MR 072

Musical Credits

• Mike Drance: Vocals
• Steven Prisco: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
• Mike Bifulco: Lead Guitar, Ya Yas
• Bill Grillo: Drums
• Russ Sisto: Bass, Vocals
• Carry Brown: Keyboards
• Regina Bellantese (Guest Vocals “Down At The Trainline”

Production Credits

• Recorded At Modern Voices Recording Studio
• Engineer: Chris Patti
• Produced By Fritz Lang, Victor Rice and The Bluebeats
  
• Cover illustration by Gile Riberio

Notes

November 29, 2021, the band self released digitally, an alternate mix of “Dance With Me”.

This is not a newly remixed version of The Bluebeats first CD release, but quite possibly the first mix after the 1996 recording sessions. Legend has it that after Mike did a mix and passed along a cassette copy to Steve who didn’t quite like it. While this could be that mix, it’s hard to see what Steve didn’t like about it! Recently re-discovered, we felt that it should be shared with our friends and fans.

Liner Notes [As Originally Printed]

The original wave of ska music in 1960’s Jamaica evolved out of American Blues forms, and soon developed into rock steady and reggae. 2Tone ska music in 70’s England evolved out of punk and reggae and soon reached the British top of the pops. Third wave ska music today evolved out of British 2Tone and into…an underground, international phenomena. And now The Bluebeats are here to fold this line in on itself.

Ska music’s roots are deep and the branches reach out and tangle with punk, funk, hardcore and new wave. The branches can reach so far that they come back and intertwine with it’s own roots – jazz, Latin, blues, early rock and R&B. The Bluebeats are in a funny situation, they are a recent branch so intertwined with ska’s own roots that it’s hard to tell which is which. Judging from their authentic old school rock steady sound, are they inbred and backwards-looking? No, chum, they’re cutting out the middleman and seeking their own inspiration – their nutrients – directly from the source.

In the summer of 1994, Mike Drance formed The Bluebeats (‘Blue Beat is a name for the ska and rock steady that became popular on the Blue Beat label in England in the 60s.) Originally, Drance was the singer, songwriter and sax player in one of NYC’s most established ska bands The Scofflaws, whose sound was very R&B and very, very brassy (the key to their sound was and is horns). The artistic direction of The Bluebeats shows Drance to be pursuing a different bag altogether. Vocally-based melodies over guitar and key arrangements with no horns at all is a daring move away from the latest model of modern ska.

In it’s simplest definition, ska today is two things – big horns and/or a punk-derived sound. The Bluebeats are proudly neither.

released July 23, 1996

Executive Producer: Ed Lowery
CD Illustration & Design by Gile Riberto
Mastered at Morrisound Studios (Tampa, FL) by Judd Packer
This album is dedicated to the memory of Donnie Early, RIP.