What did Keith Richards call “the perfect reggae track”?
There are few people who embody rock ‘n’ roll the way Keith Richards does. He has the insouciant, slightly sleazy charm with the promise of a dangerously good time. He seemingly has the complete inability to die no matter how close he gets to the scythe. However, dig a little deeper and there’s a much more complex man under the surface than the mere rock survivor he’s characterised as. Case in point, the man’s undying love for reggae music.
In the 2015 documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence, Captain Jack Sparrow’s dad discussed his love for the genre. He said, “That it’s all so natural, there’s none of this forced stuff that I was getting tired of in rock music. Rock ‘n’ roll I never get tired of, but ‘rock’ is a white man’s version… I prefer the roll!” Even in print you can hear the snorting, gurgling laugh that follows that crack, right?
The man’s credentials go far beyond appreciating the genre, though. ‘Keef’ has worked with everyone from Black Uhuru to Wingless Angels as a producer, and was instrumental in getting Peter Tosh signed to The Rolling Stones’ record label in the late 1970s. So, what reggae song does Richards prize above all others? The answer, bafflingly enough, lies in a compilation album, The Rolling Stones, curated for coffee shop titans Starbucks.
The album was subtitled “music that matters to them” and among the likes of Little Richard, Robert Johnson and The Isley Brothers, was an absolute classic by The Itals. Keith himself selected their signature number ‘In A Dis Ya Time’ as the only reggae number on the album and wrote about the pick in the liner notes. There, he wrote, “This to me is basically the perfect reggae track… The playing on it and the voices, to me that was—and I love Bob Marley, too—but that was really the high point of reggae. It’s so steady, man.”
From their formation in 1976, The Itals were one of reggae’s best-kept secrets. While the likes of Bob Marley and the Wailers were becoming international celebrities, The Itals were national heroes in their native Jamaica, with little more than a cult following anywhere else until the 1980s. Principally, this was down to ‘In A Dis Ya Time’ being their debut single and, legitimately, there may be few better debut singles released by anyone that decade.
An impassioned plea for unity from singer Keith Porter backed with sumptuous harmonies from Ronnie Davis, ‘In A Dis Ya Time’ was a massive hit in their home country, with the single going to number one on the Jamaican singles charts, and most of what followed doing the same. This was because, unlike most of their peers, they stuck to releasing singles like ‘Brutal’, ‘Don’t Wake The Lion’ and ‘Time Will Tell’. These also made them a household name in Jamaica but didn’t build their reputation at a worldwide level, unless you were really in the know of your reggae music.
However, in 1981 they signed with Nighthawk Records and began work on what would become their debut album, Brutal Out Deh. Finally, the band had the worldwide attention they deserved, becoming one of the most respected reggae outfits of the 1980s, even securing a Grammy award nomination in 1987 for their third album Rasta Philosophy. It’s very telling, though, that a connoisseur like ‘Keef’ was listening to them well before this, and was willing to champion them to all who’d listen, even decades afterwards as well.
