I’ve been after a copy of Duck Rock on CD for a couple of years now. But OF COURSE I’ve got a cassette version, natch. I’m amazed I didn’t get round to buying it on vinyl back in the day. It was during that strange phase where you had a limited budget with so much music to explore.
Duck Rock was always on the radar back in the early 80s but the pace of change and my musical tastes took over. One month it was Duck Rock and the next it was King Kurt.
The excitement this music holds for me is the same now as it was back then, even without actually owning a copy. Duck Rock was pretty much Year Zero for me. It sounded so fresh.
It’s not just the early introduction to hip hop in its most crudest form, but also the African rhythm explorations that McLaren was undertaking. He was well ahead of his time.
Of course he’s an absolute charlatan, a thieving magpie, but it helped that he was stealing from the best. Duck Rock is more a collaboration project of which McLaren is purely the curator.
Missing from my collection now is the mini follow-up album Would Ya Like More Scratchin? I’m not even sure if this is available on CD.
R and I clocked a job lot on cassette in a Soho record shop a couple of years ago going for around a tenner. I probably should buy a vinyl version, even if I am 40 odd years late to the party.
