Sorry for the quality but this is the legendary episode from the CH4 Documentary series Deep Roots Music feat Bunny Lee RIP, Wayne Smith,Delroy Wilson, Jackie Edwards, Johnny Clarke…voicing at King Tubbys with Prince Jammy at the controls
Red light…
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Another chance to hear Steve Lamaq chat with David Hinds on Handsworth Revolution
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Bunny Striker Lee RIP was riding high with his mid seventies Roots Reggae productions with artists like Cornell Campbell & Johnny Clarke.
Some of the cream of Cornell Campbells output for Bunny Lee is compiled on the Blood & Fire compilation which includes gems like I Am The Gorgon, Dance In A Grenwich Farm and its versions mixed by King Tubby.
In the mid seventies Bunny Lee produced classic Johnny Clarke albums Enter In To His Gates With Praise which includes the classic title track and the roots anthem None Shall Escape The Judgement.
Rockers Time Now was released by the Virgin Frontline label just as Punk and Reggae were capturing the imagination in 76/77 and John Lydon and others were sent to hold court at the Kingston Sheraton Hotel with a suitcase of dosh to tempt a host of top notch Jamaican artists to sign on the dotted. An essential album in it’s own right and as part of the Virgin Frontline discography.
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Sorry to hear the passing of Spencer Davies RIP.
His biggest hit was penned by the late Jamaican Singer Jackie Edward’s who recorded a couple of versions…
The original in 1965
And again in the 70’s
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Feeling this heartical vibe this morning. Clinton Fearon formerly of the classic Gladiators band with the title track from his lovely 2006 Visions album
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Soho Radio Trojan Records Tighten Up Show with Laurence Cane Honeysett present a Toots Hibbert Special
Check out Dennis Bovell Dub On Air Show
And top revive selector Eddie Oxman
Oxman – Soho Radio
You’ve probably all seen this anyway, but I finally got round to watching this on BBC iPlayer last week, a great watch, plenty of social history as well as some great footage of a grim ‘70s Britain.
Great to see this thread still going @Dreadatthecontrols
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Cheers Chris, it’s a great documentary of that period.
One of his finest albums Exodus was recorded during his exile in London of course
Thanks for contributing to the thread.
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Thanks to @steviebee
Theres another chance to catch the essential Inna De Yard documentary on Sky Arts on 31 October
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Enjoying this latest from The Skints. The recording nicely captures the energy and vibe of this gig from The Electric Brixton.
Born from the east London ska-punk scene, The Skints have built up a formidable live reputation in recent years and have been described by Clash magazine as “the torchbearers for modern British reggae music”, marking them out as one of the most respected bands in UK music whilst still staying strict to their independent DIY roots. Playing live is the heartbeat of the band, and this live recording from their sold-out homecoming show at Electric Brixton during the ‘Swimming Lessons’ 2019 European tour captures them at the height of their powers. A melting pot of reggae, rock, ska, and punk, this live recording features blistering live takes of tracks from the Swimming Lessons album, raucous fan favourites from their back catalogue, and some very choice covers that the band seamlessly weave into the performance. This is the first Skints live album to be officially released, and as the band explains in the quote below, releasing it now feels especially poignant…
“Crazy time to be alive! While Covid-19 has instantly showed us that live music is not the most essential service in a pandemic, it is vital for the soul. We present the first live Skints album from our sold out headline London show in October as a means to bring a Skints show to your home hifi at a time when we should be at a club or a festival near you, but won’t be. This show was so special to us; if you were there you know the vibes and if you weren’t you can catch them now! Live albums may be seen as not the in thing right now or a format of the past in a time where everything is live streaming in full video on social media, but we have never been the in thing and have always been old souls at heart. Until we can party together again, turn up Live at Electric brixton LOUD and have a punky reggae party at home.
Have you ever heard the “Jamaican Mix” of Catch A Fire, Dread? I’ve only ever had the original, Zippo sleeve and wasn’t aware it had overdubs added in the UK. This posthumous JA mix is being released on Tuff Gong in December ( alongside the standard mix on Abbey Rd half speed as well)…apparently the JA mix is pretty much sold out on pre-orders, but I’m still wondering about trying to get a copy.
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Yes indeed @steviebee. And once heard IMO you wont listen to the officially released version, as good as it is, again.
Absolutely essential, get it on the 2CD Deluxe edition of Catch A Fire (didnt know there was a vinyl of it coming)
Yes the original was over dubbed in the UK, Rabbit Bundrick now with The Who was one of the artists, at the behest of Chris Blackwell who misguidedly remixed and over dubbed the album to make it more attractive to a Rock audience.
If you check The Who website there is an interesting and amusing recollection from Rabbit Bundrick from the time he was working with Marley, Johnny Nash & Danny Simms in Switzerland for a never released movie soundtrack. I may have posted it before on this thread.
Incidentally lots of early reggae was “sweetened” ie ruined by misguided people trying to make the music more palatable to the unfamiliar. Trojan for example added syrupy strings at their chalk farm studio to many otherwise classic early tunes.
Big up Stevie
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Entertaining new set from The Dub Pistols, Jungle, Dance Hall, Old Skool Reggae Style, breaks n beats…
Boom selecta!
Sometimes you have to go through the mill to realise why you were put on this Earth. So it is with the Dub Pistols, the reggae-breaks-jungle mashup, the gangster-swaggering festival stalwarts whose rollercoaster story reads like a rock’n’roll cautionary tale on a grand scale. When big beat ruled the clubs the Pistols were snapped up for $1.5m by legendary Interscope magnate Jimmy Iovine and anointed Geffen Records’ priority act for America. But Geffen put their album out the week that 9/11 happened, so the Dub Pistols ended up broke and label-less instead of US superstars. This is how it happens. They get knocked down — but they get back up.
Over an 18-year career the Dub Pistols have worked with heroes like The Specials, Busta Rhymes, Horace Andy, Madness and Gregory Isaacs. They’ve burned through different members and hundreds of thousands of pounds on assorted capers and hedonism, and done — in the words of dapper frontman and prime mover Barry Ashworth, a ducking, diving South London graduate of the Summer of Love generation who started a band because he loved Happy Mondays and never looked back — “more f*cking drugs than we knew what to do with.”
It should have been a recipe for oblivion. “We’ve got a saying in this band,” says Barry: “Whatever can go possibly wrong, will go wrong.” Instead it was the making of the Dub Pistols. The band that started out in the mid-90s with Barry DJ’ing while musicians jammed over the top (“a right f*cking racket,” he laughs) has metamorphosed into a mighty reggaematic bass-driven live machine, a super-tight festival regular that keeps winning over new fans at Glastonbury, Bestival, Beat-Herder and across Europe
@steviebee
Incidentally, if it interests you, check out the Sony Legacy 2 CD sets of Peter Tosh Legalise It & Equal Rights albums.
Legalise It similarly to Catch A Fire contains the original JA mix of the album and demo tracks.
Equal Rights contains session out takes, alternate JA mixes and Dub Plate versions.
Really good booklets as well.
Not sure if any of the above has been on vinyl.
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Thanks Dread - I’ve been looking at original Tosh albums on vinyl. But these CDs look good, especially with the different mixes.
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I’m really annoyed at having missed the vinyl version of Catch a Fire as I have been waiting for it ever since having heard the un-sweetened version on the deluxe CD issue. It’s a bit confusing but it seems that this version is pressed at Tuff Gong in Jamaica and that may be why there are limited numbers available. You can still order it from the UDiscover site in the US but I didn’t go ahead as it was going to be so expensive, not to mention that I would probably have pay the tax and admin on top as well. I am just hoping they will do a European pressing to meet the demand.
I wasn’t aware of that Peter Tosh deluxe version - looks like one to get.
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