Various Artists - More Pressure Vol. 1 (Straight To The Head)

Various Artists - More Pressure Vol. 1 (Straight To The Head)
Label: Pressure Sounds
Record date: 197X
Album style: Deejay, Dub, Lee Library, Roots, Vocals

This album is simply stunning - in our opinion - and we have chosen tracks that are our personal favourites so every track is a stone dead killer. Although some of them may be slightly unfamiliar don't panic as this really is the crème de la crème of reggae music.

'Diverse Doctrine' by Ras I Buna, Michael Rose with 'We Shall Overcome' included with its searing dub version and The 'Way It Is' by I Kong are not only extremely rare but also fantastic to listen to... 'Folk Song' by Uhuru (Black Uhuru's first ever recording) rare as hens teeth!!! ~pressure.co.uk

Tracklist:
1. Ras Ibuna - Diverse Doctrine
2. The Village Bunch - Diverse Doctrine Version
3. Ricky Storm - The Way It Is
4. Ricky Storm - The Way It Is Version
5. Michael Rose - We Shall Over Come
6. The Key - Over Come
7. Bongo Gene - Skyjack
8. Bongo Gene All Stars - Skyjack Version
9. Cornell Campbell - Free Meal Ticket
10. Barrington Levy - The Winner (Twelve Inch Version)
11. Dillinger - Nah Chuck It
12. The Hardy Boys - Chucky Dub
13. Tafari Syndicate - Free For All
14. Tafari Syndicate - All For Free
15. Black Uhuru - Folk Song
16. The Freedom Singers - Folk Song Version
17. The Mercenaries - Eight Against Rome Version

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Linval Thompson & Friends - Rockers From Channel One

Linval Thompson & Friends - Rockers From Channel One
Label: Trojan
Record date: 1978-80
Album style: Dancehall, Deejay, Dub, Lee Library, Rockers, Roots, Vocals

Tracklist:
1. Linval Thompson - Dreader Than Dread
2. Ranking Dread - Natty On The Rock
3. The Revolutionaries - Africa Love Dub
4. Linval Thompson - I Love Marijuana
5. Ranking Dread - Marijuana In My Soul
6. Big Joe - Smoke Marijuana
7. Linval Thompson - Africa Is For Blackman
8. Ranking Dread - Africa
9. Linval Thompson - I Love Jah
10. The Revolutionaries - Wicked Dub
11. Dawn & Christine - Holy Mount Zion
12. The Revolutionaries - Shockin' Rock
13. Linval Thompson - Never Push Your Brother
14. Trinity - Freedom Style
15. The Revolutionaries - Roots Man Dub
16. Linval Thompson - Love Is The Question
17. Big Joe - Love Can Conquer
18. Ranking Dread - Poor Man
19. Linval Thompson - Stop Loving
20. Trinity - Easy Does It
21. Linval Thompson - Lion & Tiger
22. The Revolutionaries - Seventy Nine Rock

Producer : Linval Thompson
Backing Band : The Revolutionaries
Recording Studio: Channel One (Kingston, JA)
Mixing Studio: King Tubby's (Kingston, JA)

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Various Artists - 2 Heavyweight: Another Blood & Fire Sampler

Various Artists - 2 Heavyweight: Another Blood & Fire Sampler
Label: Blood And Fire
Record date: 1973-79
Album style: Deejay, Dub, Lee Library, Roots, Vocal

Another Blood & Fire Sampler sampler featuring seven cuts that are exclusive to this compilation. These include an extended mix of I-Roy's 'Superfly', an I-Roy exclusive, the Leonard 'Santic' Chin production 'Late Hour', and another Santic track, the Tubby-mixed 'Shooter Dub'. From the Striker Lee camp comes a long unavailable Jah Stitch toast 'Jah Help The Dread'; fellow Greenwich Farm producer Don Mais supplies Phillip Fraser's 'You're No Good', the original vocal to the track 'Dub Livity' which appears on Dub In The Roots Tradition. This is presented 'discomix' style, Scientist at the control tower. Lastly, two newly-discovered mixes of two tracks from the Black Ark classic 'Heart Of The Congos', never-before released: the songs are 'La La Bam-Bam' and 'The Wrong Thing'. The remaining nine tracks are from the last eight releases - BAFCD 009 through BAFCD 016 - on Blood and Fire.

The Blood and Fire series has taken the standard of reggae compilations to a new level. Tasteful packaging and unblemished sound quality (re-mastering) exemplify the quality of dub music they showcase. However, for many, the music remains something of an unknown quantity, many of the artists featured in the series having either faded into obscurity or died. Careful not to isolate potential fans, this mid-price compilation is a re-introduction to original bu'n down Babylon music. Names such as King Tubby, Scientist and Prince Jammy give the sampler enough classic material to make a Motown collection jealous. With nine tracks from the last eight releases, and seven exclusives, this sampler is the perfect introduction. ~bloodandfire.co.uk

Tracklist:
1. I Roy - Late Hour
2. Glen Brown & King Tubby - World Dub/Away With The Bad
3. Jah Stitch - Ragga Muffin Style
4. The Congos - La La Bam Bam (Alternative Mix)
5. King Tubby & Santic All Stars - Shooter Dub
6. Phillip Fraser - You're No Good (Disco Mix)
7. The Congos - The Wrong Thing (Alternative Mix)
8. Prince Alla - Only Love Can Conquer
9. Jah Stitch - Jah Help The Dread
10. Scientist & The Soul Syndicate - Dub Bible
11. King Tubby & The Aggrovators - Higher Ranking
12. Prince Alla & Phillip Fraser - Black Rose
13. King Tubby & The Soul Syndicate - Great Stone
14. Glen Brown & King Tubby - Version 78 Style
15. I Roy - Superfly (Extended Mix)
16. Prince Jammy & The Aggrovators - Drums Of Africa

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The Congos - Heart Of The Congos

The Congos - Heart Of The Congos
Label: Blood And Fire, 1996
Record date: 1977
Album style: Black Art, Dub, Lee Library, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Roots, Reggae, Vocals

No reggae album more obscure than the Congos' Heart of the Congos is as rich, and no richer album is as obscure. The Congos were just a duo, airborne falsetto Cedric Myton and tenor Roydel Johnson, who got together in 1976 and approached old acquaintance Lee 'Scratch' Perry about recording an album at his Black Ark Studio. This was in a two-year period when Black Ark (along with King Tubby's) offered the most exciting, unpredictable facilities on the island and attracted top hands like guitarist Ernest Ranglin, organist Winston Wright, and percussionist Noel "Skully" Simms. During the sessions, unrepeatable chemistry resulted in Perry's finest production of a vocal group and a body of songs more vivid than anything else by the Congos. Oddly, Island Records passed on The Heart of the Congos. Perry put it out under his own Black Ark insignia. Then the Congos released in themselves. The British Go-Feet label reissued it in 1980. It has popped up several other times, each edition muddy sounding, incomplete, or both. The handsome Blood and Fire reissue package gathers every snippet; vocal renditions and their dubs, extra Perry-Congos numbers and a second CD of 12-inch remixes. This is a full-length revival meeting in the Promised Land of the Rasta faithful, though nonbelievers can still revel in its fervent activist force. Perry knots electronic and handmade beats with consummate ease while Ranglin and Wright deliver unobtrusive solos that etch like slow acid. The album swims in hazy tones, shot through with mammoth bass rumbles and slow sweet moans from background singers, most often the silky Meditations. The sound that bursts out immediately is Cedric Myton's falsetto. On "Can't Come In" and "Solid Foundation" he seems to breathe the same air as Curtis Mayfield. Roy Johnson puts the vocal dignity and assurance he learned as a member of of all-Rasta bands into his tenor work on tunes like 'Open up the Gate'. The snaps and rumbles that power 'Congoman' make it a party natural, as does the jocular mood of 'At The Feast" Passover plus ganja). Poetically twisted Biblical metaphors add mystery to 'La La Bam-Bam' and especially 'Ark of the Covenant', which fuses that ark and Noah's into a militant salvation granted to 'Even the ants / Safe in a Noah sugar pan.' Still, compassion for humans shines on Heart of the Congos. The mysterious images of 'Fisherman' flow around and around from Jah Rasta/Jesus as a fisher of men, to a provider of spiritual food, to a symbol of the congregation voyaging to redemption. All that is certain is that those who would save their souls must row to reach higher ground. No one sings the parable better than the Congos. ~bloodandfire.com

Tracklist:
Disk 1:
1. Fisherman
2. Congoman
3. Open Up The Gate
4. Children Crying
5. La La Bam Bam
6. Can't Come In
7. Sodom And Gomorrow
8. The Wrong Thing
9. Ark Of The Covenant
10. Solid Foundation
11. At The Feast
12. Nicodemus

Disk 2:
1. Congoman (12" Mix)
2. Congoman Chant
3. Bring The Mackaback
4. Noah Sugar Pan
5. Solid Foundation (Disco Cork Mix)

Producer: Lee Perry
Mixing Engineer: Lee Perry
Vocals: The Congos, Cedric Myton, Congo Ashanti Roy
Backing Vocals: Gregory Isaacs, Earl Morgan, Barry Llewellyn, Candy McKenzie, The Meditations, Watty Burnett
Drums: Sly Dunbar, Mikey Boo Richards, Paul Douglas
Bass: Boris Gardiner, Geoffrey Chung
Lead Guitar: Ernest Ranglin
Rhythm Guitar: Robert Johnson
Organ: Winston Wright
Piano: Keith Sterling
Percussion: Skully, Sticky, Lee Perry
Studio: Black Ark (Kingston, JA)

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Yabby You - Jesus Dread 1972-1977

Yabby You - Jesus Dread 1972-1977
Label: Blood And Fire, 1997
Record date: 1972-77
Album style: Deejay, Dub, Instrumental, Lee Library, Roots, Tubby, Vocals

b. Vivian Jackson, 14 June 1949, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Yabby acquired his nickname from the drawn-out, chanting refrain on his 1972 debut single, "Conquering Lion": "Be You, Yabby Yabby You". Despite courting controversy in his repudiation of Rastafarian godhead Haile Selassie, in favour of a personalized form of Christianity, his output throughout the 70s and early 80s nonetheless rarely deviated far from the orthodox Rastafarianism typically expressed at the time. As leader of the Prophets (additional personnel at various times included Alric Forbes, Dada Smith, Bobby Melody and the Ralph Brothers), Yabby recorded a remarkable series of roots reggae classics, including "Jah Vengeance", "Run Come Rally", "Love Thy Neighbours", "Valley Of Jehosaphat", "Judgement On The Land", "Fire In Kingston", "Chant Down Babylon' and many others, mostly appearing on his own Vivian Jackson and Prophets labels in Jamaica. ~reggaetrain.com

One of the most crucial B&F compilations, if also one of the most obsessive - no less than five versions of 'Jah Vengeance', for instance, follow the original at the close of the first CD. This is one reason why it's so great though - few other collections give you the chance to see rhythms evolving into so many amazingly diverse and subtle new forms, especially in Tubby's hands. Dillinger's version of the Vengeance rhythm, 'Freshly', is probably the deepest bit of dub Tubby ever produced, absolute genius and well worth the admission price by itself. ~discogs.com

Tracklist:
Disk 1:
1. Yabby U - Love Thy Neighbour
2. Yabby U - Conquering Lion
3. Tommy McCook & Vin Gordon - Fisherman Special
4. Big Youth & Yabby U - Yabby Youth
5. King Tubby - Big Youth Fights Against Capitolism
6. Yabby U - Covetous Man
7. Yabby U - Run Come Rally
8. Lee Perry - Rally Dub
9. Yabby U - Anti Christ
10. Dicky Burton - God Is Watching You
11. Augustus Pablo & Yabby U - Pablo Dread In A Red
12. King Tubby - King Tubby's Rock (Dub)
13. Prophets - Warn The Nation
14. King Tubby - Honey Dub
15. Yabby U - Carnal Mind
16. Yabby U - Love Of Jah
17. King Tubby - Love Of Jah Version
18. Yabby U - The Man Who Does The Work
19. Yabby U - Jah Vengeance
20. Tommy McCook - Revenge
21. Dillinger - Freshly
22. Tappa Zukie - Natty Dread On The Mountain Top
23. Trinity - Gwan Anf Lef Me
24. King Tubby - Tubby's Vengeance
25. Tommy McCook - Death Trap

Disk 2:
1. Wayne Wade - Man Of The Living
2. King Tubby - King Tubby's Special
3. Wayne Wade - Lord Of Lords
4. King Tubby - Lord Dub
5. Errol Alphonso - Chant Jah Victory
6. King Tubby - Jah Victory Dub
7. Yabby U - Walls Of Jerusalem
8. King Tubby - Jerusalem Dub
9. Prophets & Trinity - King Pharoah's Plague (Vocal & Dj)
10. Tommy McCook - Plague Of Horn
11. King Tubby - King Pharoah Dub
12. Trinity & Dillinger - Jesus Dread
13. Prophets & Trinity - Chant Down Babylon (Vocal & Dj)
14. King Tubby - Chanting Dub
15. Tommy McCook - Hornsman Chant
16. Yabby U - Fire In A Kingston
17. King Tubby - Fire Dub
18. Yabby U - Judgement On The Land
19. King Tubby - Repatriation Rock
20. Yabby U - Deliver Me From My Enemies
21. Michael Rose - Born Free (Extended Mix)
22. King Tubby - Love Thy Neighbour Version

Producer: Yabby You, Trinity, Fat Man
Mixing Engineer: King Tubby, Phillip Smart, Prince Jammy, Lee Perry
Drums: Leroy Horsemouth Wallace, Carlton Davis, Sly Dunbar, Ben Bow
Bass: Clinton Fearon, Robbie Shakespeare, Aston Barrett
Guitar: Earl Chinna Smith, Albert Griffiths, Bertram Ranchie McLean
Piano: Bernard Touter Harvey, Augustus Pablo
Organ: Aston Barrett, Pablo Black, Earl Wire Lindo, Bagga Walker
Trombone: Vin Gordon
Saxophone: Tommy McCook
Trumpet: Bobby Ellis
Fife: Richard Hall
Percussions: Uziah Sticky Thompson, Bunny Wailer
Melodica: Augustus Pablo
Recording Studio: Black Ark (Kingston, JA), Channel One (Kingston, JA), Dynamic Sounds (Kingston, JA)
Mixing Studio: King Tubby's (Kingston, JA)

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