Roots & Culture 91 Items

Green Marbled.
Record is slightly warped but still enjoyable.

A very welcomed reissue for this rare Jackie Mittoo album, originally released in 1979 on unknown label, Rite Sound inc. The original release was sold without a jacket (maybe a promo only release ?), adding a mysterious vibe to the whole thing. The dubby effects-intensive sound of the album extends from ‘Russian Satelite’ to the whole side A, with ‘Harder Than The Rest’, ‘Stepping Tiger’ and ‘World Of Love’ being an excellent triptych of note. The thrill of Jackie's crazy keyboards intertwining with the floating dub sound like a heavenly space is beyond description. Space is the place.

"Limited edition of 500 copies from the Trojan Records vaults. Lee 'Scratch' Perry with Mad Professor on the mix, featuring the monumental Madman Dubwise version on the B-side—a true 80s classic. Original Trojan label reproduction, a top collectors’ item. Courtesy of Real Rock Records."

Cover with bumped corners

Lovers rock style soul runnings from Sydney, Australia on this debut 7” from D.D. Mirage featuring Private Joy. The Original has a true 80’s lovers vibe with sweet harmonies from Private Joy and the flipside features a dubbed version. Labels and sticker designed by Bradley Pinkerton.

This album from an Italian-based production outfit on Aloe Vera Records celebrates the label's early years and the unique style of one of the imprint's key acts, The Officinalis's. They were known for classics like 'Si Comme' Si' and for blending. Naples and Jamaican musical cultures. Aloe Vera Records skilfully merged these worlds in their output and created a distinctive and recognisable sound that bridges past and present. These are all well-crafted sounds with warm low ends, rich bass and plenty of loved-up melodies that make it a nice escapist listen.

The Midnight Rock label was home to some of the greatest productions of the era, and like any smart Jamaican producer, label owner Nkrumah Jah Thomas worked his rhythms hard, using them to create scores of records by dozens of artists.

Thomas came up just at the right time, and his breakthrough recordings were made at the finest studios, using the finest musicians: often they were recorded at Channel One and used the Roots Radics. And sometimes the voicings that he created were released, but still more languished in the vaults. Caught on multi-track tape, but never released.

That was the fate of a session that he recorded with Sugar Minott. The singer – known in the UK for his monster hit ‘Good Thing Going’ – had made his name in the vocal group The African Brothers, before working as a soloist for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, where he became a pioneer of the dancehall, his voice riding over many of Dodd’s greatest rhythms to create timeless music.

Thomas has worked hard in creating sharp new mixes from his sessions with Minott, and this single – a plea against gun violence as apt today as when it was put down on tape – is the first fruits of that work. A fantastic Radics rhythm with an exceptional vocal and brand new dub by Jah Thomas and Rory on the flip.

"Good music never dies!" - This was Diane Ellis' mantra when she set out to produce this, her first record, in 1979. She recalls hearing the Rose Royce classic Love Don't Live Here Anymore on the radio and instantly thinking it would make for a great reggae cover, immediately envisioning the sound she was looking for. Drafting in the legendary Boris Gardiner and vocalist Sharon Forrester they created this timeless version of a perennial classic - now available here in it's full extended discomix glory for the first time on 12" since it's original outing, and backed with hornsman cut placing Dean Fraser's sax front row center.

The record was made when Ellis was studio manager for the world-famous Tuff Gong studios, but wanted her outing as a record producer to be a totally independent venture - gaining the great Bob Marley & the TG team's blessings in the process. And so Aquarius Studio in Half Way Tree was where it was all laid-down. Diane credits the Legendary owner and pioneering producer, Herman Chin Loy, as also being of great help on the record, providing a guiding ear throughout the process.

Despite this the evident strength of this first production, Ellis would follow up with only one other production, Junior Tucker's cover of "One of the Poorest People" (this time one recorded at Tuff Gong studios, and releasing the 56 Hope Road subsidiery). While both records performed well on local radio and charts, Diane exited the music industry shortly after. Now 43 years later, Diane is overjoyed her production is having a comeback, saying that "the support and love felt during the project can never be replicated, and I give thanks to all who supported then and now".

Raise your lighter in the air, Uluru is back with another Reggae Hip-Hop 7”. All the way from Australia we welcome back fellow producer Dj Maars with two new instant classic.

Not much needs to be written here, one of reggae's all time anthems, one of the baddest tunes of the '80s. Finally back out on a crisp booming 45, rock to the sounds of Jah Life, internationally.

If you're a fan of Daptone Records, chances are you've read or heard the name Victor Axelrod, and even if you haven't, you've heard music from his hand. As a producer, arranger, recording and mixing engineer, and keyboardist, his creativity has extended across more than two decades of the label's releases, even dating to its prehistory with Desco Records. If You Ask Me To..., the first LP under his name for the label, is a collection of singles released between 2007-2023 as well as unreleased tracks from Sugar Minott and Binky Griptite. The genesis of which came via an 11th hour request from Daptone for a Sharon Jones remix (2007) that resulted in the reggae version of "How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?" found here. This opened the door to additional explorations of reggae/soul synergies within the catalogue, affirming the musical and cultural link between Daptone's core soul sound and Axelrod's passion for Jamaican music. While previous projects like Ticklah Vs. Axelrod and Roots Combination (produced under the alias Ticklah) were inspired by the Jamaica of the 1970s and 80s, this set specifically channels an earlier period in the 1960s when Jamaica was both strikingly original in its continuum of genres but also closely and empathetically attuned to Black American music. Through Axelrod's exceptional taste and the notable contributions of guitarist Tom Brenneck, original tapes from Bob & Gene's MoDo discography, members of The Frightnrs, and others from the NYC reggae community, the legacy of trailblazing Jamaican artists like Alton Ellis, Tony Gregory, and Ken Parker continue to resonate and inspire a whole new generation of reggae and soul enthusiasts.

Flying high for the tenth anniversary of "Blackbird" album, we"re pleased to announce the brand new Blackbird Returns remix album descending on the breeze. Friends from around the world, Nightmares on Wax, Jazzanova, Kings, Syrup D, Christoph El Truento & Lucky Lane, DJ Philippa, Feiertag, Marcus Worgull, The Kcbs, Yarni feat. Liv East, Dub Pistols vs Freestylers and Kid Fonque have remixed their favourite Blackbird tracks.

Soul Jazz Records" long out of print classic "Studio One Funk" collection is being re-released in three new one-off limited-edition coloured pressing 18th anniversary format editions! Studio One Funk is made up of rare and unreleased Reggae Funk from the vaults of Studio One. Ever since the birth of Funk in America, the sound has been an ever-present ingredient in the melting pot of Studio One"s musical output.

Dead Men Don’t Smoke Marijuana is the last album by the beloved singer/
songwriter S.E Rogie. A collection of fingerpicked acoustic guitar tunes
rooted in the palm wine style of Sierre Leone, Rogie’s birthplace, and tinged
with gospel, reggae, country and blues, it was released to acclaim in 1994
and has become an indisputable classic. No wonder: to listen to this wrylytitled recording is to soothe the soul. To be transported to a gentle, unhurried
place where songs called things like ‘Jaimgba Tutu (The Joy of Success)’ and
‘Nyalomei Luange (Love Me My Love)’ tell life lessons in Krio and English over
the sweetest of melodies, in a silky baritone sung from the heart.
“Count your blessings, sisters and brothers,” croons Rogie on ‘African Gospel’,
his sentiments uplifted by call-and-response vocals, the chiming highlife
guitar of Ghana’s Alfred Kari Bannerman and the rhythmic double bass of
Danny Thompson, an Englishman whose ability to get to the heart of a piece
is palpable - and whose unlikely presence is part of the work’s uniqueness.
Rogie’s nearly fifty-year career was sprinkled with highlights. But it is this
album, his swansong — he passed away a few weeks after its release —
which endures. Ageing like a fine wine, indeed.

Limited to 6700 copies.

First time available since 2002. The legendary show was recorded in 1983 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and originally released as a 1LP highlights album in 1984. The Complete Captured Live features all 15 songs performed that night, including fiery versions of “Equal Rights/Downpressor Man,” “African,” and “Get Up, Stand Up”.

Album first released 1980 and now re-released on RED Vinyl! All songs are performed by Byron Lee’s Allstars. Featuring Ken Lazarus, Jo-Jo, Keith Lynn, Smokey 007, Hubert Lee and Cecil Barker. All the tracks originally recorded in the mid-Sixties, were produced by Alty East, one of the first producers of Ska in Jamaica.

Owen Gray was the island’s first home grown star to sing in a style that wasn’t mento, calypso or jazz. This is a 180 gram vinyl reissue of his 1961 album. This was the first Jamaican album to be manufactured and released in the UK. This re-issue commemorates the 60th anniversary of its original release.

Fat Freddy's Drop present the ‘lock-in’ album, a sonic moment in time as the band jam conscious songs of freedom and hope for a generation. The studio session was captured at the iconic Michael Fowler Centre in the band’s hometown of Wellington, New Zealand during the pandemic lockdown. Devoid of audience, it’s a reflection of the surreal times that’s halted tour life 2020. The band re-located their Bays studio to the MFC and set up in a circle on the MFC stage for the recording, providing a unique space to jam slow burn classics such as ‘Soldier’, ‘Hope’ and ‘This Room’ as well as test drive ‘Avengers’ a brand new track in the making. The other tracks recorded are 'Special Edition', ‘Six-Eight', ‘OneFourteen’ and 'Trickle Down’ from ‘Special Edition Part 1’ the band’s most recent album. The crisp multi-track production was recorded by Western Audio, monster mix back at Bays studio by DJ Fitchie, Freddys beat master and producer. Mastering at Calyx studio in Berlin. The ‘lock-in’ session melds Freddys fastidious studio chops and love of freewheeling jams with a tautness that comes from 21 years in the business and a reputation as one of the finest live draws in the world.

The 45rpm vinyl edition is produced with a different track order across four sides and promises to deliver super fat loud audio.

Part 1 of a double album, ‘Special Edition Part 1’, comprises of six tracks of which ‘Raleigh Twenty’, ‘Trickle Down’ and ‘Six-Eight Instrumental’ were written and recorded undercover at the band’s Wellington studio, BAYS, while the other tracks; ‘Special Edition, ‘Kamo Kamo’, and ‘OneFourteen’, have all been developed and evolved from the band’s celebrated live jam sessions, whilst on the road in front of audiences worldwide.

Supremely crafted at Freddy’s own BAYS studio in hometown Wellington, the deep musical and rich vocal layers reflect Freddy’s inspiration from the black music lexicon and is a response to the crowd energy at their world dominating live shows.

‘Special Edition Part 1’ is the first release of a long envisaged double album project with separate chapters. The next journey, Part 2 will be released in 2020 after stringent road-testing with audiences over 35 shows across New Zealand, UK and Europe celebrating the release of the Part 1. These upcoming live performances will allow the band to fully explore new song-writing technology and give rise to a slamming Part 2.

The new album follows on from 2015’s ‘BAYS’ LP, which saw support from Financial Times, Resident Advisor, Dummy, the DJ Mag and Clash-acclaimed ‘Blackbird,’ second album ‘Dr Boondigga and the Big BW’ - which gained rave reviews by The Guardian and BBC Music - and the band’s record breaking debut album ‘Based on a True Story’, which went nine times platinum and remained in New Zealand’s top 40 charts for over two years after its release in 2005.

The album cover artwork is by Wellington artist Otis Chamberlain, a continuing evolution from his creation for the ist first single ‘Trickle Down’, a work that's morphed from digital cover art to the band’s massive summer tour backdrop and the recently released late-night buttery steppers ‘Kamo Kamo’.

Dub inc has toured all over the world for many years, regularly playing in front of tens of thousands of spectators, setting the stage ablaze in the largest European and French festivals, thrilling South American and Indian audiences alike. Their videos get hundreds of thousands of views in daily, and they are followed on social networks by more than six hundred thousand fans. Blending Reggae, Dancehall or world music, Bouchkour and Komlan embody the band's voices in styles as different as they are complementary. They pass on a universal message whether the language of their song is French, English or Kabyl (an algerian language) insisting on how important mixed race and the mixing of styles are. The Saint-Etienne based musical group have never sought a particularly mainstream exposure; they went their own way, building their discography with passion, talent, and focus. Perhaps that is why they have been for now twenty years the best ambassadors of French reggae across the globe.

Soundway Records completes the Lord Echo album collection, finally reissuing the second album in the trilogy from the in-demand New Zealand multi-instrumentalist and producer. Originally released in 2013, ‘Curiosities’ is now available as a DJ friendly double LP for the first time.
The entirely self-produced album blends jazz with disco-tinged neo-soul, reggae and classic afro-beat in effortless manner - and joins the dots between the more downtempo first album ‘Melodies’ and the disco, electronic, club-ready of his third album ‘Harmonies’.
The album also features a dub-funk cover of Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan”, with vocals from Lisa Tomlins.

"I Man A The Stal-A-Watt" gathers together 13 sure shots from Cornell Campbell blending the very best of his all-conquering hit run of forty-fives for Bunny "Striker" Lee alongside a stretch of crucial cuts produced by Joe Gibbs - from the 1970s - 80s classic era. The title is a boast from the early soundclash era when many of Campbell's tracks, here produced primarily by Bunny Lee, would play first on King Tubby’s Home Town Hi-Fi in Jamaica. The songs run the range from clash-ready standards like "Mash You Down" and "The Gorgon" to cultural commentaries like "Jah Jah Me Horn Yah" and "Bandulu" to the lover’s masterpiece "The Investigator" which leads off the set. Stretching into the early 80s, the collection includes two originals that would spawn countless re-interpretations, "Rope In" and "Boxing Around".

Studio One Freedom Sounds is the new collection from Soul Jazz/ Studio One focussing on the intense period in the second half of the 1960s when Studio One’s vast and unbeatable output of ska, soul, rock steady and reggae made it literally one of the hottest musical empires in the world.
During this highly successful period, Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd released hundreds and hundreds of superlative singles seemingly on an almost daily basis, in the process making huge stars out of Jamaican singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, The Wailers, Slim Smith, Jackie Opel and many more.
Powered by the finest in-house musicians working in Jamaica, whether it was The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo’s Soul Brothers, The Sounds Dimension or The Soul Vendors, Studio One functioned as hit factory on the scale of Motown in the USA, shaping and defining reggae music for decades to come.
Singlehandedly Studio One’s founder Clement Dodd was able to create the most successful vertically-integrated record company that Jamaica had ever known with pressing plant, printers, studio, shops, and sound systems all running at once, with over 50 employees and hundreds of artists working with Studio One during this time.
Studio One Freedom Sounds tells the story of Studio One in the 1960s with a stunning set of ska, soul, rock steady and reggae killer tunes as well as informative sleevenotes and track-by-track info by Noel Hawks. The album is released as heavyweight double vinyl (+ free download code), deluxe CD and digital album.

A great collection of classic roots recordings from the mid-70's for the singer who came close in challenging Bob Marley & Dennis Brown for reggae's crown. All re-mastered recordings available as 30-Track 2CD-Deluxe Digipak and 23-Track 2LP-set in a gatefold sleeve, both with in-depth sleeve notes by Noel Hawkes. The release is supported by several summer festival appearances.

Only Johnny Clarke would come close to challenging Bob Marley & Dennis Brown for reggae's crown, his unequaled run of hit songs, powered by Bunny Lee and King Tubby's aggravating versions, continued without a pause during the mid-70's leading Johnny to twice being named Jamaica's Artist Of The Year (and the signing of a two album recording deal with Virgin's Frontline label). Many of Johnny Clarke's classic roots recordings gathered here were first given wider international exposure in 1998 with the release of Blood & Fire's excellent 13-Track "Dreader Dread - 1976-1978" compilation, which has disappeared from the market for several years. Now re-mastered and drastically expanded, with a new artwork and entitled "Creation Rebel" the release captures the very essence of what is now regarded as the golden age of roots music!

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2018!

Get On Down presents an often overlooked crucial reggae release from the 1970s with Johnny Clarke’s “Rockers Time Now.” The record is a mix of covers and originals, including ethereal versions of the The Abyssinians “Satta Massagana” and “Declaration of Rights,” smash hits on the island just the year before. “Rockers Time Now” was first issued in 1976, Clarke had just been named artist of the year in Jamaica for the second year in a row. This is just one of three full lengths he released that year as this was a very prolific period for Clarke, in particular from 1974 onward when his output was directed by legendary producer Bunny Lee. The pairing resulted in a creative energy that resonates to this day. The release was recorded at Channel 1 with Bunny Lee producing, which of course means the band backing the popular Jamaican vocalist was The Aggrovators, which at the time included Robbie Shakespeare, Earl ""Chinna"" Smith, Augustus Pablo, and Aston “Family Man” Barrett. The release was mixed at King Tubby’s by Osbourne Ruddock…aka King Tubby. Crucial all the way around. Now is the time to rediscover a classic of the genre, “Rockers Time Now”.

Brand New 2017 Recut - finally available on Vinyl for the First time. 2LP+Mp3 in full Original Coverart. The legendary movie soundstrack based out of Kingston, Jamaica in April 2008, telling the story of the original vocalists and musicians involved. The sixteenth release on the Moll-Selekta label shares its title with a wonderful film, a heartwarming homage to the golden age of rocksteady. It documents the recordings being made for this very album at the Tuff Gong studios, Kingston, Jamaica in April 2008, telling the story of the original vocalists and musicians involved. Excerpts from an all star reunion concert staged in Kingston and older archive material complete the picture. Never before in the history of Jamaica, which already occupies a unique place on the world map of song, its sound embraced by western popular music, has such an illustrious collection of singers and players been assembled. The album showcases 15 rocksteady classics in sparkling, deeply inspired new versions, recorded in the studio which also played host to album sessions of a certain Bob Marley. Under the musical direction of Ernest Ranglin, a guitarist of considerable renown not only on the reggae circuit, but also on the jazz scene, mixed by legendary engineer Errol Brown - in Duke Reid’s employ at the Treasure Isle studio in the sixties - and freshly arranged by Lynn Taitt.

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.

Comprising Leroy Sibbles, Earl Morgan and Barry Llewellyn, the Heptones first burst onto the Jamaican music scene with a series of sublime rock steady and reggae classics recorded for Coxson Dodd’s celebrated Studio One enterprise. By the mid-seventies the trio were regularly recording for Harry Johnson at his studio in Kingston, having scored big with the producer with ‘Book Of Rules’, a highlight of the 1972 cult movie classic, ‘The Harder They Come’.

Introducing Bays a 9 track boil up heralding a fresh chapter in Freddys fantastic voyages. Bays opens with slow burn funk of ‘Wairunga Blues’ journeying through a hybrid of reggae, hi-tek soul and jazz with techno rhythms underpinning Freddy’s signature horns and Joe Dukie’s smooth & introspective vocals, 'Slings And Arrows', '10 Feet Tall', 'Wheels', 'Razor', 'Makkan', 'Fish In The Sea', 'Cortina Motors' and arriving finally on the crooked blues jam of ‘Novak’.
BAYS is named after our Wellington studio homebase, where the album was predominately written and recorded around beats, food, darts and a winter of content.