Roots & Culture 209 Items

4LPs and 4CDs

On The Grove’ is an ambitious and passionate collaboration project, it features musicians spanning seven decades, including Jamaican legends: Ernest Ranglin, Ken Boothe, Earl 16 and Devon Russell; alongside contemporary artists, including jazz trumpeter Ms. Maurice (known for her work with Afro—Jazz Ensemble Kokoroko and Nubya Garcia), and vocalist Alexia Coley.

Reggae Disco Rockers cover Neil Young's classic "Harvest Moon" with Marter on guest vocals. The coupling features a remix by Slowly! Reggae Disco Rockers, who had an exceptionally big hit last summer with their cover of F. Knuckles' "The Whistle Song", have now collaborated with male vocalist Marter. The band has now collaborated with male vocalist Marter, who is a member of Jazzy Sport and expresses his unique world view as a singer and songwriter, on a cover of 'Harvest Moon', one of Neil Young's best-known songs. As on the previous album The Whistle Song, Emerson Kitamura plays keyboards on this album, giving it an organic atmosphere. The coupling track is a remix by the ever-popular Slowly, with a ground-crawling bassline, and both the organic original version and the cool remix are perfect, again in full jacket!

Drummer "Drummie" Joe Isaacs had already created history as the house drummer at Studio 1 in Jamaica on countless pre-reggae classics before moving to Canada in 1968 and is credited with slowing down the fast pace of ska during the rocksteady era. With Risco Connection, Isaacs released a series of choice reggae / disco covers, from 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now' and 'Good Times' to 'I'm Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair)' and 'It's My House' as limited 12" singles on his own Black Rose imprint. "Arriving in Canada, we were one of the first set of musicians out of Jamaica coming here," explains Isaacs. "With Risco Connection, we wanted to try something new, songs that would have a crossover between disco and the rocksteady feeling and the right lyrics. We had trouble getting them well distributed widely at the time but people still picked up on the sound." 'Risco Version' brings together all of the vocal versions, dubs and extra tracks from the singles. Both formats feature an interview with Joe Isaacs and liner notes by journalist Angus Taylor. Audio is restored by Sean P and fully remastered and cut loud and proud by The Carvery.

Before Dan Klein's unfortunate passing, The Frightnrs agreed to keep a promise he asked of them - continue making music together. Part of that promise has been made manifest here... Daptone Records is proud to present ALWAYS - the raw, soulful new long player from The Frightnrs.

The road to Always began with a period of intense songwriting back when The Frightnrs and producer Victor Axelrod (Ticklah) were working on the group's debut, rocksteady masterpiece, Nothing More to Say. In addition to the scorchers heard therein, Axelrod and The Frightnrs agreed many of the recordings were too sweet to tamper with in order to fit the rocksteady mold. Some were created at their headquarters in Queens with Dan on the mic, some were elaborations on older ideas, others were brand new creations made at the finish line.

Thanks to the vocal stems they had captured in this golden period, Dan Klein's other-worldly voice lived on, giving The Frightnrs all the raw material they needed for an entire album's worth of new, original music. So with that, The Frightnrs and Axelrod returned to the studio and painstakingly conceptualized, tracked, re-tracked and mixed them into a complete album with their beloved friend singing lead. The fruits of this arduous process lay bare the undying love and respect between musical brothers.

The last song written for this album, "Why Does it Feel Like a Curse", married two song concepts with one of Dan's original vocal performances - creating a beautiful, flawless composition that not only serves as a highlight reel of their editing skills and songwriting prowess, but also as a kind of metaphor for The Frightnrs jour ney. The per fect ending f or ALWAYS.

Disco Reggae Rockers features wicked reggae disco versions of funk, soul and disco classics! This new album follows on from Soul Jazz Records" earlier highly successful "Hustle: Disco Reggae" and features reggae covers of classic songs by Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, Candi Staton, Curtis Mayfield and more as performed by Derrick Harriott, Devon Russell, Hortense Ellis, Glen Adams, Dave Barker and others.

David Hillyard & The Rocksteady 7 are back with their first LP since their 2018 album, The Giver. The new album, "Plague Doctor," blends the Rocksteady 7's signature sound, which combines elements of American jazz and Jamaican influences, with classic Brazilian rhythms and themes. The Rocksteady 7 features some of the best players in the current ska and reggae scene, including members of NYC ska staples The Slackers and percussionist Larry McDonald (Toots & The Maytals, Gil Scott-Heron. Lee "Scratch" Perry).

Soul Jazz Records follows up one its most popular Studio One releases with a brand new selection of rare and classic releases by women in reggae. Featuring legendary artists such as Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley and Hortense Ellis (with a guest appearance by her brother Alton), alongside a host of rarities from lesser known names such as Nina Soul, Nana Mclean, Denise Darlington, Myrna Hague and also Doreen Schaeffer, a vocalist who was a founding member of The Skatalites. There are notable covers (from Tyrone Davis' soul classic Can I Change My Mind to the Band's 60s psychedelic classic Turn Turn Turn in a rub-a-dub style!). Doreen Schaeffer reversions Alton Ellis's seminal I'm Still in Love with You, Nina Soul reversions the slack rocksteady anthem Barb Wire. A number of these tracks are almost impossible to find and many have never been issued ever since their initial release. The music on the album is of course 100% killer and features backing from all of the seminal groups at 13 Brentford Road including The Skatalites, Sound Dimension, Soul Brothers and the Brentford All Stars, and ranges from ska, rocksteady, roots, lovers and more from the 60s, 70s and 80s. All produced by Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd at Studio One Records, the number one sound in reggae music.

Chicago's first reggae band gets it's first proper anthology of rare and unreleased recordings. Twelve tracks of rock infused reggae ska that was light years ahead. Inc "jesse James" and "heart Full OF Soul" singles + "IT Happened", "strange Cargo", "tonight" & more. Yellow wax w/poster.

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.

This new Studio collection on Soul Jazz Records delves deep into a melting pot world of reggae and funk and dub created at the music laboratory of 13 Brentford Road, Kingston in the 1970s - an intense collaboration of crack musicians, singers, DJs and engineers under the guidance of producer Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd. Here you will find some of the deepest and rawest cuts to emanate out the Studio One factory - truly hypnotic rhythms, powerful funk guitar and bass, soaring horns and more interspersed with occasional vocals and toasting as musicians reach for the highest heights and deepest roots of reggae music.

Exquisite mood of exotic electronic dub, rhythm box organ reggae instrumentals at its finest! This is a completely limited 7" from the second album "Woven" released in 2007! This is the first analog version of the very popular Ylnw self-cover of the last single by the Determinations in 2003. This one is a must have! Yossy Little Noise Weaver consists of ex-Determinations keyboardist Yossy and trumpet player Icchie, and the A-side is a self-cover of a classic song from the latter years of the Determinations' career, written by Yossy. The A-side is a self-covered version of a late Detami classic composed by Yossy. The minimalist composition of rhythm box, organ, and trumpet creates an exotic mood, and the endlessly sweet melody with just the right amount of dub is a superb organ reggae instrumental number! The B-side features a cover of the spiritual jazz classic "Love In Outer Space" by Sun Ra. This one has a cosmic exo-jazz groove with electronic sounds, organ, and trumpet, and is super cool! This is a super strong double-sider single without any complaints.

1970s Jamaica suffered an unprecedented stretch of political turmoil and violence, and as the country’s economy and morale collapsed, reggae and its offshoots exploded worldwide. Boris Gardiner enjoyed great success leading bands, issuing albums that mixed reggae, ska, soul and funk, and collaborating with the likes of Lee (Scratch) Perry and Herman Chin-Loy in their legendary studios and playing on hundreds of records. So many that he lost count. Sometime around the issue of his Boris Gardiner Happening Is What’s Happening album - a Loft classic, with David Mancuso favoring Gardiner’s take of Booker T. and the MG’s “Melting Pot” at his legendary gathering - and his soundtrack to Every N----r Is A Star, famously sampled by Kendrick Lamar and used as the introduction to the film Moonlight, two albums - Ultra Super Dub Vols. 1 and 2 - credited to The Boris Gardiner Happening - two albums so obscure that for the longest time Boris wasn’t even aware that they existed. Following classics such as King Tubby’s Dub From the Roots and Augustus Pablo’s King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, Miami-based Alty East’s Ultra Records took instrumentals Gardiner created for a run of 45s, and created and issued these compilations of dubbed out originals and JA renditions of songs by Otis Redding, Clarence Carter, Betty Wright, Jimmy “Bo” Horne and Ultra label-mate Frankie Zhivago Young. Released in tiny runs in handmade, silkscreened, paste-on covers, they have become some of the most sought after Jamaican albums. Now, issued under Boris’ guidance, and with a detailed booklet by Jeff Mao, which delves into the deep scene which birthed these remarkable records, we can finally consider the last, unheard portion of this landmark musician’s career.

2022 Reissue | Green vinyl

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.

Akae Beka's inimitable style of rich, deep, multi-layered songwriting, uncompromising devotion to RasTafari and soulful healing melodies developed over decades performing with St. Croix based band Midnite and countless recordings. At the point of his untimely passing in 2019, he had released over 70LP's. He is without a doubt one of the most prolific reggae artists ever known.

The stellar production trinity that is Zion I Kings have been involved collectively and individually in creating some of the most highly regarded contributions to the vast Akae Beka catalogue. The timeless songs of 'Mek A Menshun' amply reward the listener who can penetrate into the mystical musical realms of Rastafari. Longtime fans of Midnite and Akae Beka will note that Vaughn Benjamin's singing on 'Mek a Menshun' reached new heights of melodic delivery and emotional intensity. Coupled with his always poetic and insightful lyrics, these 10 original songs rank among his best recordings to date. The title track 'Mek A Menshun' includes vocals by Protoje Grammy (R)-nominated artist.

Mek A Menshun features the stellar musicianship of the ZIK distinguished in typical fashion by the rock-solid drumming of Lloyd "Junior" Richards. On this album, his playing is complemented by Aston Barrett Jr. ("By Day", "Only Now") and Kirk Bennett ( "Kagm Mystory", "Mek A Menshun"). The signature stylings of the other core ZIK musicians are augmented by horns (Andrew "Drew Keys" Stoch -trombone, Donald "Jahbless" Toney -saxophone), flute- Sheldon "Attiba" Bernard, kette- Andrew "Bassie" Campbell, and the guitar of Chet Samuel. ZIK guitarist Andrew "Moon" Bain contributes a string arrangement on "Only Now". Throughout the album, Laurent "Tippy I" Alfred's spot-on organ shuffle bubbles the rhythm forward. Many of the 'Mek A Menshun' tracks were among the last recordings done by the veteran engineer Gary Woung.

Originally released digitally and on CD, this LP is now being released for the first time on as a 12" vinyl LP courtesy of Before Zero Records.

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.

Born John McMorris in Kingston, Jamaica in 1970 his nickname originally described this young man to a tee but, as time passed, his stature in the reggae music business continued to grow, Little John became more akin to his Sherwood Forest namesake. Little John first burst on to the Jamaican music scene in 1979 as a precocious nine year old on an un-credited combination with Captain Sinbad on ‘51 Storm’ for Sugar Minott’s Black Roots label . His ‘Unite’ album is a reminder of the continuing relevance of the dancehall style. Rough, raw and rugged they represent the real authentic sound of young Jamaica from nearly forty years ago when the youths “forgot their troubles and danced”.

Recorded At Channel One, Kingston, Jamaica Produced By Anthony Dehaney Mixed By Scientist Backing Band The Roots Radics Recorded 1984

Recorded live at the Record Plant Sausalito CA, October 1973. 180gr