Roots & Culture 276 Items

"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".

Fresh heavyweight speaker-distressing business from The Disciples with a vocal track from the legendary Dixie Peach (Jah Tubbys, Fashion labels and many more).

Missed out on first pressing - waiting on repress

The definition of deep roots, here are a pair of almost never before heard tracks from the mythical Creole.

The A-side "Fishers of Man" is an extended mix, while the B-side "Walls of Jericho" is a vocal cut followed by a synth added version retrieved from dubplate. The vocal cuts are the band's personal rough mixes, which thankfully survived to now be heard. These tracks were meant for an LP that never materialized

Cool Ska Inst. Cover Of Spanish Flea backed with a funky vocal cut.

A premium series of limited edition Japanese pressed 7"s - featuring unreleased and impossibly hard to find gems from the Duke Reid archives.

Rhythms recorded in Jamaican. Overdubs recorded at Glass Studios, Wirral, England

Emotional Rescue is delighted to debut a first. Rather than a straight reissue of an (obscure) classic or a collection of music by an artist or label, here presented is a compilation of various artists centered around a sound and movement reggae-tinged music and how it influenced and spread from the Caribbean and diaspora.

Drawn from the off kilter digging of archivist, DJ and collector Bruno (perfectliv.es), Nowhere Like Here is not a follow up, but a sideways accompaniment, to his recent and already cult like 'Perfect Motion' collection of left field pop and new wave, recently self-released with Flo Dill (nts).

This is a special release to celebrate the label's 10th year and beyond, offering a treasure trove of lo-fi and often pop inspired reggae cuts, mixing heartfelt Lovers Rocks style paeans and quirky private press oddities, all guaranteed to 'make-a-move and tap', these are, in the main ridiculously rare or impossible to find alternative bombs, that are just as sound system rocking and massive bass line quaking showcases of the enduring legacy of this Jamaican music phenomenon. As with much of the early 80s period, the music community was in the throes of a Do-It-Yourself cultural renaissance as small labels, where crazy limited, one off White Labels Onlys came and went. Songs like Avalanche 's 'Your Love is Such a Good Thing 'or Warp Speed's 'Take It To The Night' were part of the claiming the means of production in to their own hands, pressing up the records and self-distributing. This raw, naive exuberance can be heard in the songs themselves. This is not reggae or Lovers as known, but something more expressive. Musical, simply produced, but with intelligible and uplifting optimism that is just superlatively catchy.

While Paul Thompson's 'Can I Take You Home' and Ras Ibuna's 'Black Beauty' are more straight-ahead Lover's style cuts, there is the parallel dance pop private pressing vibrations of the two Keith Robinson songs and Majority's 'Caroline' included all part of a thread; a joining the dots that Nowhere Like Here is at its most basic, a warmth the whole album exudes.

This is not a Lovers Rock Hits of some, but a left-of-center versioning, spread across Double Pack and cut loud for DJ play, fitting the ethos of Emotional Rescue by presenting something most will not have heard before and all the better for it.

A conscious roots celebration on the A side with Patrick Andy on lead vocal and Yabby You on harmony. A thumping rhythm with Tommy McCook leading the horns on a tasteful arrangement. The flip side is a plea to ’Show a little love’ You can hear all the familiar trademarks of Yabby’s production techniques, attention to detail on the rhythm and the recording. Yabby, like may top quality producers undoubtedly involved in the songs text as well as production. Quality music. Comes in a grey Pressure Sounds custom disco bag.

The seed for this album comes from a tape compiled but never released by Vivian “Yabby You” Jackson, labelled “The Best Of Patrick Andy”. On the tape were three unreleased tunes, one unreleased dub, and stereo mixes of several singles which had only been heard in mono before. So “Living In Mount Zion” is in full stereo on the tape, as opposed to mono on the released 7”, with Yabby’s characteristic production trick of switching the panning of the horns and rhythm tracks back and forth from left to right, as also heard on several of his albums. “You Don’t Want Me” is also different to the 7” cut, presented in stereo and with extra horns overdubbed. The three unreleased songs are all well worthy of inclusion in this compilation, showing Patrick Andy’s spiritual side over some heavy rhythms. Together they form a fitting tribute to a fine singer and a legendary producer.

Rabadàb is the side project of four musicians that also play in bands such as L’Home Llop & The Astramats, The Pepper Pots, Thorpedians, Corcs Drum&Organ or The Island Defenders. In Rabadàb they cover Christmas and traditional songs in the style of Jamaican music like ‘Los Peces En El Río’ and ‘El Petit Vailet’. This single is part of the collection of 7” celebrating the 15th anniversary of the label Buenritmo Records.

Corcs Drum&Organ is exactly that, an instrumental two piece formed by Oriol Casas on the drums and Joan Sobrevals on the organ. This 7” captures two of their first recordings together, ‘Cory Wong’ by Vulfpeck, and the classic ‘A Message To You Rudi” by The Specials. This single is part of the collection of 7” celebrating the 15th anniversary of the label Buenritmo Records.

An absolute sound system killer, this 2002 Jah Works classic is now available for distribution through Triple Vision. The enigmatic Mene Man joins Jah Rej on a riddim guaranteed to shake up your woofers.

Here comes a heartical salute to the golden Wackies times. A fresh riddim by King Stanley was voiced by Love Joy and Jah Batta at Forcemusic Studio (run by Wackies’ original bass player Jah T) and afterwards the project was given to the legendary trumpetist, producer, composer, arranger, engineer and general multi-instrumentalist Maurice "Azul" Clive Hunt aka Lizzard for mixing. The result: two tuff vocals on a driving riddim, beautifully mixed, presented with two (dub) versions. Press play and let the time traveling begin…

Formed in 1989, Hepcat is a musical group that look too Jamaican, American Soul, Jazz, and Latin music from the the 1960’s and 1970’s to influence their music feast of Ska, Rocksteady, and Reggae. With a focus on highlighting soulful vocal harmonies, intoxicating rhythms, with rich and clever horn arrangements, Hepcat has been a unique and refreshing musical addition to the California music scene. The Group is composed of vocalists Gregory Lee and Alex Desert, keyboardists/vocalist Deston Berry, guitarist Lina Trujillo, saxophonists Efren Santana, trumpeter Kincaid Smith and drummer Greg Narvas. Hepcat has released 4 successful albums, 1993s Out of Nowhere on New York based record label Moon Ska Records; 1996's Scientific on Los Angeles based BYO Records; 1998’s Right On Time and 2000’s Push N' Shove on Los Angeles based Hellcat/Epitaph Records. Hepcat has hypnotized audiences all around the world and were often the first to bring their unique take on Ska, Rocksteady, and Reggae to audiences of other musical genres. Hepcat has shared audiences and stages with the likes of The Allman Brothers, Taj Mahal, Ben Harper, Public Enemy, and many, many more. The band would be the first to tell you that the greatest reward has been being able to play with the very people who initially inspired them to play music as a group, from the Skatalites to Toot’s and the Maytals, whom they have enjoyed as fans.

The Jackpot Of Hits compilation features the best of the mid-to-late Sixties reggae sounds. It kicks off with The Pioneers “Jackpot” and is followed up by three other tracks of this popular Jamaican vocal trio. Also included on the 12-track set are The Mellotones “Feel Good”, Lynn Taitt & The Jets “El Casino Royale”, Stranger Cole “What Momma No Want She Get”, Hugh Malcolm “Good Time Rock” and Cool Sticky “Train To Soulville” amongst others. Jackpot Of Hits is available as a limited edition on orange coloured vinyl.

Igziabeher Yi mas gan (Let Jah be Praised!) - as we follow up with the next release forwarding from Ashanti Selah Music; we are proud to present a fresh combination to the label with Iqulah Rastafari who is a true ambassador and master of his faith as well as being a high-caliber artist in his own right; this release delivers the whole roots and nothing but the roots in its full entirety. Hailing from Jamaica and toured the 4 corners of the world with his band 'Giddeon Family' as well as performing many shows in Africa with the 'Azania Band' - Iqulah always brings the spiritual power and most honourable Rasta energy in connection with the music; making it a such an engaging experience when being among the vibration.

The Maxi-single offers two original vocals and two dub mixes per side with strong lyrics and heavy riddims to accompany!

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….