Superb rocksteady from The Rulers prod by JJ

After a one month hiatus where we packed up and moved across the country, Lily and I are back this week to continue the Bovine Ska and Rocksteady as a weekly podcast through Mixcloud being uploaded every Tuesday at 9PM (PST) midnight (EST).  The show’s format will remain the same as it has since 1996, concentrating on early Jamaican music from 1955-1975,with a mento set and artist spotlight midway through the program.  What is new is that we will report out on live Jamaican music happening in the Southern California area as well as Boston area music updates.  We began this week with four versions of The Melodians “Everybody Bawling” that we always send to our friend, Magnus Johnstone.  We ended the first hour with a set of ska which fed directly into a spotlight on the JJ Johnson produced vocal group, The Rulers.

Surprisingly, there is not much known about The Rulers considering their track, Wrong Emboyo, which was originally produced by JJ in 1967, would become one of the many Jamaican songs that would gain notoriety by being covered by The Clash.  What we do know about The Rulers is that the aforementioned track and many of their others have a writing credit to Clyde Alphonso. We also know that JJ’s preferred house band was Bobby Aitken and the Carib Beats, who backed up all of The Rulers’ releases we will hear this evening, for they were all produced by JJ Johnson for his JJ label. Given that the preponderance of their releases are during the rocksteady era, it is no surprise that many of the tracks’’ lyrics are concerned about rude boys. Similar to Alton Ellis, the Rude Boy tracks cut by The Rulers condemn the actions of the rude boys, such as the first track on this evening’s podcast from 1966, Don’t Be a Rude Boy.

This week’s podcast which will remain up for one week, can be heard here:

https://www.mixcloud.com/bovineksa/generoso-and-lilys-bovine-ska-and-rocksteady-6-2-15/

Please let us know what you think and do join us on Facebook for information about the next spotlight artist and relevant Jamaican shows that you can attend.  Click here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/175321709220304/

Best,
Lily and Generoso