Double Dekker

Sadly, Jamaican music legend and "The King of Ska" Desmond Dekker died of a heart attack on Friday. Before Bob Marley came along he was the biggest star Jamaica had produced and the first person to bring the skanking rhythms of that island to a wider audience with classic 60s singles like "It Mek" "007 (Shanty Town)" and the ginormous hit "The Israelites" which was the first reggae song to get to #1 in the UK and even cracked the US charts. His importance to reggae's impact as world music is probably second only to Marley's.

By way of tribute here's the singles "Bongo Gal" and "Pickney Girl" from 1967 and '69. Like all Dekker's records in the 60s these were produced by the legendary Leslie Kong and both have the slightly slower Rocksteady groove which emerged later in the decade. This is probably my favourite era in Jamaican music, sitting nicely between the choppy ska beat and the more slick riddims of reggae. If you like these (and what normal human being wouldn't?) get "Israelites: The Best of Desmond Dekker" or dig a little deeper with "Rudy Got Soul: The Complete Early Years 1963-1968."

[Download]
Bongo Gal - Desmond Dekker & The Aces
Pickney Girl - Desmond Dekker & The Aces