i know its been a long time and i came back to start posting a bunch of new tunes but wordpress has decided to start charging $$ to post mp3s so i’m looking for a new way to do this blog….
for now i’m moving it to….
so check me out there and i’ll continue posting my backlog of used 45s that i have picked up in last 6 months or so….
Wailing Souls- Sweet Sugar Plum Plum
What might as well be a double A side featuring two hits from the Wailing Souls circa 1979. Backed/produced by Sly and Robbie prior to any of their signature syndrum/electronic embellishments (although the hard gated snare sound is a clear precursor of that direction). Its easy to see why both these songs were huge smashes…..simple catchy vocal melodies, lots of infectious percussion clatter and (of course) rock solid bass and drum playing. Love that clear/tough late 70s rub-a-dub style production.
Horace Andy & The Paragons- Man Next Door
Haven’t been able to find too much info about this one. From what I have found and the overall sound it seems that it is a 70s King Tubby production (backed by the Aggrovators) and then reworked at some point (possibly in the mid/late 90s?) to include the syndrums/etc…possibly by Mafia&Fluxy (the UK answer to Sly and Robbie according to some…) Dub may or may not be by Mad Professor (although it doesn’t really sound like his work to my ears)….Not much helpfull info but enjoy the tune….its a favorite around here. At least its much more uptempo and to the point than the Massive Attack version featuring Mr. Hinds as well…
Like many before me (probably?), I came to love Jamaican musics through Punk/Post Punk/etc… and specifically Adrian Sherwood’s early productions on On U Sound. So I was pretty stoked to find this single since I fondly remember (and still play) the New Age Steppers version of it. Unfortunately I discovered that this was not the mid 70s vibe I was hoping it would be but instead a mid 80s(probably a 1987 release) sounding Jazzbo production. Nonetheless Horace’s vocals are still outstanding and the track has its own appeal with layered electronic percussion and other synth tones bouncing in and out around a nice driving (not too thick) synth bass line. The dub is titled “2″ since as far as I can tell I recently found another version of this same production with a different dub. You may see that in the near future for comparison sake. I recently purchased a repress of Junior Byles doing the original version of this song that I really wanted so now I can jam out to that as well.
Barrington Levy- Bounty Hunter
Henry “Junjo” Lawes produced Barrington Levy number from the early ’80s. This version is a recent repress of what was most likely originally a Volcano label issue (Junjo’s imprint). Barrington’s haunting vocals blend seemlessly with the economic arrangement performed by the Roots Radics to create as dread an atmosphere as possible. Early Dancehall streetwise concerns but just as heavy and pleading as the deepest of Roots rockers. The flip side of course has a killer version produced by Junjo and mixed (presumably) by Scientist for maximum (delayed) effect. This song (and many other Junjo productions) takes on an added heaviness given that he was gunned down in 1999 in an unsolved drive by shooting.
Dennis Brown- Children of Israel
The Revolutionaries- Bionic Man
The first of many Dennis Brown tunes to come. Such a killer voice. Given the title, expecting some heavy dread Roots vibes would be appropriate and you will not be disappointed. The Revolutionaries, featuring Sly’s drumming constantly pushing things forward along with some killer organ riffs, provide an economical but throughly enjoyable backing. The dub subtracts the organ (or moves it into the background) adds some horns and tambourine and off course throws on large amounts of delay. Killer delayed sax solo as well…
These are the credits for the album version of this song at least….guessing the dub was done at King Tubby’s….
Vocals : Dennis Brown
Drums : Sly Dunbar & Mikey Boo Richards
Bass : Lloyd Parks
Guitar : Willie Lindo & Bo Peep
Piano : Franklyn Bubbler Waul
Organ : Winston Wright
Trombone : Nambo Robinson
Saxophone : Dean Fraser
Trumpet : David Madden
Heavy dread vibes on this one (along with a lot of surface noise, especially on the A side). Almost any song that opens with a heavy thunder crash you know is going to bring something serious and this one is no exception, a glorious organ melody takes over leading into the verse which talks about Jah providing a “stone” to destroy Rome and assorted other injustices….
The B side’s dub, performed masterfully (of course) by the King (Tubby) himself, is a lesson in economy. The track is stripped to its barest bones for most of this side allowing glimpses of delayed and decaying vocals and/or organ to shine through in a haze before the skeleton of the song once again takes over. Hard hitter.
Here are some credits I found for this one (well from a collection this song is found on…I believe that this was a Soul Syndicate backed track so those guys listed are probably the ones playing)
Vocals: Prince Alla
Backing Band: The Revolutionaries & The Soul Syndicate
Producer: Bertram Brown & Tony Mack & R. Lightbourne & Prince Alla
Engineer: Scientist
Recording: Channel One (Kingston, JA)
Mixing: Channel One (Kingston, JA) & King Tubby’s (Kingston, JA)
Mixing Engineer: Ernest Hoo Kim & King Tubby & Scientist
Drums: Santa Davis & Max Edwards & Sly Dunbar
Bass: Fully Fullwood & Robbie Shakespeare
Lead Guitar: Chinna & Tony Chin
Keyboards: Gladdy Anderson & Jah McKaya & Keith Sterling
Sax: Deadly Headly
Harmonica: Jimmy Becker
Percussion: Skully
Prince Jazzbo- Left Rite System
Icomstan and The Carters- Time is the Master
The A side is Prince Jazzbo production from the 1974 (if the limited information I could find is correct). This track finds Jazzbo toasting about crime, punishment, systems of power, equal rights etc ..over a pretty energetic dub including some soaring horn interjections…
The B side I was able to find less information about but it sounds to me at least to be a more 80s style Jazzbo production. Synths and drum machine sounding rhythmics. Nice sparse dub with punctuating horns and percolating background synths.
On Ujama (Jazzbo’s label)…I have no idea who was playing what or where this was recorded/etc but its a nice enjoyable disc all the same…
Jacob Miller- Version (False Rasta)
Cruical solo side of deep roots from Inner Circle (of COPS theme song fame…)’s former frontman (Miller died in a car accident years before that crime was committed to tape). On Rockers so we know its an Augustus Pablo production/jam and the heavy melodica basis of the track could only be his work. Awesome phasor/flanging throughout. No credits on this one but we are going to assume this is a King Tubby mix and dub(maybe with Prince Jammy lurking somewhere close by). The dub is especially spaced and spacious.
Get lost in that echo…
Don’t know too much about this one. Think it was probably grabbed because of the baseball themed label art….from a little research I have found that Floyd Perch was more popularly known in Dancehall circles under the stage name Nigger Kojak (or just Kojak)…..couldn’t find any mention of this single though. What I can tell you is that Floyd rides the Real Rock riddim here on the A side talking about how ‘hot’ Jamtown is lately…on the B side the trombone riding the melody line takes over and makes for a pretty enjoyable dub. Lots of surface noise throughout.
From a little further research the GG’s Hit label was run by producer Alvin Ranglin (so he most likely produced this session). No idea about the studio, players, or mixing engineer….
