I am the magnificent!!!

This song just might be the most influential 2:45 of all time. I work the night shift, so I have been running errands this morning and listening to classic reggae, preparing to craft a "warm weather" mix this weekend.
I find myself putting Dave & Ansel Collins' "Double Barrel" on repeat quite a bit today. Check the history: In May 1971 this unique song shot to the top of the British pop charts, where it usurped "Hot Love" by T.Rex.
"Double Barrel" only topped the charts for a couple weeks, but the influence of this tremendous single resonates to this day.
Against a dub-like, spartan piano figure backdrop, Dave "toasts" (a primitive, proto-rap from Jamaica) about his greatness/strength/whatever. One could argue modern dance music, hip-hop and Jamaican dub all owe incredible, almost incalculable, debts to this two-minute-and-45-second masterpiece.
His echoey words sound oddly familiar to us now, because we have been raised on diets of hip-hop music and electronic effects. In May 1971, however, most non-Jamaicans were hearing this type of music for the first time.
I am certainly going to include this track on my warm weather mix. "Double Barrel" represents a true delight -- an historic song that still sounds fresh today.
Posted by Hello