Ska stories and songs since 1980

Lots of thanks to everyone who participated in the „Best Ska Rocksteady Early Reggae Album 2011 Poll “ at joescholes.com. Thanks for producing that music, promoting it, joining in the fun of the poll, sharing it, simply voting and giving shout outs in the comments section. 

The results have been amazing. 61 albums on the shortlist, 4559 votes cast, 150 comments on the blogpost, 17oo Likes on Facebook for the blogpost. If there needed to be sign of a vibrant global Ska scene, then it was given in the last ten days.

And who came out on top as Best Ska Rocksteady Early Reggae Album 2011?

The top 10 according to the voters is as follows:

1. Desorden Publico – Los Contrarios (label: Leech Records, country: Venezuela, style: Latin Ska)  (23%, 1,046 Votes)
2. Hollie Cook – Hollie Cook (8%, 375 Votes) (Mr. Bongo, UK, Reggae)
3. The Selecter – Made in Britain (7%, 341 Votes) (Download Only, UK, 2Tone)
4. The Sidewalk Doctors – Music is medicine (7%, 305 Votes) (Cherry Red Records, UK, Trad. Ska)
5. The Dropsteppers – Get Up In It! (6%, 253 Votes) (Megalith Records, USA, Rocksteady/Early Reggae)
6. Freddy Loco & His Gordos Ska Band – Round 4 (5%, 234 Votes) (Rocking Records, France, Trad. Ska)
7. Alpheus – From Creation (5%, 224 Votes) (A-Lone Records, Spain, Reggae)
8. 8°6 Crew – Old Reggae Friends (4%, 190 Votes) (Massprod, France, Early Reggae)
9. Too Many Crooks – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (4%, 164 Votes) (Ska, UK, Do The Dog Records)
10. The Moon Invaders – Fine Line (3%, 146 Votes) (Trad. Ska, Belgium, Grover Records)

Congratulations to Desorden Publico for winning at great lenghts with 1046 votes. To see the complete list please go to the original post. Thank you.

There were a few albums that were added to the shortlist after the poll had started. Planet Smashers – “Descent Into The Valley Of”, Razika – “Razika”, Smoke Like A Fish – “Blood”, Fish & Bone, Prince Fatty & Mutant HiFi – “Return of Gringo”, Big D & The Kids Table – “For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious”, Rude City Riot – “Nothin But Time”, East Park Reggae Collective – “Stripe Science”, New York Ska Jazz Ensemble – “Double Edge”, Alaska – “Will that be enough”, Maroon Town – “Urban Myths”, Bad Manners – “You are just too good to be true”, Easy Star All Stars – “A first light”, Os Paralamas do Sucesso – “Brasil Afora multishow ao vivo”, Alborosie – “2 Times revolution”, Carlos Dingo – “Ska is Dangerous”, El Gran Miércoles – “Surf Steady”, Little Tempo – “Taiyou no Hanayome”, Fishbone – “Crazy Glue”, 1-stop-Experience – “Peeping Tom”.

Thanks to everyone who led me to these albums. And sorry for not knowing about them earlier. When I hit the publish button, I was in kind of a hurry. I didn’t expect the buzz that generated around the poll. In fact, I thought it came too late anyway. That everyone wanted to leave 2011 and think about the new year 2012.

But many bands and fans were obviously up for a little competition. Some more, some less. And so a few bands ended up in the Top 10 that you might not expect. Other big names did not make it to the top.

Okay, it was a great help if you had a brilliant album under your wings. But some other things were also important. Were you willing to help your fans show love to you? What were you ready to give? Take The Dropsteppers for example. This fresh band from the USA came up with a delicate photo to add some wood to the fire of their already hot album. And they finished in the Top 5.

Or Desorden Publico. Their call for votes was shared by fans so often that I wouldn’t be surprised if they promised to give away a copy of their record or possibly something else to one of the people who helped spread the call. Not that I know for sure.

On the other hand there were bands like The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Neither an email to their management nor to their Facebook page could persuade anyone in their staff to join in this little challenge. Otherwise I am sure they would have accumulated more than their 15 votes.

To sum it up: It’s been a lot of fun. Let’s do this again next year. Bands and labels who like to promote their records are welcome to keep me informed and/or send me their stuff.

And to ALL Ska people. Make sure you stay informed on what’s up at joescholes.com, the polls, the interviews and sign up for my free newsletter here.

Let me end with a quote from the comments that stroke me as very true, although I still like polls.

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