Recently had the good fortune to pick up a copy of the Glen Brown / King Tubby Termination dub album on Pressure Sounds. Admittedly I settled for a CD, having previously missed a cheap CD a few years ago and passed on a vinyl copy @A$150 (single disc version not double). Anyhow, a few weeks back I noticed a UK Ebay seller had 1 of 3 very reasonably priced copies left, unlike whats usually there, so the but button was clicked. Have had it in the whip since it arrived, brilliant, straight into the top shelf of my dub collection. And I've also had a copy of Jeremy Collingwood's 'Bob Marley - His Musical Legacy' book arrive, which I learnt of on this forum. What a beauty that is too, looking forward to diving in.
That Termination Dub CD (Blood & Fire, not Pressure Sounds, of course!) is absolutely killer stuff, and goes nicely with the three Glen Brown comps on Greensleeves, 'Check The Winner' and so on.
Bah, foggy Friday afternoon brain. Blood & Fire it is, will look out for the Greensleeves material, ring the alarm somebody!
Has anyone put online a full Yabby You discography? Very interested to know how much over lap exits over all of the compilations
Back with another neophyte question: Suggestions on where to go after Tougher Than Tough the 4 CD box? Unhelpfully, I'm interested in pretty much everything up to dancehall. Protoska, ska, reggae, rocksteady, roots, dub, etc. Any good Trojan, Island, Studio One compilations which don't retread ground? CDs preferred. Thanks
I've not seen one, and the Vivian Jackson stable of releases is pretty confusing to me too. To be honest, I'd probably start putting together a spreadsheet to track all the releases and see what is where. However, I've always been mostly satisfied with the more modern compilations. The Dread Prophecy 3CD box on Shanachie is quite nice, along with some of the Blood and Fire and PS releases (as well as the Corn-Fed titles). taken from: Dread Prophecy (The Strange And Wonderful Story of Yabby You) 3CD Box Set YABBY YOU ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY --------------------------- Conquering Lion (Micron (1975)/ Prophet Records) (1977) Ram A Dam (Lucky) (1976) (reissued 1979 on Rama label) (Slightly different version of Conquering Lion) Chant Down Babylon Kingdom (Nationwide) (1976) King Tubby's Prophesy Of Dub (Prophet Records) (1976) Deliver Me From My Enemies (Prophet Records) (1977) Beware (Grove Music) (1978) Vocal & Dub--Yabby You & Michael Prophet (Prophet Records) (1979) Yabby You Meets Tommy McCook In Dub (Prophet) (1979) Yabby You Meets Trinity At Dub Station (Prophet) (1979) Yabby You Meets Michael Prophet In Dub (Prophet Records) (1980) African Queen (Clappers) (1980) Jan Jan Way (Islanders) (1980) Yabby You & Michael Prophet Meet Scientist At The Dub Station (1981) Yabby You: Fleeing The City Dub/Michael Prophet Versions (Prophet) (1984) Fleeing From The City (Shanachie) (1985) Yabby You Meets Sly & Robbie Along With Tommy McCook (WLN) (1986) Yabby You Meets Mad Professor & Black Steel In Ariwa Studio (1993) Yabby The You Man (Peacemaker Records) (1995) Jah Will Be Done (Prophets Records) (1997) Jah Will Be Done In Dub (Prophets Records) (Date uncertain) Yabby You Meets Tommy McCook In Dub: Sounds Of The 70's (Peacemaker) (2000) Yabby You Live (Ariwa) (2014) Yabby You Meets Sly & Robbie At The Mixing Lab Studio (Prophet Records) (Date Uncertain) Compilations: V.A. King Tubby & Yabby You "Time To Remember" Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (Prophet Records) (1982) V.A. King Tubby & Yabby You: Hits Of The Past (Prophet Records) (1982) V.A. King Tubby & Yabby You Present King Tubby's Boom Sounds Vol. 4 (?) V.A. Yabby You & King Tubby's All-Stars (1980) V.A. Prophecy (WLN) (1986) V.A. Jesus Dread (Blood & Fire) (1997) V.A. Dub It To The Top (Blood & Fire) (2002) Artist Productions: Jah Stitch: Original Ragga Muffin???? 1979 King Tubby & Yabby You: The Ghost Of King Tubby & Yabby You Vol. 3 (Prophet Records) (1982) Michael Prophet: Consciousness (Prophet Records) (1980) Michael Prophet: Know The Right (Prophet Records) (1981) Michael Prophet: Serious Reasoning (Island) 1980) Michael Prophet: Stars In Disco Showcase (Prophet Records) (1982) Prophets: King Tubby's Prophecies Of Dub (Prestige) (1976) Tommy McCook: Blazing Horns Grove Music (1977) Wayne Wade: Black Is Our Colour (Prophet Records) (1976) Wayne Wade: Evil Woman (Prophet Records) (1978) Wayne Wade: Dancing Time (Prophet Records) (1978) Wayne Wade: Fire Fire (Prophet Records) (1979) Tony Tuff: Presenting Mr. Tuff (Black Roots) (1980) Trinity: Shanty Town Determination (Prophet Records/ Micron Records) (1977) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blood and Fire: Yabby You - Dub It To The Top 1976-1979 (Blood and Fire BAFCD038, 2002) [Yabby You Meets Michael Prophet: Vocal & Dub] Yabby You - Jesus Dread 1972-1977 (Blood and Fire BAFCD021, 1997) [Conquering Lion + Walls of Jerusalem] Yabby You - King Tubby's Prophesy of Dub 1976 (Blood and Fire BAFCD005, 1995) Yabby You - Deliver Me From My Enemies 1977 (Blood and Fire BAFCD051, 2006) [Corn-Fed release has better sound quality] Trinity - Shanty Town Determination (Blood and Fire BAFCD031, 2000) Shanachie: Yabby You - Dread Prophecy 3CD Box (Shanachie 45072, 2015) Yabby You - One Love, One Heart 1983 (Shanachie 43016, 1992) Pressure Sounds: Yabby You - Deep Roots (Dub Plates And Rarities 1976-1978) (PSCD77) Yabby You - King Tubby's Prophecies of Dub (PS105, 2020) Yabby You & The Prophets - Beware Dub (Expanded) (PSCD92, 2016) Yabby You & The Prophets - Conquering Lion (Expanded Edition) (PSCD107, 2021) Yabby You & The Prophets - Deeper Roots Part 2 (More Dubs & Rarities) (PS084) Yabby You meets King Tubby - The Walls of Jerusalem (PS103, 2019) [aka Chant Down Babylon Kingdom / King Tubby Meet Vivian Jackson (Yabby You)] The Prophets - The Yabby You Sound (Dubs and Versions) (PSLP110, 2022) Corn-Fed: Vivian Jackson & Prophets - Chant Down Babylon Kingdom 1976 (Corn-Fed CF 039, 2004) [aka King Tubby Meet Vivian Jackson (Yabby You)] Yabby You - Deliver Me From My Enemies 1977 (Corn-Fed CF 095, 2008) Yabby You & Prophets - Beware Dub 1978 (Corn-Fed CF 314, 2004)
If you're in Massachusetts, there are probably still some Heartbeat Studio One compilations floating around your local used record stores. Those are a good place to start for that era, along with Heartbeat's Treasure Isle comps.
Thanks for the recs! Is the Rough Guide To Reggae still a useful resource, or has it been supplanted by anything?
For the period you're looking at (and anything up to its date of publication), I think it's still pretty authoritative. (I think there are one or two more recent editions.) The only downside is that many of the CDs they mention are probably out of print, but it'll still help you figure out what to look for.
This book is great, not only for the history and recommended listening, but also, as I am in the digital age, being able to plug in the names of records into YouTube and either hear them straight away or find what compilations or albums they appear on on Discogs! Blue Beat BB 53: "Humpty Dumpty", Eric Morris -
I'm really enjoying Junkanoo and Zion Revival folk music, quadrille, Stanley Motta's urban mento music, and the Jamaican R&B of Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd. Very happy camper, me!
Enjoying this The Best Of The Maytones from Burning Sounds (known for inconsistent quality but this ones ok) Inexplicable really why the Maytones didnt seem to get the same recognition given to their peers (outside of JA) Music for the heart and soul, delightful!
Nothing wrong with the Maytones, but some of their peers were better and put out more and better albums, they just didn't match let alone surpass the best output from the Heptones, Gladiators or Mighty Diamonds, plus they stuck with Alvin Ranglin for too long and never got the push they would have from being on Studio One, Channel One, Virgin or doing an album at the Black Ark with Scratch.
Twenty-five years out of date, leans too heavily toward the Blood & Fire catalogue and reflects the personal tastes of its authors, meaning a few gaps, having said that it's still pretty much essential and has only been replaced by this thread.
That's fair. I'm using the 3rd edition from 2006, and using it to explore the wider history (folk, mento, sound systems) and connecting to Trojan, Voice Of The People, Blue Beat, etc. I'm not entirely familiar with the reggae stuff yet (I'm up to where Millie breaks internationally in 1962), but I'll keep that in mind.
Another very valid avenue to explore is Jamaican Jazz, all sorts of overlaps with Jamaican popular music, plus many of those who left were Alpha Boys; Joe Harriott, Wiilton Gaynair, Dizzy Reece and Harold McNair are some that left for the UK, Germany and the States and didn't get drawn into the Ska or Reggae scenes, if you want to go back pre-war there are musicians such as Leslie Thompson, (another Alpha boy), Bertie King and Leslie "Jiver" Hutchinson they were among the first Jamaicans to be regularly recorded having moved to the UK. If you really want to be comprehensive and go down an under documented rabbit hole, there is also hotel music, which once again often featured the same musicians as on the Ska and Reggae recordings.
Isn't this thread the same? Over 25 years out of date and reflects the the personal tastes of its authors, the latter true for every music guide. I'll get my coat.
How much is there to dig into there? I know the Skatalites (and others) would leave the studio after a day's work and drive up to the north coast to play in hotels at night, but AFAIK it was mostly stock arrangements of standards and popular songs of the day (i.e. many of the same songs they were recording in a ska style during the day). Are there any obscure gems that came out of that scene?
Just because we don't all like what passes for popular Jamaican music these days. This thread has dozens of contributors, not two, is pretty up-to-date with regard to what you can actually buy new, latest reissues etc., has enough age and geographical diversity to reflect a lot more styles than the Rough Guide, Lovers Rock and UK reggae for example and even has yourself and a few others for all the latest, not actually available to buy releases, so I'd say it is indeed both useful and more use than the Rough Guide.
I've not done the digging, but as a guess there are probably more hotel albums released than original Ska albums, so there is material there, plus not everyone played both sides of the street, I'm not sure if you could get from Kingston for a North Coast gig, in time, plenty stuck with the tourist scene. One bonus is that they were bought by affluent Europeans and Americans, so not only are they cheap, but they are usually in much better condition than Ska or Reggae, there is also some variety in the repertoire, I'm not saying a huge amount, but some.
