Mystic Bowie & The Talking Dreads @ Putnam Place 1/26/24

By Rudy Lu On Jan 29, 2024

Although it is late January in Upstate NY, Saratoga Springs’ Putnam Place was the hot place to be and also revisit some of the great music from the late 70s-early 80s reggae style. Band frontman Mystic Bowie fell in love with the Talking Heads music while growing up in Jamaica. As a musician he got to play with two former members of the Tom Tom Club, the hip hop offshoot of the Talking Heads. This inspired him to form the Talking Dreads, a band that covers the Talking Heads except in the reggae style.

Backed by keyboards, bass, drums and guitar and two female singers, gave the Talking Heads a Caribbean accent. The band was as tight as a drum skin. Both backup singers were featured in solos and duets with Mystic Bowie.

The opening was “This Must Be The Place-Naive Melody,” a beautiful song from “Speaking in Tongues.” It was made more joyous with the emphatic reggae beat.

“Life During Wartime,” David Byrne’s ode to a dystopian chaotic future, is turned into a carnival with a syncopated reggae beat, one had to listen closely to the lyrics to recognize this song.

“Wordy Rappinghood,” along with “Genius of Love,” both Tom Tom Club originals had beats that insisted the crowd dance with Genius being the more lightheaded of the two. It was pointed out that “Genius” is the second most sampled song in hip hop.

“Heaven” featured Tracey Recalde performing the lead vocals on this celebration of heaven “Where nothing ever happens”.

A reggae treatment of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” would make any Deadhead feel at home.

Reggae fusion was represented by Third World’s dance hit “Now That We Found Love.’”

Big Brother & Holding Company’s “Piece of My Heart” was a cover completely out of the blue but certainly made you feel good.

David Byrne’s song about psychotic paranoia “Psycho Killer” also had music that was contradictory to the lyrics.

Mystic was centerstage of his set, running and jumping from one end of the stage to the other, dreadlocks flying.

The Big Takeover

The opener was The Big Takeover, the Hudson Valley’s stalwart ska band. Fronted by Jamaica born Hudson Valley resident Neenee Rushie, the band ran through a long set of primarily originals. They show lots of other influences other than their ska roots. Having toured all over the country, and influenced by their current members musical backgrounds; they have absorbed world music and Motown into their sound. The trombone, saxophone front end adds meat to the music. Guthrie Lord’s guitar was often given a showcase and he sure took it, playing wild rhythms and jumping in time to the music. Rob Kissner’s bass and Roger Rochelle were always in the pocket provided while percussionist Manuel Quintana added color. This is no stranger to our area, they have appeared regularly in the 518 and certainly know how to warm a crowd up.

Mystic Bowie advised us that reggae is an easy style to play but hard to play well. Both bands demonstrated that they play the music well.