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Urban – It is blatant theft but in my view what’s wrong with that? Its either good or bad music, the fact that it samples doesnt matter too much to me. I dont see a huge difference between the Rolling Stones reinterprting blues to Lily singing over old reggae tracks. Pop has always eaten itself.
Agree with you about the over the top Winehouse hype, she’s clearly not a “unique genius”, but she does make some damn fine tunes. Like this post hopefully people who get into her will go on to discover Betty Roche.

Paulo – Thanks, it would be nice to hear a bit more new reggae music I agree. With that in mind, where can I hear your band?

I don’t really listen to much mainstream music, and hadn’t even heard of her when I saw her on Saturday Night Live. I was blown away, thinking, “Wow, she has that old reggae sound that I really dig.” About a week later, I was listening to some stuff in my collection and heard Reggae Merengue and recognized it as one of the songs she performed on SNL. I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or not. I’d like to hear more artists coming out with that old reggae sound, but I’d really like it if some artists actually making NEW songs with those sounds were getting some recognition. (Disclaimer: I play in a reggae band, so I’m not entirely unbiased.)

The easiest way to appear original is always to borrow from the obscure. Last week amidst all the Grammy nonsense I heard a commentary on the radio about Amy Winehouse’s quirky and unique genius! And she might indeed sound unique to those who’ve never heard Betty Roche. I’d bet the ranch that Winehouse grew up listening to Betty. I’ll credit her with good taste in choosing stylistic sources, but not with originality.