Dub CD 13 Items

Heavyweight soul providers Fat Freddy’s Drop are about to take flight once again with the worldwide release of new album Blackbird!

Jamaican love songs always came across as heartfelt poetry whether they conveyed a broken heart, unrequited love or even the message ‘it’s all over don’t bother to come back’ anecdotes. But whatever the mood the singers of these songs were so good and versatile that putting such subject matter over in a few verses was always so moving and believable. Jamaican love songs were a constant in the ever evolving sounds and journey’s that reggae music took us on, from ska to rocksteady to the early reggae sounds of the late 1960’s early 1970’s. We have complied a great selection of songs that all deal with that timeless subject matter. Max Romeo’s heartfelt ‘Sometimes’ opens our set in fine style, known more for his roots singing this song proves what a great singer he is. The Melodians a great Jamaican vocal group are featured here with ‘Best Girl’. The Sensations provide us with our title track ‘Born To Love You ‘and the theme for this compilation a great rocksteady tune with fantastic harmonies. Alton Ellis gives us the soulful ‘Room Full Of Tears’. Ken Boothe provides us with his rendition of Dennis Brown’s ‘Money In My Pocket’ the ode that money cannot buy you everything. Cornell Campbell sings one of his most overlooked classic songs with his prideful `She Wears My Ring’. The great singer of love songs himself Mr John Holt tells us that we should all `Reconsider’, before giving up on love and a great lost singer Monty Morris gives us two great examples of how to find love in `Do It My Way’ and `Magic Moments’. A great selection delivered as only Jamaica can do with style and feeling…….

Hope you enjoy the set …greetings from Jamaica… love songs for all…

Tapper Zukie still asking the questions and stating the facts that few artists of his calibre would attain to.His classic Dee-Jay style has been copied by many but bettered by few.Over some of his killer rhythms that he previously worked up while producing fellow roots groups such as ‘Prince Allah’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Junior Ross and the Spears’. Alongside some fresh rhythms, he has taken these as a backbone to some further questions and biblical reasoning that needed answering. Tapper tells it as it is on this mighty collection of tunes put together under the name ’X is Wrong’. This is the first time this set of remarkable tracks have seen a proper release only previously being available as a download from Tapper’s website. A great set of songs that finally get the release they deserve…. Hope you enjoy the set….

During the eighties dancehall era, a number of record producers claimed to be the real authentic sound of downtown Kingston but Ossie Thomas’ Black Solidarity label, operating out of Delamere Avenue in the heart of the ghetto, was the real deal.

“Black Solidarity was a youth club in the Kingston 13 ghetto in a road named Crescent Road and it was a Rasta come up with the name Black Solidarity. But through the political violence a get high man start to spread rumours saying Black Solidarity a go gets guns to go kill off people and it’s a revolutionary Cuban thing we’re there ‘pon! A lot of people used to go away to Cuba and we called them brigadista. So, through it was in a PNP area man start spreading rumours saying the PNP a go plan to send the whole of Black Solidarity to Cuba and them all turn brigadista!

So, the rumours kinda mashed up the club! But we held on to the name and said, ‘we’ll give you a record label named Black Solidarity’. So, after that I talked to the Rasta who coined the words and he said, ‘I have to rate you’ and me say ‘why?’ and the man say, ‘Black Solidarity is a struggle and you realise that’ and me say ‘Yeah… me realise’. So, we take it up serious and deal with it and make it work! You know what I mean?” Ossie Thomas

There was no safe uptown haven to retreat to after work had finished but, after growing up in the deprived Kingston neighbourhoods of Denham Town and Jones Town, Ossie Thomas had nothing to be afraid of.

“This was the start of the seventies when the political rivalry got heated between the JLP and the PNP and the shots start fire… you know. Mum got scared and said she’s going to get a safer place for us to live so she moved up into the hills of St. Andrew… then six months after she died! Can you imagine that? She’d gone to the safest place and died there. From that me just go right back to Kingston… I said to myself ‘don’t be scared… if you’re gonna die you’re gonna die’. From that me not scared of Kingston… me just say to myself ‘my mother scared of Kingston and run and left Kingston’ but through me just live there all of my life on any street downtown me just feel comfortable.” Ossie Thomas

This album provides an insightful glimpse into life in these unforgiving Kingston neighbourhoods describing not only the poverty and desperation but also how, at times, styles, fashions and the cathartic joys of music and the dancehall could transform this harsh, unforgiving environment into one of joyous celebration.

Love & Fire is the seventh full-length studio album from the multi-platinum selling reggae hybrid band The Black Seeds. It was developed over the past few years, beginning with a series of creative sessions in 2018 at the band’s creative incubator The Surgery in Wellington, New Zealand.

The original plan was to then do a classic “band in a room recording,” which got thrown out the window once the pandemic hit and lockdowns began. At that point, the group got creative, working remotely between various home studios of the band members, and the result is as strong a record as they’ve ever done, managing to capture the feelings of the past few years in a cohesive set of new songs.

The Black Seeds continue to evolve musically while defying expectations, yet still always seem to sound like no one else but themselves.

The 100th release on Pressure Sounds is the brilliant set of I Mo Jah's ‘Rockers from the Land of Reggae’ and ‘Words in Dub’, as two single vinyl releases, and a double cd. It's surprising that these two albums have not been re-released before, as both albums are seriously sought after. There will be 3 bonus tracks on each of the CDs. The albums come with full sleevenotes with excellent sound quality. The CD pack includes a full package with graphics and the usual high quality annotation and mastering. _____ . ______
Notes for the two albums:

A contemporary of Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus, Eric Donaldson and Freddie McKay, Philip Fullwood started out composing for Studio One and playing percussion for Burning Spear.

Both "Rockers from the Land of Reggae" and "Words in Dub" were backed by Sly & Robbie, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Clive "Azul" Hunt, Bingy Bunny and Flabba Holt, among others.

The striking sleeve of "Rockers...", in black and white with green handwritten typography, told the story of Jamaica, with Arawaks overseeing the arrival of Christopher Columbus’ ship Santa Maria, whilst between two sound systems the dreads were dancing and smoking a spliff under a tree. The art was drawn by Magnus Johnstone, a painter and deejay who presented the radio show ‘Reggae Mukasa’ on WMBR, and would later become the foremost champion of the burgeoning hip hop scene in Boston.

“When I made "Rockers from the Land of Reggae" I was taking about 500 to Jamaica and I was told I had to have a license to go through the customs. I got fed up and I just leave the album with them. They wanted me to get a license and all them things, and I said ‘Why I want a license to bring my own thing to Jamaica?’. They said no, so I leave them at customs. I don’t know what happened to them. Maybe they sell them. And that was the end of it. I give the rest of them to Chin Randy’s in Jamaica Queens to distribute.”

And so "Rockers from the Land of Reggae" soon vanished into obscurity. By 1983 Phillip Fullwood had settled permanently in the US and virtually retired from music. Over the years, partly fuelled by its extreme rarity, the album’s reputation has grown immensely, and original copies now command a very high price. Phillip is thrilled that this reissue will now expose it to a wider audience.
“Life happen that way. I got kids and grandkids. I’m just a small guy who was with Spear and just tried to do my thing, like everybody else in the entertainment biz. My occupation, my passport you know says entertainer. Wishing a t’ing, yunno.”

"Words in Dub", the highly unique set, released in a stark hand-printed sleeve, comprised self-produced rhythm tracks and some donated by friends, such as ‘Africa Rock’, a dub of ‘See Dem Da’ (Jah Marcus Roots 7”) by Burning Spear, with member Rupert Wellington on lead vocals. The first side also featured dubs of Purple Lights’ ‘Pestilence’, fronted by the singer Bangie, and ‘Revolution’ by Jah Blue & The Originals, who included Winston Rodney’s brother. ‘Reorganize The Race (Marcus Say)’, with its dense layers of digital reverb in the intro, later features singing about ‘weeping and wailing’ also by Jah Blue & The Originals, though the vocal cut was never released. Several rhythms would later get a do-over by Phillip’s American-based group I-Mo-Jah, perhaps the most thrilling being ‘Jah Say Love’, rerecorded by I-Mo-Jah as ‘Peace & Love’. ‘Hotter Fire In Babylon’ is a dub of Burning Spear’s ‘Spear Burning’ (Spear 7”), and the album closes with ‘Bubbling’, a dub of ‘Maybe’ (Yah Congo 12”) recorded by Phillip’s long-time friend Eric Donaldson.

The original recordings were primarily laid at Channel One with Barnabas and Crucial Bunny at the mixing board, with ‘Hotter Fire In Babylon’ recorded at Randy’s by Chin Randy himself, and ‘Bubbling’ at Dynamic Studio. The final dub mixes were done at Channel One and also at the legendary Black Ark by Phillip Fullwood’s own hands.

Soul Jazz Records’ new ‘Studio One Dub Fire Special’ brings together 18 heavyweight dub cuts, all recorded at 13 Brentford Road in the 1970s.
Featuring a stellar selection of dub cuts to classic and foundation songs recorded at Studio One with music from the legendary in-house bands – The Sound Dimension, New Establishment, Soul Defenders and Brentford All-Stars – featuring the likes of reggae’s finest musicians - Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Cedric Brooks, Freddie McGregor and more.
These fresh dub sounds employed the mighty mixing desk skills of The Dub Specialist, aka Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, Sylvan Morris and Scientist to full effect. Studio One Dub Fire Special features our latest chapter of raw, stripped-down bass and drum sounds direct from Studio One, ‘the University of Reggae’.

by Hey-O-Hansen
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With "Sonn und Mond" Pingipung presents an insight into the archives of the Austrian Dub Act Hey-O-Hansen. "Sonn und Mond" is far more than just a "Best-Of". As the subtitle reveals, this record collects "Rare and Unreleased Austro-Dub Tracks", which are in the first place scarce gems from the last decade’s oeuvre of this outstanding duo. Hey-O-Hansen have been famous for their musical output on remote formats such as rare vinyl singles or even on cassette tapes, through their own label heyrec. Following the contribution "Rflu" to the compilation "Pingipung Blows: the Brass", "Sonn und Mond" is the first feature-length cooperation between Pingipung and Hey-O-Hansen. Why Austro-Dub? Obviously, Helmut Erler and Michael Wolf who are Hey-O-Hansen originally come from Austria. Raised to the off-beats of Tyrolian folk music, then practising offbeats in Ska and Rocksteady bands they eventually moved to Berlin in order to explore samplers and sequencers for their music, alone or as Duo. Soon they had their professional studio, call it the musical instrument of Dub. And they literally carried it on stage for their many gigs. This is what makes Hey-O-Hansen’s tracks so special. Their extraordinary skills and tricks in sound engineering join their detailed, Lo-Fi playfulness which is based on the artistic cross-grainedness of the duo and the fact that they appreciate the openness of a live performance as essential for their compositions. Maybe that is why numerous guest musicians appear on this record; for example Dirk von Lowtzow (Vocals), Gordon Odameteys (Percussion), Olaf Rupp (Gitarre), and Kazumi (Vocals), just to name a few. In Hey-O-Hansen’s music the deepness of Dub is always combined with the catchiness of a Chanson or the stubborn straightness of a dancefloor track. Although "Sonn und Mond" shows above all the versatility of Hey-O-Hansen by pointing at hidden beauty, this record contains several hits and evergreens such as "J'ai peur" or "Dreams never die".