Roots Archives Forum

I opened this thread despite the fact, that the book has been mentioned here and there in this forum.

Why?
Because i think i doesn't get the attention it deserves.
I bought it today with my remaining X-mas money and boy that was well spend! It's not just well written but due to the format and the beautiful pictures a piece of art.
I recommend this one to everyone who likes rub a dub.

And to the RA Crew: write a proper review and put it on the front page.
As said before in another thread: Mr Kingston, big up your woman! Awesome work!

Definitely a must-have for anyone interested in 80's dancehall! Best present I got this year!

When I reviewed the book for Swedish reggae magazine Reggae Galore they sent me a link to a PDF. Perhaps you should ask Soul Jazz for a link, leggo?

My review of the book;
http://reggaegalore.se/2008/11/04/dance ... ll-culture

is the dave k,msg'n here .the david kingston of beth lesser? I find it hard to believe... if it is or isn't great book

Hail Mr Parks

So nice to see you in the place! Yes, it's been a long time. Just the other day Andy Bassford was in touch, time does fly! I would love to link up if you have time. My e-mail is kingstondave@hotmail.com

Thank you for the invitation for email.I will have to pass on it.The reply is good enough.Still is ã highly recommonded read.

Is that the real LLoyd Parks (bass legend)?

No,it is a pseudonym. Huge fan of We The People.

its parkes innit?

one love
jah bill
(pseudonym for the well known super star)

I couldn't agree more with everyone about how great this book is. I just finished it. Fascinating. Great photos! Great interviews and insights. An awesome addition to what's out there on the subject.

However, since it seems to meet with near universal praise, I'll go ahead and bring up a bit of criticism too. Just my opinion, of course.

The whole section on the supposed 'decline and fall' of dancehall struck a false note with me. If this book had been published in '89 it would have made perfect sense. As it is, it seems to me that to talk about the 'fall' of dancehall, as well as referring to 'the nail in the coffin' of the influence of rasta on the music, is to completely ignore the last fifteen years or so. Anyone paying attention can see the huge resurgence in rasta and roots in Jamaican music over the last decade and a half. Also, I feel strongly that some of the best dancehall music was made in the nineties, so to just skip over it and write it off strikes me as more than a little odd. The book supports the idea of a long slow decline ending at the end of the 80's, rather than what I think is more complex and more closely a series of hills and valleys that has continued up to the present

Also, all the interviews about this 'fall' are with veterans who haven't really been in the limelight since the eighties. And they all seem to support this claim that dancehall is dead. Flabba can't take all the 'boom boom' etc. But if you want to really cover an issue thoroughly it would provide a much more balanced view to interview some people who have been more major players in the last decade. See if they think dancehall died at the end of the eighties! What does Fatis think? Or Richard Bell? Or Dave Kelly? How would Rory respond to the notion that juggling sounds like Stone Love were part of this decline and fall?

Of course, in almost any type of music, or even outside of music, and in every culture, you can find the older people lamenting the state of the current culture. It goes like this: "kids these days, they don't understand [fill in the blank]. And "back in the good old days we did it different, back then it was [fill in the blank].
So, I think we have to take this with a grain of salt.


I'll say again, I LOVED this book. It's just the last few pages didn't ring true to me (I mean many of the claims in that section: the crack, the violence, the increasing hardcore vibe, I get it and agree, but I can only speak from my experience of listening to the music, not from observing the culture). I think if the book presented itself as a book on 80's dancehall, it would have made perfect sense. As it is, it just reads a bit like it was written in '89 and withheld from publication until now. Since the subtitle is "the rise of dancehall" there is no implied need to cover everything up to the present. But it also didn't need to manufacture a 'fall'.