The Aggressors – Reggae Steadae Go
The budget Marble Arch label from the UK is one that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with. It’s one of those labels that some people actually try to collect the entire run even though in reality 85% of the releases on it are terrible. Here is their stab at a Reggaesploitation LP from the mid-late 60s, complete with cheese ball title & oddly spelt band name. Who really knows if the Aggressors were a real band doing the rounds of London’s nightclubs or if they were they just a bunch of session players laying down the skank? Musically it is good enough, but the vocals are probably the weakest link here, the female voice on the version of “Stop Teasing” is pretty embarassing & whoever thought a ska version of “Dark End Of The Street” would be great was somewhat misguided. All the usual covers are here: “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, “Liquidator”, Return Of Django”, “Cupid” etc. Overall, not bad though for what it is.
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3 Comments
interesting. I have a reggaesploitation LP called “Super Reggae” by the group The Liquidators and it’s gotta be the same cats. In fact, I think it’s a slightly alternate version of your record but with a couple song switches and on a totally different label. The one I have is on the Flying Dutchman “REGGAE” label subsidiary. Instead of “Whiskey & Soda” and “Dark End Of The Street” it has “Stop & Start” and “Ding Dong Bell”. But most of the tracklisting appears to be the same. I’m pretty fond of the “Cupid” cover actually. Thanks for posting.
It’s a high possibility the records are from the same musicians. I think a few of these releases were repackaged on different labels.
its not ska, its reggae, that dark end of the street is a direct cover of pat kelly’s version, which is a class reggae tune i prefer to the original soul tune.