Several Slices Of Toast

Over the last few days I have been listening almost continuously to a fantastic album that came out in 2013 but which I have only recently discovered.

The album is called "Foundation Come Again" and you can pick up a copy at the Dub Club label Bandcamp page. They got Tippa Lee, himself a top notch DJ back in the day, to round up all the old Jamaican toasters from the 1970s and 1980s he could find and record new material with them. A Buena Vista Social Club of the DJ scene if you like.

There are twenty tracks on the album and not a duff one amongst them. The line-up reads like a Who's Who of toasters with the likes of I Roy, King Stitt, Dillinger, Trinity and Prince Jazzbo pitching up and taking a turn. There are also a few names that were entirely new to me, like Robert Mystic. 

In "Ride Riddim" it also includes what I think may probably be the final recording of Errol Scorcher, who passed away in 2012. He has a special place in my heart as it was through him I discovered the Jamaican DJ sound. 

I was an impressionably teenager back in 1980 when I found the 12" of his classic "Roach In De Corner" on a market stall. Intrigued by the name I bought it, took it home and put it straight on the turntable. 

It was like nothing I had ever heard before and opened my mind to all sorts of magical sounds. I've played it here a couple of times before but you can't have too much of a good thing.

"Satta" - Robert Mystic

"Hear Me Now Star" - Papa Kojak 

"Ride Riddim" - Errol Scorcher

"Roach In De Corner" - Errol Scorcher

Here are a few more of the fellows who answered the "Foundation Come Again" call.