Was a big hit in Holland (and I think in more countries in the EU), maybe also partly by the title of the song.
The first Musical Youth single "Political"/"Generals" is excellent and we reissued both sides on our Midlands Roots Explosion comps so everyone can own them if they want.
Oh, okay, Thanks. I have the Blood and Fire CD so that's the mix I am familiar with - I assume it is Perry's remix. How is the sound quality of the readily available Go Feet version on vinyl?
The Go Feet copies are pretty decent, better pressings than any of the Jamaican ones, actually from a purely pressing point of view better than the Blood and Fire and VPs, I think they are a bargain assuming you find a nice one for £25, but then they aren't Jamaican and don't have the extra tracks of the BAF which I guess make people pay through the nose. With regards to the mix, Perry did both, he obviously wasn't satisfied with the first so redid it and pressed all subsequent copies with that second mix.
Years ago, Trojan put out a couple of Scratch Perry CD compilations that are considered to be some of the best Scratch compilations ever: Open the Gate and Build the Ark. They are long OOP and the sound is a little rough IMO. Some tracks I know for sure have been recently re-released on different compilations. Anyone knows if there are still tracks that are exclusive to these compilations on CD?
Good question and one that leads to a bit of frustration (at least on my part). If you've got Open the Gate, Build the Ark, Arkology, Baffling Smoke Signal, Born In the Sky and some of the Pressure Sounds comps, you've got a whole lot of that catalog. But then here comes those CD collections like Disco Devil and Sipple Out Deh that mix them all together and throw in some one-off tunes that you might not have with the others so you're faced with a bit of a dilemma. I've held off of buying those additional collections just because I've got all the others, but I know if I pick through those songs, there's a few I don't have. Thing is, I really love those Open the Gate and Build the Ark comps. I love how the tracks are ordered and how they're mixed so that the dubs come immediately after the vocals. They're my favorite comps of Black Ark songs hands down which is saying a lot considering how good those Pressure Sounds comps like Produced and Directed By and Voodooism are.
Those two box sets were fantastic when they came out, particularly the first one, not hard to go wrong when you are compiling some of the best Reggae 12"s ever released, they run exactly as they do on the original twelves, I'm not sure I've ever done a back to back comparison, but I think that where there's overlap some of the later Universal/Trojan CDs have better sound quality than the boxes. I seem to have scared Steve Barrow off else he could have confirmed that the box sets were dubbed from vinyl, I know someone who might know about the later Trojan and possibly Universal releases as he was involved in some of them, I'll ask if they had tapes and if so what for. Incidentally I managed to get a RSD copy of "Heart Of The Congos", I think I need to take a new photo soon.
Would be interesting to know...Also, looking around Discogs, some of the Open the Gate vinyl sets are Porky's. I've no idea if mine are or not, but now I've got to check.
Confirmed Porky Prime Cuts on the Open the Gate dead wax. Color me surprised. Were many Trojan LPs cut by Peckham? "Adrenalin" inscribed on the Build The Ark set, so obviously pressed there.
I've heard back from my friend, he worked for both Trojan and Universal, he says that both tape libraries were rather disappointing on the Perry front and that even Perry tapes that were supposed to be with Island/Universal and had been seen in their vault were missing, (stolen?). His estimate is that 99% of the material that Trojan hadn't originally released and subsequently put out came from vinyl transfers, I assume that Pressure Sounds also did transfers for the tracks that overlap. With regard to the box set pressings, there are definitely at least two, the original first pressing and the subsequent Sanctuary one several years later, from memory there are slight box and maybe label variations, also the pressings are different, neither being great, not sure on the mastering though, I may have both versions on the shelf I'll have to check. My friend just let me know that he did obtain some tapes from elsewhere, so 99% vinyl transfers may be a little high, but if they didn't put it out originally Trojan don't have a tape for it and Island/Universal don't have a ton of stuff left that they didn't originally issue. I do know someone with original Perry tapes and possibly unreleased tracks with perfect provenance, but I'm not getting very far with ascertaining exactly what he has, at least so far, hopefully he'll be releasing them at some stage.
I'm guessing that part of this has to do with taking these 12" mixes and fitting them on a regular album side. I'm no technician so that's certainly a guess. Very interesting info on the source material. Do other genres suffer the kind of theft/misplacement of masters that seems rampant in reggae?
Interesting thread but last night I decided to discover if there is any current great reggae artists. I searched online and discovered some intriguing music. In the next few days I intend to listen to them more seriously. The artists I found were Protojoe, Jah9, Raging Fyah, Popcaan. Any experts here who can suggest any crucial modern reggae that I should try?
Listening to Hempress Sativa now. Really good. The backing sounds like a dub record with proper vocals on top. I know and love Chronixx and will listen to Alborossie later
I'll add Kirkledoves Rumble In The Jungle LP to list as well he is a session drummer on a lot of modern roots performances and released the album last year it had just come to my attention and am loving it the track with Jesse Royal is brilliant
On the subject of more modern recordings (but rootsy songs) I'd like to recommend this unassuming title from a couple of years back: Various - The Biggest Reggae One-Drop Anthems 2015 It's a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing since it's not a compilation of already existing tracks, like earlier volumes in this series, but songs recorded especially for this album, it's produced by Clive Hunt and I think it's really good, it's a shame they didn't come up with a proper name for the project (but then again maybe it sold better with this title). My favourite track is probably Luciano's cover of Rod Taylor's "His Imperial Majesty", great song. I'm no expert on the current scene, but I think some of the featured artists would be good names to investigate further (a couple have been mentioned already). Here's another one of the tracks that happens to have a video too: Good one, I liked what I heard.
I was going to put that clip in my post at first, but then I started thinking - Luciano has been at it for at least 25 years, and here he's covering a song that's 40 years old - that's not exactly "modern", is it?
Well compared to The Congo's he is modern lol he has been going for a while to be honest I really need to dig into his back catalogue I have not heard much of it at all
Firing on all cylinders, after releasing the vinylof ONE FINE DUB, S&R are putting out DUBOCALYPSE this time it's mixed by their young padawan Dartanyan Winston available on all digital platforms in regular stream and download as well as in high resolution wav on Sly & Robbie Dubocalypse HD edition, by Sly & Robbie
forget the photo!what does it sound like? if one has the B&F releas, is this one worth getting? what are the differences? a full review is a must!
does anyone have this? i'm kinda looking for a needledrop. i don't do vinyl and i've been looking for this for years (since it came out in 1980, i assumed it was on CD). i have Rastafari and Rastafari Dub and wanted to hear this live record! no digital versions available either apparently... Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Promised Land Sounds - Rockin' Live Ruff N Tuff
