| This Gun for Hire | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1990 1996 (CD) | |||
| Genre | Ska | |||
| Length | 38:22 | |||
| Label | Moon Ska [1] | |||
| Producer | Robert "Bucket" Hingley, Matt Malles | |||
| The Toasters chronology | ||||
| ||||
This Gun for Hire is the third album by the American band the Toasters. [2] [3] It was released in 1990. [4] The band supported the album with a North American tour. [5]
The album was produced by bandmembers Robert "Bucket" Hingley and Matt Malles. [6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Chicago Tribune | [8] |
The Chicago Tribune wrote that "for the most part this solid New York City band has decided to rework ska ... blending more mainstream and mellow pop sounds and sensibilities with ska to create an entertaining variant that would seem to have a lot of pop-crossover potential." [8] The Ottawa Citizen noted that "elements of reggae, hip hop, Motown and jazz squeeze into the band's stylistic ska mix of between-the-beat guitar chords, trombones and dime-store organ sounds." [9]
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardcore punk. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid-1990s.
The Toasters are one of the original American second wave of ska bands. Founded in New York City in 1981, the band has released nine studio albums, primarily through Moon Ska Records.
The Beat are a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978. Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.
Redlight is an album by the Slackers, released in 1997.
Representing the Mambo is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Little Feat, released in 1990. It peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200. The band supported the album with a North American tour. "Texas Twister" and "Rad Gumbo" were released as singles.
Bim Skala Bim formed in Boston as a ska band that was influenced by the bands in England’s two-tone movement as well as artists such as the Clash, UB40 and Bob Marley. Their "Boston Blue Beat" sound, a mix of upbeat two-tone ska, rock ‘n’ roll and calypso with a substantial reggae undertone, made them, along with The Toasters, the premier bands kickstarting the third wave of ska in the 1980s. Other bands quickly followed their example resulting in a lively scene in Boston and much of the United States.
King Django is an American bandleader, singer, songwriter, arranger, engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, especially in the genres of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, rhythm & blues and soul. Other influences in his music have included traditional jazz, swing, klezmer, hardcore/punk rock, hip-hop and electronica.
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world. Byron Lee died on 4 November 2008, after suffering from cancer for a sustained period.
Deal's Gone Bad is a band from Chicago, Illinois. Their sound mixes reggae, rocksteady, and ska music with American soul. They have been together since 1994, with numerous lineup changes over the years. The current incarnation has been mostly stable since 2003. The band hews to a more traditional ska-reggae sound while many others working in the genre morphed into a more punk variety.
Victims is the eighth album by the band Steel Pulse, released in 1991.
Fromohio is the third album by the American alternative rock band Firehose, released in 1989. The album maintained the acoustic and folky sound of If'n.
New York Fever is an album by the American band the Toasters, released in 1992. The band supported the album with a North American tour.
Southern Steel is the fourth studio album by the American guitarist Steve Morse, released in 1991. "Cut to the Chase" appeared on the soundtrack to Ski Patrol. "Simple Simon" was a minor heavy metal radio hit. Morse promoted the album with a North American tour.
Friendly as a Hand Grenade is an album by the American band Tackhead. It was released in 1989 through TVT Records.
The Prophets is an album by the Ivorian musician Alpha Blondy, released in 1989. He is credited with his band, the Solar System. Blondy sang in French, Dioula, Arabic, and English.
Excursion on the Version is the second and final album by the English dance band Beats International, released in 1991. The title refers to the reggae terminology for borrowing sounds and rhythms from existing songs to create new versions; Norman Cook adopted the phrase to describe his production methods.
Too Wicked is an album by the British reggae band Aswad, released in 1990.
Pop 'n' Mento is the third album by Jamaican mento band the Jolly Boys, released in September 1989 by American label First Warning and British label Cooking Vinyl. The album was produced by American singer-songwriter Jules Shear, who discovered the Jolly Boys performing in a Port Antonio hotel. He digitally recorded the group in one take, using a minimal set-up to accommodate the group's acoustic instruementation. The record features a set of mento standards, and mixed elements from the genre's past with contemporary sounds.
