Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,
As we celebrate our wedding anniversary this week, we thought to start off with a set of ska that has love all around including The Silvertones lovely cut for Duke Reid, ‘When My Baby Smiles.” Our mento set was marriage themed and it started with the classic cut from Lord Flea, ‘Bachelor’s Life.’ For the final set of the first hour, Lily put together a killer set of reggaes including Horace Andy’s brilliant cover of ‘Delilah’ which Tom Jones made famous in 1968. Our label spotlight for this week is on Horace Hanlan’s Happy Time label which features top cuts from Earl Sixteen, Ronnie Davis and The Mighty Falcons to name a few. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,
The very first cut we played on this week’s show is an interesting unearthed ska version from Alton Ellis of his 1966 rocksteady hit, All My Tears Come Rolling that is something to behold, we followed that with an awesome ska from Toots and The Maytals on Kentone that we know you’ll love. Our mento set is all about the “Miss” and Lily gathered a massive reggae set that has a version to version of Burning Spear’s Give Me from 1975 that is key. Our label spotlight is on singer/producer Willie Williams’ Hailfax Label that is chock full of brilliantly engineered cuts from Williams, Delroy Wilson, The Versatiles that are all backed by Now Generation! Stay cool this last week of summer friends XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,
Hope you’re staying cool friends as this week we started our show with two hot sets of rare ska beginning with The Spanishtonians scorcher, “Lord A Massie Massie” and ending with The Gaylads 1966 cut for Coxsone Dodd, “Falling In Love.” We began our mento set with a tribute to Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley,OM, OJ, MBE on the 100th anniversary of her birth and so we played her version of “Hold M Joe.” Lily selected a beast of a reggae set with a highlight being Little Madness’ 1975 tune for the Arab label, “Mother Country.” Our label spotlight this week is on Alphonso Bailey and Kass Harris’ World Champ Label that has some cleverly produced reggaes from 74-80 from Freddie McGregor, Cedric Myton, and Linval Thompson. XO Generoso and Lily

Hi Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Listeners!

Bert Berns might not be a household name in the same way that you know the artists who recorded the many hit songs that he wrote and produced like The Drifters, Ben E King, and Solomon Burke, but Berns was a mammoth force as a songwriter and producer. Berns’ first hit was for The Jarmels in 1961, a fun cut entitled, “A Little Bit of Soap” and that song launched him into a massive career in music as he would produced and write great songs for both rock and soul acts alike. For this week’s Bovine Ska, you will hear sensational Jamaican covers of Berns’ classics, like Derrick Morgan’s take on “Twist and Shout,” or Hortense Ellis giving her all on “Piece of My Heart,” or Slim Smith doing “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love.” We hope that you enjoy to two-hour tribute to Bert Berns, who left us too soon at the age of 38 in 1967. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

We began this week’s edition of the Bovine Ska with two sets of Jamaican rhythm and blues with some real rare gems including Roland Alphonso’s 1961 cut for Duke Reid, “Green Door.” Our mento set was a fast and fun one with Lord Antics as the anchor of the three songs with “Jean Marabunta” Lily selected a set of great late 70s reggae cuts with a stunning tune from Leroy Smart, “Man Is So Great.” Our label spotlight this week is a great one as we looked at keyboardist/engineer/producer Ossie Hibbert’s TRACK UNITED label features top tunes from Hortense Ellis, Soul Syndicate, and Douglas Boothe. Much love and respect to you all and thank you so much for your kind words. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska Friends,

Last Tuesday we received the very sad news that our dear friend Aliana died. We loved Aliana a great deal as she was an amazingly intense and beautiful person, who loved music and art and who always spoke her mind. In her honor this week we played nothing but tracks featuring amazing female vocalists for the first hour and for our label spotlight, we focused on another outspoken talented woman, Judy Mowatt, by dedicating the second hour to the productions that Mowatt supervised for her own Ashandan Label, a label that features wonderful reggae cuts from Shorty The President, Little Roy, Anicia Banks and of course, Mowatt herself. We send our deepest sympathies to Aliana’s family during this sad time and to all who loved her as we did. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,
Hope that you all had a wonderful Jamaica Independence Day celebration! We started off this week’s Bovine Ska with two sets of Jamaican rhythm and blues and Alton Ellis and Eddy Perkins 1961 cut for Coxsone’s Worldisc label, “I Know It All.” What followed was our weekly mento set that lyrically takes you to Jamaica and we ended our first hour with a tribute to producer Gussie Clarke, who will be honored with an OD from the Jamaican government in October. Congrats again to Gussie! Our label spotlight this week in on Leon Hyatt’s short-run mid-70s reggae press, Mighty Disc that features great dubs and cuts from Larry Marshall and The Mighty Could Band. This week will be a scorcher so please stay cool where you are. XOXO Generoso and Lily

Happy Jamaica Independence Day 2019 Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends!
Happy 57th Independence Day, Jamaica! For the 23rd year, we are doing a special Bovine Ska to help you all celebrate Jamaican Independence and this year in honor of the late Prime Minister, Edward Seaga, we turn our focus to the Festival Song Competition which he helped establish with Hugh Nash. For our show we went deep into the history of the event and as there are many compilations that have collected the winning songs, we turned our attention towards the rare finalists songs that did not win from 1966-1977. Great cuts like Water More Than Flour by Al and the Vibrators, Brent Dowe’s Making A Way and many more! Happy Independence Day Jamaica! XO Generoso and Lily

Hi Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,
This week’s Bovine Ska begins with some happy ska 1963-65 and great one from Shenley Duffus entitled, “People’s Business” which Shenley cut for Coxsone on the ND Label. Our mento set features a rare cut from Louise Lamb, ” Give Me a Perfect Love” and we ended our first hour with an awesome set of reggaes selected by Lily, featuring Keith Hudson’s take on The Dramatics’ classic, “In The Rain.” Our label spotlight followed with a focus on Ainsley Folder’s DEE JAY Label which includes great cuts from Delroy Wilson, Gregory Issacs, and U-Roy to name a few. Thanks for listening and stay cool this summer. XO Generoso and Lily

Hello Bovine Ska and Rocksteady Friends,

On Tuesday, July 16th, we lost one of the giants of Jamaican music as Pat Kelly, the great singer with The Techniques, solo vocalist, engineer and producer passed away in Kingston from complications from kidney disease. For our entire program this week, we memorialized his brilliant career by including his work as a vocalist, but also by selecting many tracks that feature Kelly’s impressive work as a producer and engineer. As part of our memorial, we also included a tribute to Pat Kelly from Stranger Cole that was a segment of an interview that we did with Stranger last week shortly after Kelly’s passing. We send our deepest respects to Pat Kelly’s wife, Jackie and to their family, friends and colleagues. Rest in power and God bless you Pat XO Generoso and Lily