ONE LOVE: REGGAE: Matt Grimes: Anarcho-punk scholar

“Ok so the album is Dr. Alimantado's "Best Dressed Chicken In Town". I bought this in 1979 from the Virgin Record Store in Brighton, so I was 14 at the time. I was massively into punk rock and I'd heard John Peel on the radio talk about punk and The Clash and he was starting to sort of reference reggae music and I started to pay a bit of an interest in it. And I remember John Peel one night playing a song called "Poison Flour" that comes off this particular album and it really really struck me. And I thought I need to hear more of that so I literally went down to the Virgin Record Store in Brighton when it was still a very small Independent store;I think it was one of the first stores that Virgin set up. I went in there and said 'have you got this, have you got this'. And they went 'No sorry but we can get it for you'. And I think Virgin had connections with Island Records and what have you and it was about a week later that I went back to the store and they said 'yes it came in yesterday'. And I've still got the original copy that I bought in 1979. I still play it at least two or three times a year and it just reminds me of my younger days but also my first introduction into reggae which has now become a large part of my listening habits over the past forty something years.” 

Matt Grimes: Parkside Building, Birmingham City University, 4th April 2018 

Dr.Alimantado: "Best Dressed Chicken in Town" released 1978 

Matt Grimes