Christopher Brewer/Shutterstock
Last summer, in an effort to escape the crush of the city and get some writing done, I took a teaching job in Santa Cruz, California. Much like the Donner Party, I knew that my fortunes lay in the West. But on the writing front it ended up being a spectacularly unproductive period, and I spent my afternoons reading Raymond Carver stories on the beach and contemplating the troublingly elaborate hole-digging operations that children were carrying out.
However, a fortuitous thing occurred that is relevant to our purposes here. A few nights before heading to Big Sur I got into a conversation with someone at a bar called Ye Olde Watering Hole. Like most people in the area he showed a provincial pride in the coastal landscape, but he went further in giving me a crude classification of locations I should or should not visit. The Esalen Institute at 1:00 a.m.: “very Irie.” Arroyo Seco: “extremely Irie (though theft is on the rise there and he’d had some “not very Irie experiences recently.”) Drinks on the back porch of the Post Ranch Inn: “Irie,” though the prices: “not Irie, so just get one.” It’s an infectious way of viewing the world, and I began to suspect that “decidedly un-Irie” was the best way to describe the busy work attached to the teaching job.
In this spirit I have conscripted the help of writer Leigh Gallagher to provide you with a 100% Irie playlist of the finest reggae – our small gesture to correct the excesses of my Big Sur travel guide. Trust us, this is the good stuff. —Michael Schapira
Dawn Penn – “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)”
Big Youth – “Screaming Target”
The Blood Sisters – “Ring My Bell”
Sister Nancy – “Bam-Bam”
Slim Smith and the Gaylads – “You Don’t Care”
The Congos – “Ark of the Covenant”
Lee “Scratch” Perry – “Rainy Night Dub”
U-Roy – “Chalice in the Palace”
Hortense Ellis – “I’m Still in Love”
Cecile Campbell – “Whisper to Me”
Lorna Bennett – “Breakfast in Bed (Riddim Mix)”
Horace Andy – “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone”
Ken Parker – “Count Your Blessings”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRsSrPBc6DI
The Soulettes – “A Deh Pon Dem”
Phyllis Dillon – “One Life to Live”
Pat Kelly – “Queen Majesty”
Prince Buster – “Take it Easy”
Dub Specialist – “Banana Walk”
Ruddy Thomas & Trinity – “Loving Pauper/Judgment Time”
Alton Ellis – “Inside My Soul”
This post may contain affiliate links.
