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Japan and Crucial Vinyl: Marcus Garvey by Burning Spear

Don reflects on his recent trip to Japan, plus his Crucial Vinyl record is Burning Spear's 1975 classic Marcus Garvey.

Don reflects on his recent trip to Japan and selects Burning Spear's 1975 classic Marcus Garvey as this week's Crucial Vinyl (an album that has shaped his musical taste and helped to make him who he is). He features three tracks from it and explains why it means so much to him.
Named after the Jamaican national hero and prophet of the Rastafarian faith, who was born in Jamaica in 1887 and died in London in 1940, Burning Spear's album was released in the UK on the Island label in 1975. A dub version entitled Garvey's Ghost came out a few months later.

Around this time, Don was getting started as a DJ in London, initially playing dub reggae at the fashionable clothes shop Acme Attractions in London's Kings Road, where he worked. At the end of 1976 Don went on to DJ at the Roxy club in Covent Garden. Between frantic live sets by the likes of the Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Generation X, Don would spin reggae records. Back then, hardly any punk records had been made.

Somehow, many of the punks in the small, sweaty club had affinity with reggae and Don's unlikely blend really worked. The mellower yet rebellious reggae sounds appealed to the young crowd and provided a welcome break from the thrash of live punk rock. The punks were provided with a very cool alternative soundtrack and a lasting bond was formed.

Don gathered an enviable collection of hard-to-find reggae vinyl, and, as well as DJ-ing, he would compile mixtapes for his friends, who included the Clash, the Slits and John Lydon of the Sex Pistols.

2 hours

Music Played

  • 23 Skidoo

    Coup (12" Version)

  • 叠箩枚谤办

    Cosmogony

  • The Bug Ft. Likkle Mai

    Sad Eyed Girl Inna Babylon

  • Burning Spear

    Tradition

  • Burning Spear

    Give Me

  • Burning Spear

    Marcus Garvey

  • Cibo Matto

    Working For Vacation

    • Stereo Type A.
    • Warner Bros..
  • Cibo Matto

    Sugar Water

  • Cibo Matto

    D茅j脿 Vu

  • Dj Shadow & Little Dragon

    Scale It Back

  • HAKASE-SUN

    New Town

  • Hiroshi Fujiwara & K

    Never Can Say Good Bye (Dub Mix)

  • Jah Light Sound System

    The Wisdom

  • Ken 2-D Special

    Apache

  • Ken 2-D Special

    Sleng Teng In The U銉籊

  • Ken 2-D Special

    I Fought The Law

  • Likkle Mai

    Straight To Yellow Cinderella's Head

  • New Zion Trio

    Slow Down Furry Dub

  • Ryuichi Sakamoto

    Riot In Lagos

    • Island Records.
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto

    Merry Xmas Mr. Lawrence

  • Scha Dara Parr Ft. Bird

    Kowarekakeno

  • Silent Poets

    Sugar Man (feat. Terry Hall)

    • Sugar Man EP.
    • Idyllic Records.
  • Stanley Turrentine & Milt Jackson

    Sister Sanctified

  • Taken by Trees

    I Want You

    • Other Worlds.
    • Secretly Canadian.
  • Tetsu Nishiuchi & The Band

    North Of The River Tama

  • Isao Tomita

    Clair De Lune

  • John Turrell

    Day In Day Out

    • The Kingmaker.
    • Jalapeno Records.
  • The Village Bunch / Dj Kentaro Refix

    Doctrine Dub

  • Yasgusushi Ide

    Faces Ft Tom Verlaine James Chance/Shadows Of Fire And Black Night Mash Up Mix

  • Yellow Magic Orchestra

    Firecracker

    • Catch Up! Fusion: Yellow Magic Orchestra.
    • Alfa.

Broadcast

  • Sun 27 Jul 2014 22:00