Hopes and Wishes

Ahhh, January. The start of a New Year and yet another transfer window. Hope for a better year, or continuance of a good year past, dodgy "in the know' accounts on Twitter and ridiculous speculation in regards to who your club is going to bring in. Isn't it a magical time?

For The Suits P4P Rankings: January 2013

It goes without saying: a lot changes in a year. In boxing that holds true more than in most sports. Although consistency and longevity are two greatly respected traits in the business, like many other sports, when you're dealing with boxing, as volatile ans fickle sport as any,  in which one's entire world can change with a perfectly delivered punch there is absolutely no guarantees. See: Victor Ortiz/Josesito Lopez or any planned future opponent of Canelo Alvarez' fight before the "big one" with Canelo.

So Long, Mr. Charmers.

So here you are again, another Friday crammed into a sweaty club while the reggae beat pumps through speakers as big as mum and dads wardrobe. Bass so loud it is sending waves of sound threw your suit jacket. The smell of Brut and cigarette smoke and stale Red Stripe creating an intoxicating aroma. The three wouldn't seem as though they would be the sort of mixture that you'd happily wake up smelling of tomorrow morning, but that's exactly what you know will happen.

First Cut: Song Bird

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We figured with the tragic passing of a Jamaican music legend, Lloyd Charmers, this week it was only right that our First Cut this week honored the man. Although Derrick Harriot would later go on to produce many of the most famous hits on the Song Bird label, it was Mr. Charmers that kicked it off right. A bit of a different take on the typical skinhead reggae track thanks to the addition of the steel pans, this one is a real smooth cut. The sort of thing Charmers was famous for. His loss is yet another massive one for the Jamaican music industry, one of it's most prolific producers and performers in it's early days. But his music will forever live on in sounds like this. A proper first cut if there ever was one.

West Ham 0 Reading 1

Dire. Only way to describe today's performance. James Collins, a model of inconsistency if there ever was one, gifted Reading only their second win of the season with an absolute howler only five minutes into the match. What followed was one of the most agonizing performances of the season.

First Cut: Blue Cat

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"Are you ready to rocksteady?" is the line that kick off this double sided slab of gold. The Pioneers, whether working with Leslie Kong or Joe Gibbs, were almost surefire hit makers from 1968 to 1970. On this Blue Cat outing it was Gibbs behind the controls once again and that means it is real hard to decide which is the better tune. "Shake It Up" is a lovely piece of late rocksteady magic while "Goodies Are The Greatest" is yet another one of those killer tracks taking on the topic of the rude boy phenomenon. It's a fitting start to the label, with many of the biggest tunes in its early days being Joe Gibbs productions. Oddly enough, for a Trojan imprint, it would also go on to feature some absolute stormers from Coxsone Dodd. Other producers popping up include Bunny Lee, Charles Ross and Enos McLeod amongst others. Biggest tune on the label? May just be "Dip It Up" by The Sparkers, a Rannie Williams production. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

2012 Fighter of The Year: Nonito Donaire

Last night Nonito Donaire gave For The Suits a real nice Christmas present. What was it? Taking away any chance of even discussing anyone else as our Fighter of the Year for 2012. Going into the fight we felt the same. After he blasted our Jorge Arce in three rounds any sort of inkling of doubt was immediately erased from our minds. It's been a banner year for the Filipino Flash.

West Ham 0 West Bromich Albion 0

Winston Reid, a shining example of the sort of solid central defender we've lacked for awhile now, had maybe his most impressive display of the season so far as West Ham and West Brom played out a scoreless draw at The Hawthorns. Yes, it was The Hawthorns. The need for a reminder comes with West Brom being perhaps the quietest supporters in the EPL. Maybe our lads were out in full voice. Either way. throughout what was largely a middling match with bursts of action, "Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "Come On You Irons" echoed without fail.

First Cut: Clandisc

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The Dynamites were some bad cats. Clancy Eccles was a bad cat. So, needless to say, whenever they got together some real magic happened. This was certainly the case for the first 45 to be released on the Clandisc label: "Skokiaan". Clandisc was the Trojan subsidiary set up to showcase the productions of Mr. Eccles. In this track all the members of The Dynamites get their chance to shine, from Winston Wright down to Paul Douglas on drums. Really a skinhead reggae instrumental that deserves to get more love than it does. Then you flip it over and King Stitt is hanging out. His contribution is just as good, though not necessarily the typical DJ vocal he became famous for. Instead on this Stitt borders on singing throughout. Yet another impressive start for a label. Although later output on the label would vary from absolutely outstanding (see: most of King Stitt and the Dynamites further output) to absolutely underwhelming (see: Westmorelites "Zion") there's enough good on this label to make it highly collectable.

On The Bus

You're sat on the bus. Buzzing, absolutely buzzing. The feeling tends to be few and far between at times. Too many disappointed trips to record shops and clothes shops around town. It isn't easy to be pleased when you're so discerning, as you now know all too well. Everyone else can buy their mass produced music, clothes and beer if it makes them happy. That isn't you, it's never been.

The Idiocy After Defeat

Manny Pacquaio's devastating knockout loss on Saturday evening has brought about displays of both the sports greatest, enduring qualities and it's ugly, more recent, tendencies. Juan Manuel Marquez, seemingly possessed by a need to train harder than he ever has before in the desire to prove all his doubters wrong, achieved a remarkable victory. Both fighters prior to Saturday's fourth showdown made it clear their ultimate goal was a knockout victory, leaving no chance of a dubious judging decision deciding who would be declared victor.

West Ham 2 Liverpool 3

It can only be described with one word: gutwrenching. After coming back from a Glen Johnson wonder goal and taking the lead with a Mark  Noble penalty West Ham lost their star man and transfer target, Momo Diame, to injury in the second half as it all fell apart with Joe Cole and Jonjo Shelvey putting the match to rest.

FNF: Manny Pacquiao versus Marco Antonio Barrera I

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It can sometimes be lost in all the hype and celebrity that has become part of anything attached to Manny Pacquiao nowadays that every bit of his stardom has come from his displays in the ring. He is the type of fighter who put his name on the map by having fight after hellacious fight with the likes on Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and of special note on this weekend, Juan Manuel Marquez. Although the trilogy, soon to become a quadrilogy, with Marquez might come to define his career we wanted to go back to the fight which was the start of the Pacquiao legend. Going into their showdown in November 2003 Pacquiao was a bit of an unknown quantity. Barrera was certainly the bigger attraction, as the pre fight coverage would make clear. Most of it went to the fact Barrera had brain surgery six years prior, meant to fix irregular blood vessels in his brain. Pacquaio was an after thought. It's not hard to understand why at the time as Pacquaio had been toiling in some of the sports least followed weight divisions, the fight with Barrera coming as a big step up in quality. It took until the third round for Pacquaio to gain the boxing worlds attention. By the end everyone had witnessed the birth of the superstar millions around the world have become familiar with.

Momo Can't Go

The Daily Mail reported today that one of West Ham's standouts so far this season, Senegal international Momo Diame, has a "trigger" clause built into his contract which would allow him to leave the club for another of his choice providing the buyer meets the "trigger" price. One doesn't need to elaborate too extensively to understand why this would be calamitous for the club and its ambitions were it to happen.

For The Suits Label Guide: Unity, Part 2

Last week when we begun this musical journey we were, in all honesty, overwhelmed by the amount of quality releases on the Unity label. What was initially going to be one article quickly turned into something that needed to be broken down into two parts. The quality of the label in 1969 alone was staggering, a prolific output which most labels would be blessed to have over the entire course of the labels lifetime. Things didn't slow down in 1970.

First Cut: Big Shot

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The roll continues! Big Shot was a Trojan subsidiary label, first releasing tunes in 1968. They started with an stone cold classic: "Reggae Girl" by The Tennors. Produced by Tennors founder George "Clive" Murphy it was the start of a run of big tunes for the Tennors in the early days of reggae. The B side is also a winner "Donkey Trot" by Clive's All Stars, a solid instrumental. Nothing mind blowing mind you but certainly far from boring. The sort of tune you'd listen to on a Sunday afternoon, not the sort of thing you'd want to hear on Saturday night. "Reggae Girl" you most certainly would. It was the start of a number of high quality releases on the label, as one might expect when production credits are split between the likes of Bunny Lee, Derrick Harriot, George Murphy and Winston Riley. The sort of label well worth your time to search out releases on.

Brutus Grimfit?

Well it hasn't taken Brutus too long to completely lose the plot. They posted their Spring/Summer 2013 lineup earlier this week and it's, well, special. Apparently they've given up on making the quality shirts they were pumping out when the company first made a return a couple of years ago. We're still not entirely sure this isn't just an early April Fools joke, at least we're hoping it's a joke of some kind. The sight of some of their great button downs having been butchered down and used to make these new terrible shirts may be too much for those with a weak heart. We all got a couple of great shirts out of 'em though, right?

West Ham 3 Chelsea 1

In a season that has been quite remarkable so far, today's derby win over Chelsea has to be the defining moment of it. Few supporters and even fewer commentators would have thought it at all likely West Ham were capable of beating Chelsea. Beating Chelsea 3-1 was surely out of the question. But everything came together today for a truly memorable win in our return season to the EPL. After going down to a Juan Mata strike set up by fellow Spaniard Fernando Torres, just a few minutes after Winston Reid came close to nodding home after a James Collins free kick, Kevin Nolan, always reliable, had a goal in the 33rd minute denied. Where have we seen that happen before? Certainly wasn't good for the nerves after Man City's frustrating let down. Nolan came close again near the end of the first half, nearly converting from a free kick. Petr Cech barely got his fingers to it to knock it clear.