can't find anything online about them. But I do know their lead singer Max Nuhu went solo and released one record in 1987. The song "Let Me Be the One" was the A-Side and "Give It Up" was on the B-side. It is highly sought after and I have never found a copy in my life. Thankfully somebody posted the A-side on YouTube. 

He even had T-shirts.

 A few years ago I had incredible stroke of luck while searching for this record and I found a demo tape. It includes both songs from the record with many other songs I didn't know existed. 

Here's the full "War Games" demo tape by Max Nu-Hu with the re-recorded version of "Let Me be the One" from the record and a re-recorded version of the song "War Games" that would have been the title track of the album if he ever released an album, plus another song he recorded later called "Third World Woman".

 Max Nuhu passed away in Jamaica in December 2020. 

 

1 Blood Money

2 Retribution

3 Give it Up

4 Give it Up Version 2

5 Let Me be the One

6 Ezy Come

7 Go Getta

8 Island Summer*

9  War Games

10 Bubbla

* Let Me be the One 7" version

* War Games 

* Third World Woman

 

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* (The song Island Summer is very low quality. The quality of that song is much different than the other songs on the tape. I tried multiple times to get a good rendition of it but this is the best I can do). 

 

The Amateurs - Ganja Man is Coming to Town (1992)

 

This was a reggae band from Raleigh, North Carolina and from what I have gleaned from the comments on YouTube this song got some radio play and was considered a Christmas classic by some.

1 Ganja Man is coming to town

2 Look at the People

 

 

 

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Engine 54 (Germany)

Engine 54 - 54-95 (1995)

1 Engine 54

2 Fight Too Much

3 Skyloving

4 Ouh Poo Pah Doo

5 Soon You'll be Gone

6 No Duty No Love

7 Hypocrites

8 Why Bier?

9 I'm a Fool

10 Hound Dog

11 Here I Am

12 Jumping the Gun

13 Big 5

14 You Took My Love

15 Simmer Down

16 Reggae Stuff

Engine 54 - No Means No 7" (1998)

1 No Means No

2 Everything Crash

3 No Means No (version)

Engine 54 - Tribute (2002)

1 Grazing in the Grass

2 Archy Wah Wah

3 Stop Making Love Beside Me

4 Stay Away

5 African Beat

6 You're No Good

7 Breakfast Table

8 Rub Up Push Up

9 Love to Call You Babe

10 Rockin' Good Way

11 Problems

12 Traffic Jams

13 The Tide is High

Engine 54 - Non-Album Tracks

* A Rest

* Pied Piper

* Upside Down

* Tenderness

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Odessus - How Can I Trust You? 12" (1979)

 Rare British ska/reggae. 

A - How Can I Trust You?

B - Unity

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The Jubilees - Reggae Carnival (1972)

 This was a British band way ahead of the times. Five years before there was any hint of a ska revival The Jubilees released this reggae album.

1 Peace in the Far East

2 A Tear Fell

3 Moon Hop

4 Chain Gang

5 Farewell to My Baby

6 Cathy Come Home

7 South Sea Stomp

8 Rambling Rose

9 Something to Remind Me of You

10 Moon River

11 Tell Me Baby

12 I Need Your Loving

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The Regiment - Gotta Get a Move On 7" (1981)

 

The Regiment was a British ska/reggae/jazz band. I don't think they released much aside from 2 singles. The first one "Step Out/Burning World" is more jazz than reggae. I don't have it and I don't want it. It's too expensive for being an adult contemporary reggae/jazz record. This one, on the other hand is super cheap. There are lots of copies out there for sale and they cost pennies. That's because this record was mass produced because both songs were used in the French movie "La Boum".

It was a teenage coming-of-age movie that was very popular. In some countries it was number one above E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

There were a couple of ska songs in the movie composed by Vladimir Cosma and sung by British singer Richard Sanderson who wasn't really involved in the ska/punk scene. He lived in France and did mostly pop ballads. 

This download includes both songs from The Regiment and two ska songs from the La Boum soundtrack and I also included a song from G.T. Moore and the Reggae Guitars because Tony Hannaford from The Regiment used to be in that band. The song is from 1974 but it comes very close to the later 2 Tone sound. Not exactly, but close. They were ahead of their time.

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Beat Around The Bush - Beat Around The Bush demo tape (1990)

 1 Time Go Way

2 Kouman Kele (One Voice)

3 Brazilian Nights

4 Cha Cha Hula

5 People Save this Planet

6 Joey

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Midnight Sun - Midnight Sun (1994)

 Midnight Sun is a reggae/ska/calypso band that formed in the late 80s near San Francisco California. They are still playing live to this day (check their Facebook page for their latest shows) but they are now using the name Midnight Sun Massive.

They released an EP in 1994 called "Touch" that you can hear on their ReverbNation page along with lots of other songs including my favorite "Life as We Know It".

"Life as we Know It" made it on their 2008 album "Sunrise" that's available on Amazon.  All of their previous releases were under the name Midnight Sun but they used the name Midnight Sun Massive for their 2015 album "Who's Feeling Irie?" that you can listen to on Youtube. 

 

You can also hear them play live on their own YouTube channel. 

This tape here is a collection of songs recorded between 1989 and 1996. 

1 Morning Light

2 Thanks & Praises

3 Trinity

4 Ooo La La

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Top Ranking - Life is Not so Hard 7" (1984)

A - Life is Not so Hard

B - Conquer

toneandwave · Top Ranking - Life is Not so Hard (1984)

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va Doo Wop Jamaican Style (2005)

 

I found this incredible CD in a thrift store for one dollar. 

 

 

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Time Circle - Give all the Praise 7" (1982)

 I know nothing about this band. This is probably their only release. It's laid back ska/reggae.  

My copy doesn't sound very good. I was able to edit the A-side enough to make it listenable but it's still very crackly.  The B-side is just too far gone.

 

A - Give all the Praise

B - Give all the Praise (Dub Version)

 

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The Beatroots - demo tape (1982)

  This band only ever released one single in their life as a band but they did record a demo tape before that single. The song Unnecessary War is the only one from the demo tape that made it onto the record but the demo version is more of an up-tempo ska song than the reggae version on the single.

1 Must All Live Better

2 It ain't Easy

3 Unnecessary War

4 Brother Man

5 Walk Don't Run

6 High on a Tight Rope

I previously posted the single but I have included it in this download for those who missed it the first time. 

A - Unnecessary War

B - I Wanna Dance with You

 

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Reality - Success/Donna 7" (1981)

 

A - Success

B - Donna

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Spliff Riff

  This was a British ska/reggae band who only put out three records in their time. All three were singles. No album. 

I have managed to collect all three records plus a few songs I found on the internet. 

The band was lead by Julian Johnson. All of the extra songs I found online came from his YouTube page. He was in the band I-Jay and the Reggae Revivals and you can hear their songs on his YouTube page. 

Seven of these songs came from my own vinyl rips. The rest came from YouTube.

The song "More Today Than Yesterday" is a cover of the American band Spiral Starecase. They had a hit with this song in early 1969.

1 In the Night Time

2 It Doesn't Matter

3 More Today Than Yesterday

4 You Shook Up My World

5 Wildflower

6 New Ska

7 Rumours of War

8 In the Night Time 12" version

9 Take Jah

10 More Today Than Yesterday 12" version

11 Suffering in the Land (live)

12 Conquer Me (live)

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Caribbean Allstars - Paths to Greatness (1992)

 This was a reggae band from the Frisco Bay. I like some mellow reggae on occasion but this is a little too "adult contemporary" for my taste. The word "reggae" denotes ragga or rags. Poor folk music. Hearing reggae played with the most high-end instruments in a million dollar studio and over-the-top production takes something away. 

The tunes here are well-written. I like the songs themselves. But the production quality is just overkill. 

So who do we blame? Carlos Santana, that's who. Santana produced this album and he played on half the tracks. I didn't know this when I first listened to the album and I thought "that guitar sounds just like Santana" and sure as hell, it was. 

I grew up in L.A. in the late 70s/early 80s and Santana was not yet a god but he was a prophet and we are to say nothing bad about Santana or we could get la chancla. So I take back everything I said about the production. It's a great album. I love it and you will too. Oye como va... 

1 Paths to greatness

2 Sette Messgana

3 Caught in the Middle

4 Oh What a Situation

5 Ras Clatt Ridd'm

6 Keep a Good Man Down

7 Commercialization 

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Atlantic Five - I Was Walking 7" (1979)

 Very rare record from this French band. I don't know what they were thinking with the A-side but the B-side needs to be heard. The B-side could have been a pop-reggae/ska hit in 1984 but it was released in 1979. People just weren't ready for it yet. I love that haunting keyboard, especially at the end of the song. .

Somebody on Discogs said that this might be an all-female band but that makes me wonder if they've actually heard it. Are these female vocals? I don't think so. 

A - I Was Walking

B - I Adore You 

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The Cats - The Cats Complete Singles 1968 - 1978

 This is a Tone and Wave exclusive. It took me years to assemble this collection. I believe this is every song that The Cats released in their lifetime. 

If you don't know, when Madness did "Swan Lake" they weren't covering the classic Tchaikovsky song outright. They were covering The Cats version of the song. The B-side to The Cats Swan Lake" single was called "My Girl" and, as you know, Madness also had a song called "My Girl" but the joke here is that when you played the B-side to the Cats single and you were expecting a cover of the Temptations song but what you got instead was a cover of Mary Wells' "My Guy".

 The Cats recorded a lot of their renditions of classical music in the studio but their releases of these songs were limited. They recorded reggae/soul versions of Beethoven's "Fur Elise", Bach's "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring", Mozart's "Ein Kleine Nachtmusik", Satie's "Gymnopedie No.1" and, I believe, Albinoni's "Adagio". These were never released until 2014 when a label called Kipa Recordings put out a CD with all of the Cats unreleased songs which were recorded in 1968. I don't have this CD but I am desperately looking for it.

What I do have is all of their singles that they did release. Here is my collection:

1 Swan Lake

2 Swing Low

3 The Hog

4 Blues for Justice

5 William Tell

6 Love Walk Right In

7 My Girl

8 Sherman

9 What Can I Do?

10 Falling in Love

11 Knees Up Motther Brown

12 Rubbish

13 Air on a G String

14 Swan Lake (1976)

15 Swan Lake (Disco Version)

 

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Brave New World - Brave New World 12" (1988) [REPOST]

I originally posted this in May of 2012. It's one of my favorites that I lamented was lost to time but, thankfully, somebody recognized its importance in the grand scheme of things and requested that I re-post it. So here it is. Don't lose it this time. Save it. Share it with everybody.

A - Hard Yard
B1 - I Wanna See You (Dance)
B2 - Yes I Love You

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Please Stop Talking - Fantasy 7" (1985)

Please Stop Talking was a rock/new wave band from Bremerhaven, Germany who released this lone single that shows their reggae/ska influence.

A - Fantasy
B - Letters

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Blacus - Side by Side 7" (1980)

This one is all about the B-Side which is ska/reggae but the A-side is a soul song. I didn't spend too much time editing the A-side because I know you won't listen to it anyway.

A - Side by Side
B - Jacamaca

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