Ska 276 Items

Here is the much anticipated volume 5 of the HOT Sauce compilation LPs dedicated to the Trojan related labels between 1965 and 1975. HOT Sauce volume 5 features outstanding original Rocksteady, Boss Reggae and early Reggae (“Reggay”) tracks including rare songs, overlooked gems, hidden treasures and a couple of hits. The record labels showcased on this fourth volume are Amalgamated, Bread, Downtown, Duke, Explosion, Grape, Harry J Records , JJ Records, Rio, Splash, Upsetter and Techniques. The tracks here have been selected according to their musical interest firstly, their rarity, and their complementarity. These tracks are all outstanding tracks, “killer tracks”, there is no “filler” whatsoever. Particular attention has been paid to the way the songs are sequenced (or “mixed”) so that the album builds up nicely and gradually, generally starting with the Rocksteady songs on the A side and the 70s songs on the B side. The HOT Sauce series is a musical journey across Trojan and its labels showcasing early Jamaican Reggae’s diverse musical genres and outstanding artists. Since the early 70s’ “Tighten Up” and “Club Reggae” series, no compilations have really explored these labels in depth on vinyl.

Nubiyan Twist return with their brand new album "Freedom Fables" on Strut on 5th February, the follow-up to the acclaimed "Jungle Run" from Spring 2019. Woven around soul searching, cautionary tales and parables for modern life, the new album is the most accomplished yet by the Leeds / London collective, effortlessly fusing different soul, jazz and global styles with great musicianship and lyrics. "Freedom Fables reflects on the power of narratives. Each vocalist on this record explores their own memoirs, a freedom of expression underpinning our belief that music is the ultimate narrative for unity," explains Tom Excell. "The record references a lot of music that we all loved during our formative years; you can hear touches of broken beat, blunted hip hop, highlife, Latin, jazz and UK soul running through the tracks." The album is also packed full with illustrious guest appearances: regular collaborator Cherise features on the brilliant "Tittle Tattle", calling out gossip through acerbic nursery rhyming, the loping "Flow" dealing with the ebb and flow of anxiety and the epic Brazilian jazz workout, "Keeper"; UK jazz saxman Soweto Kinch brings a burning alto solo and rhymes to the determined "Buckle Up" alongside the band"s own vocalist Nick Richards as the track aims to "find the door to peace" among life"s challenges. "Soweto is a trailblazer of the UK scene both as an alto player and as a rapper with a unique flow and important lyricism," reflects Tom Excell. "It was really important for us to invite him to contribute to the album." Richards continues the "dust yourself off and find hope" theme on the rousing "Wipe Away Tears"; Ghanaian great Pat Thomas voices a gorgeous Accra meets London highlife jam; massive new vocal talent Ria Moran (a contemporary from the band"s time at Leeds College Of Music) steps up on the sensual "Morning Light" tackling delicate complexities of the heart and long time friend of the band, KOG, brings his trademark full strength Afro dancefloor energy.

Forming the bridge between ska and reggae, Rock Steady is arguably the most influential of Jamaican musics many sub-genres. Although it lasted only a couple of years, Rock Steady yielded several of the islands most immortal rhythm tracks. It is also probably the most contested of reggae formats, the innovations behind it's irresistible beat claimed by a range of practitioners.

First ever release for this Jamaican Ska Classic. Sax player Tommy McCook steps in as bandleader to cast his magic over the Skatalites prime cuts. This high quality set was produced for Treasure Isle by Duke Reid and pulls together Ska greats featuring Stranger & Patsy, Justin Hinds, Roland Alphonso, Baba Brooks and Eric "Monty" Morris.

In 2020, Cosmic Shuffling took the global rocksteady and ska scene by storm with its hit singles ‘Eastern Ska’ and ‘Short Break’ taken from the band first album “Magic Rocket Ship”. Highly acclaimed by the fans of sixties Jamaican sounds, this first album was sold out in a few weeks only. Now the band returns with brand new music!

Warning! This is original SKA music of the highest calibre. This new double A side 7” record will set the dancefloor on fire. ’jupiter’s Garden’ is an heavy, slow and extremely groovy instrumental ska blown by a six-piece horns section. It is instantly reminiscent of Don Drummond's melancholic compositions with The Skatalites. The music made by these Jamaican legends in the sixties will never be equalled, but Cosmic Shuffling pays a striking tribute to the style and sound of the Greats. Ready to take off on an outerspace dancing journey?

On the flip side, ‘asteroid Field I’ continues the journey through a zone of intense turbulence: the tempo becomes fiercer, the chords move away from traditional harmonies and the virtuoso soloists display their talent one after the other. All of this on a frenzied rhythm worthy of The Soul Brothers.

You can’t miss this record. Double scorcher. Double fireball. Available on 7” vinyl record with pantone silver ink label. Limited screen printed and numbered sleeves edition of 90 copies!

amwax Records proudly presents this historic reissue, featuring two timeless tracks from The Wailers’ legendary album The Best of The Wailers: "Can't You See" and "Back Out". While these songs have long been cherished as classics, this marks the first time they have ever been available on a 7-inch vinyl single. Even though some books about Bob Marley & The Wailers list them as having been released on 7-inch, I have never seen a copy for sale. Produced by the visionary Leslie Kong with co-producer Warwick Lyn, the album captures The Wailers at their soulful, raw best. These songs predate the group’s later partnership with Lee Perry and Island Records, offering a purer, more unembellished sound. The harmonies are flawless, the arrangements simple yet deeply powerful, and the performances utterly timeless. "Back Out" highlights Bob Marley's unmistakable voice, brimming with the confidence and charisma that would later make him a global icon. Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh's harmonies add depth to a track that perfectly embodies the spirit of early reggae. "Can't You See" showcases Peter Tosh on lead vocals, supported by the sublime harmonies of Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer. These recordings, crafted with a four-track setup and featuring some of Jamaica’s finest musicians—including Mickey ‘Boo’ Richards on drums, Jackie Jackson on bass, and Winston Wright on organ—are testament to a moment in time when reggae was still raw, revolutionary, and evolving.

Recorded at Dynamic Sounds Studios (Kingston, Jamaica), from 29th April until 19th May 1970. Originally released on August 9th of 1971 by Beverley's Records, 135 b Orange Street, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.

Five young Berliners met on a campsite in the village of Calcatoggio in Corsica in 1998. They decided to form a band and the plan worked out. Les Calcatoggios have been involved in the Berlin ska scene for 20 years now. Initially, they made a name for themselves at concerts in their home district of Köpenick and the surrounding area. Over time, the circle of listeners and the band's sphere of influence expanded: they now played concerts beyond Berlin's city limits as far as Paris, Barcelona and Valencia.Les Calcatoggios are now one of the longest-serving acts on the Berlin ska scene. They still make lively and refreshing music with which they want to move everyone. Always danceable, sometimes rocking, with catchy melodies and offbeatsoffbeats and garnished with lush brass sections.

The smooth and funky sound of prime-time Japanese reggae pop in the 1970s and ‘80s fired up an obsession with Jamaican music that persists to the present day.

If there is a year zero for the introduction of reggae music to Japan, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was 1979 when Bob Marley and the Wailers toured the country, trailed by an entourage of journalists, photographers and fans ready to spread the message of the music into all corners of Japanese society. But the story of Japanese reggae is not a linear one, and the music that is collected on Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 captures the moment J-reggae entered the broader public consciousness, merging commercial city pop style with an infectious backbeat, that has drawn comparisons with the emergence of Lovers Rock in the UK.

Rather than look directly to Jamaica, many producers and artists in Japan were inspired instead by the more approachable sounds of The Police and Ub40, their reggae fix arriving pre-filtered through the lens of new wave pop from the UK. Playful and groovy, these album deep cuts have been overlooked for too long. Among them are Miki Hirayama, the idol singer who borrowed the bassline from Bob Marley’s Natural Mystic on ‘Denshi Lenzi’, Chu Kosaka, who headed to Hawaii to cut the Jimmy Cliff-inspired ‘Music’ and Marlene, the Philippine songstress whose cover of Roberta Flack’s ‘Hittin’ Me Wear It Hurts’ owed much to her producer’s obsession with Sly & Robbie’s Compass Point sound. Then there was Izumi “Mimi” Kobayashi, who enlisted the Babylon Warriors to perform on a dubbed-out version of her own track ‘Lazy Love’, the city pop-meets-new wave reggae sound of Miharu Koshi’s ‘Coffee Break’, Junko Yagami’s anti-apartheid deep cut ‘Johannesburg’ and Lily, whose ‘Tenkini Naare’ was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and closes out the compilation with a flourish.

While these stories may not always conform to neat narratives, they do provide a more accurate reflection of the indirect ways in which styles infiltrate one another and, in their naivety, have the potential to create something beautifully strange and entirely new. Previously only available in Japan, the tracks on this compilation are a testament to that curious alchemy.

Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 is released on vinyl and as a full album download (no streaming), featuring original artwork by Japanese Fukuoka-based artist Noncheleee, whose cover pays homage to the iconic dancehall album art of Wilfred Limonious. Released on 1st September, Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 is part of Time Capsule's Nippon Series, a loose series of compilations exploring different musical scenes from Japan between the 1960s and 2010s.

25th Anniversary limited edition color reissue of Hepcat's most recent studio album, Push 'N Shove. Though Push 'n' Shove emerged from the Hepcat hepsters in the summer of 2000, it sounds like a long-lost ska classic. They nail the old-school sound with dead-eye precision, but still, somehow, it never sounds derivative. The laid back, low-key groove of ''Daydreamin''' and ''Gimme Little Sign'' are a refreshing reminder of ska's original power in days of frenetic ska poseurs. What a treat. --Tod Nelson 1. Push 'N Shove 2. Tek Dat 3. 'Lude 1 4. Prison of Love 5. The Ronnie 6. Daydreamin; 7. Comin' On Strong 1. You and I 2. Beautiful 3. The Region 4. Gimmie Little Sign 5. 'Lude 2 6. The Spins 7. Live On

The third LP from Buffalo, NY SKA, Soul, MOD band delivers their best effort yet. Thrilling melodies with unstoppable dance beats filled with heart and emotion. Once you hear these songs they will be stuck in your head forever. Produced by the one and only Dan Potthast.

'Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra's album 'Stompin' On DOWN BEAT ALLEY' is released as a 2-disc vinyl set for the first time!

From Buffalo, NY, the Abruptors deliver their sophomore release. SKA, Soul, 2 Tone influenced songs that will get you up and dancing. Vinyl is a smoky clear variant just for record stores.

Record Store Day 2023 exclusive limited to 1300 copies.

Following on from Part 2 (released exclusively for Record Store Day 2021) ‘I Do Like To Be B-Side The A-Side Volume 3’ includes 12 Madness B-Sides across hit singles from Wonderful’s ‘Lovestruck’, ‘Johnny The Horse’ and ‘Drip Fed Fred’ to The Dangermen Sessions’ ‘Shame & Scandal’, including covers of Kilburn And The High Road’s ‘The Roadette Song’ and Horace Andy’s ‘Skylarking’. Released on 180g heavyweight Black Vinyl, the LP features brand new artwork designed by Paul Agar in association with the band.

This is the first volume of the HOT Sauce compilation LPs dedicated to the Trojan related UK labels between 1965 and 1975. The initial plan is for at least 3 albums of 14 titles. HOT Sauce Volume 1 features Rocksteady, Boss Reggae, early Dub & early Reggae outstanding original Jamaican tracks including rare songs, overlooked gems, hidden treasures and some hits. The record labels showcased on the first volume are Attack, Amalgamated, Black Swan, Blue Cat, Downtown, Doctor Bird, Duke, Grape, High Note, Randy’s and Trojan. The tracks here have been selected according to their musical interest firstly, their rarity, and their complementarity. These tracks are all outstanding tracks, “killer tracks”, there are no “fillers” whatsoever. Particular attention has been paid to the way the songs are sequenced (or “mixed”) so that the album builds up nicely and gradually, generally starting with the Rocksteady songs on the A side and the 70s songs on the B side. HOT Sauce is a musical journey across the early Reggae UK labels and across different Jamaican musical genres & talents and the way they interact together. Since the early 70s “Tighten Up” series, no compilation have really explored these labels in depth on vinyl…

In the 1950s, Jamaican dancehall regulars were crazy about the haunting sounds of American Rhythm & Blues. But in the mid-1950s, Rock 'n' Roll began to replace RnB in America, and Jamaican dancehall owners like Duke Reid and Clement Dodd turned to local musicians to record their own versions of American RnB. The trend of covering foreign hits exploded during the Ska heyday of the early 60s and continued through the Rocksteady and Reggay eras. Jamaican musicians have covered virtually every genre of music, from jazz and rock to film scores, television soundtracks, pop, classical music and more. Over the years, they have also recorded many "versions" of already existing covers. Cover of cover of cover… Admittedly, some of these covers were futile but many were sublime as this new and eclectic collection of Ska, Rocksteady and Reggay nuggets, compiled by the very competent and very charming D.J. Héléa, brilliantly demonstrates. Attention we are here "undercover", there are no well-known covers. Some of the tracks selected are rare, others unknown or forgotten - but all are excellent and blended in an impeccable mix, in line with previous the Harlem Shuffle compilations... All Killer, No Filler! Reggay Undercover is an exciting musical kaleidoscope of Jamaican and Reggae music from the early 60s through to the mid 70s. We hope you will enjoy listening to this album as much as we had composing it for you. All aboard for Reggay Undercover!

Debut single from ska infused swingy rhythm & blues all star band with lead vocalist John Bunkley of Gangster FUN and Atomic Fireballs fame. Two jams pleasing the jump blues crowd, big horns call-and-response lyrics and some innuendo! "jumpin AT THE RED Door" b/c "fifth OF You". Big hole white wax.

MU330’s Ultra Panic has been out of print for years. This pressing is 1,000 on half/half random color and includes a 2 sided insert and new label art.

Man from Wareika was the first album recording for Rico Rodriguez led by his own artistic imagination, not to mention the only roots reggae album to be released on Blue Note Records in the USA. After 15 years Rodriguez returned for the first time to Jamaica. He had left the country in 1961 when he was already heavily involved in creating the then new ska sound. In 1976 he added something new to reggae music. The nine self-composed tracks on the album offer intense Jamaican rhythms with seriously horn lines more linked to the jazz heritage. The trombonist album was released on Island Records in 1976 for the UK market and soon labeled as a revolutionary step forward.

Cassette Week 2020 release. A classic from the Moon SKA NYC days, this streetpunk oi/ska classic was one the the labels most popular titles and is now on tape for the first time every. Expanded edition (90 minutes) with bonus material taken from early demo tapes and live shows.

Ska Casolà' is Mr. Freak Ska's first record and also the first “syncopated singer-songwriter” reference in Spain. Cooked slowly during 4 years was released on 2011 autumn and was the presentation of the mataronian rude boy Jaume Cuadrada, who used to belong to several jamaican music projects as The Cabrians, The Diatones or Flight 404. 17 pure traditional jamaican cuts, reggae and rocksteady with lyrics full of mediterranean acid humor.

Debut Epitaph/Hellcat release for the pietasters. Produced by Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion/Epitaph Records. Peaked at #44 on 10/25/1997

Originally released in 1977, the deceptively named 'The Best Of Freddy McKay' is McKay's fourth album, and not a compilation.
Recorded at the Channel One and Harry J studios, where he was accompanied by the Roots Radics, this work (a collaboration with producer Alvin "GG's" Ranglin) marks McKay's entry into the roots reggae era.

Limited repress on JUMP UP RECORDS from legendary NYC ska powerhouse THE TOASTERS. Originally released in 1992, this album came at a time when the US ska scene was just starting to go big. Lovingly reissued on heavyweight colored vinyl, with download code including extra bonus tracks. NYC SKA lives!

This is the second collection to bring together many of the visionary producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd’s early recordings made with Jamaica’s most exciting young artists and musicians who helped define the world of reggae music over the decades following Jamaican Independence.

These recordings were made when Sir Coxsone ruled the dancehalls of Kingston in the late 1950s and early 1960s with his number one Downbeat Sound System, where songs were tested out on dub plates at a dance to see a crowd’s reaction - the most popular of which were then released commercially.

Featuring early material by Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook (all of whom would form The Skatalites), Toots & The Maytals, young singers such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, Delroy Wilson and Owen Gray, all captured in their formative days.

The music here spans a wealth of styles - Jamaican rhythm & blues, jazz, gospel, proto-ska, Rastafarian - all of which were drawn upon to create the future sounds of Jamaican reggae that Sir Coxsone and the artists featured would soon create at Studio One, which first opened its doors in 1963.

Jamaica's ska originators celebrate their 60th anniversary with two new songs on a limited edition 45! Both tracks are midtempo ska groovers, with cool lyrics and hot horns. Beautiful old skool label art designed by Chema Skandal, big hole black vinyl DJ friendly press of 1000 copies. (