Name: AnnenMayKantereit - Es Ist Abend Und Wir Sitzen Bei Mir
Brand: AnnenMayKantereit Records
SKU: 1145000v1
Price: 29.99 EUR
Availability: InStock

V.A.

Brown Sugar- I'm In Love With A Dreadlocks: Brown Sugar And The Birth Of Loves Rock 1977-80

2LP | 2018 | UK | Original (Soul Jazz)

29,99 €*

Incl. VAT plus Shipping Costs

Release: 2018 / UK – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

Add to Cart Coming Soon Sold out Currently not available Not Enough Coins

Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG+

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this first ever collection of the pioneering British reggae Lovers Rock group Brown Sugar including rare singles, dubs and extended mixes. The album comes with extensive sleevenotes and interviews with Dennis Bovell, Pauline Catlin, John Kpiaye and Winston Edwards (Studio 16).
Brown Sugar were formed by three young teenage girls – Pauline Catlin, Caron Wheeler and Carol Simms in South London in 1976. In the short period of time 1976-1980, the group – working with Dennis Bovell on the mixing desk and John Kpiaye (‘Brownie T) in the studio – recorded barely a handful of singles on the new Lovers Rock label, a number of which went to the top of the UK reggae charts. But success stopped there, and with no album release and no industry support the group broke up in the early 1980s.
Following their split Caron Wheeler became the lead vocalist for the hugely successful group Soul II Soul, Carol Simms launched a solo career as Kofi (re-making a number of Brown Sugar songs with producer Mad Professor) and Pauline Catlin returned to education.
Despite their relatively low-key mainstream public exposure Brown Sugar (and the label on which their first records appeared) announced to the world a new genre of reggae music, Lovers Rock, which spoke for the first time with the sensibility of a new segment of British society; that of first generation-born Black British female youth.
And while Lovers Rock became synonymous with sweet love songs, Brown Sugar’s music in fact expressed far more; a righteous pride and consciousness in being Black and British, a political stance more often associated with UK roots groups like Black Slate, Aswad, Misty in Roots and other British reggae acts in the late 1970s. Brown Sugar were in fact their own genre of ‘conscious lovers rock’ – an expression of ideological black cultural pride.
Brown Sugar’s handful of three-minute love songs (often plus extended dubs) somehow manage to encapsulate all the complexities of identity, sexual politics and youthful righteousness of Afro-Caribbean youth living in Britain in the 1970s. Songs such as ‘I’m in Love with A Dreadlocks’, ‘Our Reggae Music’, ‘Black Pride’ and ‘Dreaming of Zion’ spoke with a straightforward righteousness and consciousness that few roots groups could hope to match. The fact that they were all teenagers is even more striking.
In the mid-70s British reggae came into being as first generation Black Britain was able to find a voice able to express the issues of growing up British with Caribbean roots. This came about in two different ways – the British roots music of (essentially male) groups such as Aswad, Steel Pulse and Black Slate – and Lovers Rock, the expression of a black essentially (but not totally) female consciousness – Brown Sugar, Louisa Mark, 15-16-17, Marie Pierre, Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson, Jean Adebambo and others. And significantly, while British roots music was a variant on a Jamaican style, Lovers Rock was uniquely British – the first authentic British reggae sound.
Dennis Bovell comments, “For Lovers Rock we needed a pulpit, a way of saying ‘this is the style’. Sound systems were already saying ‘this is lovers,’ brandishing it in the dance. Our intention was to create a style of music that my generation could identify with – one that had a beat, and you could dance to with your partner in a sound system setting.”
Dennis Bovell’s mixes for the group gave a further dimension to Brown Sugar records – a sound system mentality, adding sound effects and dub elements. ‘I’m in Love with A Dreadlocks’ was the debut release for both Brown Sugar and the Lovers Rock label, a fitting calling card for both. The record was a hit on many sound systems across the UK, reaching the top of the reggae charts.
John Kpiaye: “They never put out an album. And all these records were seven-inch singles; when 12-inches turned up it just killed the seven-inch.”
Although the career of Brown Sugar was short-lived, their legacy and influence remains significant and now, 40 years on from these first records, all of the members are still involved in music. Pauline Catlin has recently re-launched her career under a new moniker, Shezekiel; Carol Simms, aka Kofi, remains a successful solo artist, one of the queens of Lovers Rock; Caron Wheeler, after leaving Soul II Soul at the end of the 1980s, embarked on a solo career, before re-joining the soul super-group which she continues to front to this day.
This new collection brings together all the groups essential recordings for the first ever time.

Go to Item

Used vinyl records at HHV

When it comes to sound, no sound carrier has yet outstripped the record. At HHV, real music lovers will not only find new vinyl releases, but also a large selection of used records for the analog listening experience. Due to our constant interest in used vinyl, we buy record collections from dealers and collectors. In our online shop, a unique range of second-hand records from a wide range of genres is created – a valuable offer for all nostalgics, collectors and music enthusiasts. Because the real treasures can be discovered in the wide range of used records.

Used vinyl from all major genres

Our selection of second-hand records offers a wide range of music styles -from pop and rock to jazz, soul, blues and R’n’B to hip hop and dance. The repertoire not only includes used records from famous labels such as Impulse, Prestige, Motown, Blue Note, Warp, Atlantic, and Stones Throw, but also works by top artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, Slum Village, De La Soul, and Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes, Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Herbie Hancock.

Valuable records: collector’s items and rarities

Used vinyl from the HHV online shop is anything but just “old records”. Rather, they are real collector’s treasures that we offer for sale. Music lovers can discover rarities and other highlights with us, whether releases from early creative periods of bands and solo artists or more recent releases. The time span extends over several decades – from the 1950s to the present. You can choose from used records in all formats: 7 inch, 12 inch sowie LPs.

Benchmark for grading used records: Goldmine Grading Standard

When assessing the condition, we use the Goldmine Grading Standard as a guide. We use this system to rate used records from Mint/Sealed (M/S) to Fair (F). The corresponding rating is displayed for each used vinyl item in our online shop. Most of our used records are in condition no worse than Very Good Plus (VG+). When buying records, our aim is to offer dealers and collectors the opportunity to sell their used records at top conditions – regardless of whether they are individual records or the entire collection.