Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry

"Free Up the Prisoners"
Zeroto180

Reggae’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”

The Rocksteady Kid — Zero to 180’s radio alter ago — once had the good fortune to experience the frantic exhilaration of spinning classic Jamaican pop of the three-minute variety on the University of Maryland’s student radio station.  I very quickly learned you can’t be complacent when the tunes are

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"Finger Mash"
Zeroto180

“Play De Music” vs. “Finger Mash”: Festival Sound Clash

In the liner notes to Baba Boom! — Trojan’s compilation of Jamaica Independence Festival songs from 1966-1975 — one piece of text really jumped out at me: 1974’s ‘Play De Music‘ by Tinga Stewart – a monster hit and the very last one of the archetypal Festival Songs, celebrating the

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"Sugartime"
Zeroto180

“Sugartime”: Linda & Paul at Black Ark

Paul McCartney released a posthumous compilation in 1998 of Linda-related recordings, Wide Prairie, that included two tracks from Linda & Paul‘s 1977 sojourn to Lee Perry‘s famed laboratory of sound – The Black Ark – in Kingston, Jamaica. One of those Black Ark recordings — a remake of The McGuire

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"Love Can Run Faster"
Zeroto180

“Love Can Run Faster”: B-Side of Mystery

In 1978 Robert Palmer traveled to Lee Perry‘s recording compound in Kingston, Jamaica to get a little piece of that magic Black Ark sound.  “Love Can Run Faster” (B-side of Robert Palmer’s big 1978 hit, “Bad Case of Lovin’ You“) is the only song Palmer released from that recording session

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