Clive Field Marshall – Poor House Rockers

1981, Wackie’s

Clive Field Marshall is a NY-based deejay who is so obscure these days that there isn’t even a photo of him on the internet. Discogs lists this record and one 12″ and absolutely nothing else. But one-off LPs are always worth a listen, whether they be hits or misses, this one is instantly clockable as a hit due to the Wackie’s label on the disc. We love the sound of the Wackie’s records, whatever the era. Although they must have switched out a good amount of gear over the decades, the result is always a crunchy, juicy, lo-fi, and comfortably dubbed-out vibe.

Despite being abroad, Clive’s deejaying is well up-to-date, with some fat OINKS, AYs, ‘waaeh’s, ‘bung diddla’s and the like stuck between a relatively conventional but still distinct style. Melodic lines are in-key, dynamic, and don’t wear out their welcome. Against the bigmode Wackie’s beats, everything really comes together. Time and effort went into this record and it shows. Not a chump pressing for chumps, this one is a great listen throughout with a generous serving of twelve good and memorable tunes back to back to back.

State Trooper Style has that imagery-heavy storytelling that you know I love if you read any of my posts about General Trees. Clive goes super violent on Rent Man with “Mi bury landlord in a block of cement, mi run gone a woodland go pitch my tent, dat di time mi a di president”. Madoo also had some pretty vicious words for landlords on his album out the same year. Sheep Skin Gone Clear is one of the hardest picks, being about the beaver hat and sheepskin coat. “Mi haffi fling two gloves pon mi hand” is not the type of lyric you would think of as a precursor to the Clark’s boot craze in mid-80’s dancehall, but so it go. Elsewhere online the version for this is credited to an unreleased tune titled Acting So Strange by Junior Delahaye, who had his own showcase on Wackie’s in 1982. And I would be remiss to not mention Ting-A-Ling-A-Ling – it is a great cut, but someone at the mixing desk must have decided it wasn’t doing enough for them, so at 2:50 the playback speed is ramped up for about half a minute before coming back down again. This moment shall go in my ‘Top Ten Weirdest Reggae Moments’ blogpost.

My picks: State Trooper Style, Sheep Skin Gone Clear, Love Is What You Want
Bim count: 8