away from the over saturated scene that is kooky girl with synth that the media continue to love, for a few of us it seems like there is a resurgence for ska pop going on in 2009.
let’s look at the evidence :
against all the odds, the specials return and make a lot of people smile.
madness have a bumper year with their excellent new album, festivals, and reissues (30 years since their debut : cheers for reminding me of that lads).
and now to add to the party, pama international have dropped their latest slice of excellence, pama outernational.
taking the same blueprint as before (i.e. their mix of soulful vocals, dubbed up reggae and touch of ska) they have made an album that is an absolute joy to listen to.
clearly the connection with the specials runs deep.
first up, the studio version of the band consists of the mighty lynval golding on vocals and guitar, and the production throughout is by john collins who help craft the mastepiece that is ghost town, but earlier this year, pama international were given then opportunity to tour with the specials.
subsequently, sir horace panter has stepped into the studio and added his bass lines to a couple of the tracks.
however, lets get one thing straight, for all the connections between the two bands, pama international are a very different type of band.
the specials soundtracked the darker side of teenage britain in the late 70s/early 80s, whereas with pama international, the music is predominantly joyous, uplifting and all about positive attitude.
of course, there are the old 70s reggae cliches extolled in such tracks as equality and justice for all, with its dancehall toasting and dubbed up ending, and the brilliant hammond organ licks of question the answer, however, the mood is more about listener empowerment as opposed to fight the system.
so we have 40 minutes consisting of tales of lost loves, credit crunch woes and parental realisation all set to beautifully arranged skanking rhythms.
sequencing the album as 2 sides of vinyl proves the love of times past, and the inclusion of the dubby extras for each of the sides opening tracks is an excellent treat and works really well, as does the final emotional comedown, what you do now, which for some reason induces a similar, but very welcome, mournful vibe as the superb leaving rome last heard being covered by on-u sound affliated 2 badcard.
finally there is welcome revisit to the horns-n-dub of the opening track in a revised form, look out your window, rounding things off in fine style.
making this pama internationals best album to date, which if you have heard any of their previous material will make you realise how special pama outernational is (no pun intended).
more detail : here