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The Dualers - Prince Buster Shakedown
The Dualers - Prince Buster Shakedown
One of the UK's best kept secrets release their homage to one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady.
Sampler
Formed in 1999 The Dualers are probably one of the UK’s best kept secrets and this despite being also one the UK’s true musical success stories, from busking the streets of London to performing large venues such as Croydon's Fairfield Halls, Churchill Theatre in Bromley, Kingsmeadow Stadium in Kingston, the Brentwood Centre in Essex and selling out the capital's prestigious O2 Indigo theatre 4 times. They have also tasted Top 40 UK singles charts success hitting #21 with Kiss On The Lips in October 2004 and then a year later when Truly Madly Deeply peaked at # 23.
Now they have just finished a headline slot at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire London, as part of the London Intl Ska Festival, where they have showcased songs from their new album ‘Prince Buster Shakedown’.
This album, as you may have guessed from the title, is a homage to one of their biggest influences and also one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rock steady. The bands founder and lead singer, Tyber Craunston discovered the sounds of Prince Buster through his Dad, Bill, who throughout the 60s helped introduce ska music to the capital via his Savoy Sound System. This therefore makes this collection a highly personal one that covers both booming ska grooves with songs like Chinaman Ska, King Of Kings, Firestick and the classic Enjoy Yourself as well as the soulful rock steady sounds of Take It Easy, Orange Street and the lovers lament of Nothing Takes The Place Of You, a cover of an R&B song by Toussaint McCall, that appeared on his 1967 album ‘Judge Dread Rock Steady’. There is a small touch of funky reggae as well in the shape of another cover of a cover with Jean Knight’s Mr Big Stuff as Sister Big Stuff that appeared on Buster’s 1976 album of the same name.
If you are looking for interesting reinterpretations of these songs then you may be disappointed as these are straight forward covers that remain true to their original sound and style with just today’s modern production techniques, performed by Sean Flowerdew and mixed by Manasseh, bringing them up to date. It is good though to see that, with the exception of Enjoy Yourself, they have shied away from covering songs that have already been done by many of the 2-Tone bands of the early 80s, so hopefully this collection will introduce people, who are not familiar with Busters work, to some new and different tunes and entice them to find out more about The Prince.
‘Prince Buster Shakedown’ is available now via Cherry Red Records on their ska imprint Phoenix City.
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