Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Love Thy Neighbour (Original Full Length Album) (1979)

A great album on offer here Reggae fans and one of the last full albums recorded at Lee "Scratch" Perry's legendary Black Ark studio. Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus and their brilliant album "Love Thy Neighbour" in all it's full length re-mastered glory.

Originally released on the Jah Live label in 1979 and then again in the USA on the Live & Learn label in 1983 only 7 tracks appeared. The remaining Black Ark sessions then featured on the groups 1981 album "Disarmament".

Finally the full 10 song album is here for your enjoyment with a couple of bonus Black Ark cuts : )

Ras Michael, real name Michael George Henry, was born in St. Mary, Jamaica in 1943 and grew up in a Rastafarian community. In his teens he moved to the Waterhouse district of Kingston where he would join a group of Rastafarian bredren in the compound of elder Nyahbinghi drummer Solomon Wolfe.

 
Here he learned the music and drumming of the Nyahbinghi, a form of Rastafarian music in which hand drumming and chanting were part of the religious meditation experience and groups would gather for days on end, reasoning (debating) on a degree of philosophical subjects.

In the mid-60's Michael created the Zion Disc label with the intention of showcasing and distributing Rasta inspired music, a practice that was uncommon at this period of time as most labels refused to promote Rastafarian music.

 
Michael also got a job at the famed, Coxsone Dodd run, Studio One as a hand drummer and worked on a variety of sessions using the money earned to fund the first ever Rastafarian radio program in Jamaica entitled "The Lion Of Judah Time" on JBC in 1967.

Although Michael had been recording since the mid-60's the first recordings crediting the Sons Of Negus didn't start to appear until the early 70's. The group was made up of various Nyahbinghi drummers and chanters including Sydney Wolfe (Solomon's son), I-Marts (aka Brother Martin) and Brother Jack.

 
They would mix the natural drumming of Nyahbinghi with the electric sounds of reggae to great effect and released a number of fine albums throughout the early to mid-70's occasionally under the alternative group name of Dadawah.

Ras Michael had known Lee Perry from his early days in the Reggae industry and towards the end of the 70's had begun to frequent Perry's studio in Washington Gardens, the Black Ark, with a number of other Nyahbinghi members, predominantly during the time The Congos were recording their glorious "Heart Of The Congos" album in 1977.

 
The group also provided some hand drumming on Junior Murvin's album sessions and were also present during Bob Marley's recordings at the studio in 1978.

It was at this point, late 1978, that Lee Perry agreed to produce an album by the group, a Black Ark Nyahbinghi hybrid that would transcend genres and help to push the Rastafarian message.

 
The group recorded 10 tracks at the studio with Lee Perry on production providing massive quantities of echo, delay and reverb to the hand drumming, chanting style of the Sons Of Negus. The instruments coming in and out of the mix at random intervals, the vocals echoey and haunting, everything just adding to the power and menace of the highly religious Nyahbinghi works being created.

It was at this time that the Black Ark and Lee Perry were beginning to fall apart and little did the group realise (or maybe they did?) that the album they had recorded would be one of the last created at the studio.

Ras Michael managed to secure the master tapes before the studio fell into disrepair and the album was given a limited vinyl release on the Jah Live label in 1979 entitled "Love Thy Neighbour".

This first edition included the songs "Long Time", "Do You Know?" and "Dreadlock" but was missing "Perfect Love" and "London Bridge Has Fallen Down" despite being named on the tracklist.

Then in the early 1980's Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus headed to the USA and struck a deal with the Live & Learn label who issued a second edition of the album.

 
This second edition however did not include the songs "Long Time", "Do You Know?" or "Dreadlock", A very confusing thing for those who purchased this edition or the previous Jah Live issue.

Later editions included "Perfect Love" and "London Bridge Has Fallen" but were missing the three final tracks, this edition has become the standard and was re-issued on cd.

 
Other tracks from the album sessions appeared on the groups 1981 album "Disarmament".

This edition includes the full 12 songs from the Black Ark album sessions, re-mastered for the first time on one disc and includes bonus extra Black Ark sessions.

Enjoy!   : )

Tracklisting:

1) Don't Sell Daddy No Whiskey
2) Times Is Drawing Nigh
3) Hear River Jordan Roll
4) Wicked Got To Go
5) Little David
6) Perfect Love
7) London Bridge Has Fallen Down
8) Do You Know?
9) Long Time Ago (aka Wicked Man)
10) Dreadlock (aka Jesus Christus Is The King)
11) Unity
12) Stop Pay The Price For Sin
13) Midnight Hour
14) Midnight Hour (Version) {I-Roy}

Recorded at the Black Ark studio, 1978, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry

Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus - Love Thy Neighbour (Original Full Length Album) 

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Scratch & The Upsetters - Magnetic Mirror Master Mix (1989)

Scratch & The Upsetters - Magnetic Mirror Master Mix is a collection of rare Black Ark recorded tracks that appeared on this obscure album from 1989 on the Anachron label.

The label secured the distribution rights to this material and more which featured on a separate release called "Turn & Fire - Upsetter Disco Dub" and Lee Perry's early dub album "Revolution Dub" which they re-issued in 1990.

It's essentially a selection of rare Black Ark singles from the 1976/77 period and was highly sort after for a long while being that it was the only source for certain tracks for many a year.

In recent times however much of it has finally been re-released elsewhere on the Pressure Sounds releases "Voodooism" and "Cutting Razor" which have made this collection obsolete.

But you can still enjoy them here on this rare and no longer available vinyl release.

Enjoy!   : )

Tracklisting:   
  
1) Leo Graham - Voodooism
2) The Upsetters - Voodoo Dub
3) Lloyd & Devon - Wolf Out Deh
4) The Upsetters - Shepherd Rod
5) Errol Walker - Better Future
6) The Upsetters - Future Dub
7) Lee "Scratch" Perry - Baffling Smoke Signal
8) Lee "Scratch" Perry - Captive
9) The Upsetters - Dub Captive
10) Brother Roy - Different Experience
11) Keith Rowe - Living My Life

Scratch And The Upsetters - Magnetic Mirror Master Mix  - 

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Earl Sixteen - Phoenix Of Peace (Special Edition)

Here's a strange one released in 1993 on the 'Seven Leaves' label that has quite the story behind it. This 'special' edition expands on the original release with extra songs and dub versions.

Earl Sixteen was born Earl John Daley in Kingston Jamaica, 1958 and grew up in the Waltham Park district where he would hang around on the streets, meeting a wide variety of characters.

When he reached his early teens, Earl decided, like many of Kingston's youth, that he would try and make a living in the growing music industry and he started entering the many talent contests in the city.

After winning one particular talent contest he met up with some other youngsters and formed the short lived group The Flaming Phonics.

Earl also did some early recording sessions with the legendary producer Duke Reid and also with Herman Chin-Loy and one of his very first singles appeared entitled "Hey Baby".

After working with another producer legend, Joe Gibbs, in the mid-seventies Earl found his way into the Boris Gardiner session group The Happening. It was in this group that the name Earl Sixteen came into being when he was simply asked by a fellow group member "why you go around like a big man? how old are you?", Earl replied "Sixteen" and thus Earl Sixteen became his moniker!

The Happening were working the tourism scene at local Kingston hotels and clubs but due to his dreadlocks appearance and reluctance to change, Earl was released from the group but Boris Gardiner did point the young singer in the direction of yet another big name producer, Lee Perry.

Earl arrived at Lee Perry's studio, The Black Ark, sometime in the mid to late seventies and began hanging around waiting, hoping, for a chance to record some material of his own.

Lee Perry often used the youngster as a backing singer, apparently his vocals appear on the Bunny "Scott" Clarke album "To Love Somebody" and other works of the time.

The first recording Perry offered to Earl was the song "White Belly Rat", a song that has been suggested was written as an attack on Bob Marley who Perry would often fall out and make up with again over the years.

The song was initially given to Max Romeo but he had refused to record it and so Perry offered it to the young Earl Sixteen but Perry was unhappy with the final vocal and eventually sang the song himself.

Earl continued to hang around the studio however hoping for other opportunities, which came his way including an appearance on Yabby You's cut "Chant Down Babylon Kingdom" and the Debra Keese classic "Travelling".

His first major recordings at the studio surfaced around late 1977 this included the mighty "Freedom" aka "Give Black People Freedom" and a beautiful single entitled "Cheating" which appeared with two different mixes on two different labels.

Earl has said in interviews that he was at the studio during the period when all sorts of shady characters were starting to hang around the place and some were even extorting money from Perry.
He recalls Bob Marley recording "Blackman Redemption" at the studio in 1978 and after it's release more and more gangster types were arriving at the studio asking for money or master tapes!

This is of course at the time when Lee Perry had his major breakdown and had begun the process of removing the Rasta's from his yard and this included Earl Sixteen who left to seek other opportunities.

Throughout the 80's Earl recorded for many producers including Linval Thompson, Augustus Pablo, Yabby You and Sugar Minott. He was also closely associated with the late Hugh Mundell.

In 1985 Earl relocated to the UK where he worked with Ariwa records founder and popular producer of the time Mad Professor.

By the 1990's Earl, still in the UK, met up with an old acquaintance of Lee Perry's named Tony Owens who ran the Seven Leaves label.

Back in the late 70's Owens had initiated a project at the Black Ark with Perry and the Jolly Brothers called "Conscious Man" that was shelved at the time due to a disagreement between Perry and the label but in 1993 Owens sold rights to the material to the UK based Roots label who would finally release the long awaited album along with some other Black Ark material.

One of the albums that appeared on the Seven Leaves imprint in 1993 was this very album, Earl Sixteen - Phoenix Of Peace, which at first was thought to be another long lost Black Ark album due to the sleeve notes crediting the studio and producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.


                                                      

However what the release failed to mention was that although all the rhythm tracks are indeed Black Ark recorded - Perry produced material, the vocals were recorded in the early 90's at a UK studio.

It's not clear whether Earl Sixteen and Tony Owens conspired to mis-lead the Reggae community by releasing it as a fake but were caught out or whether it was a genuine mis-print and that Earl wanted to release an album of new songs over old Black Ark rhythms, either way the release was issued in small quantities in 1993.

In my opinion it probably was meant to be a scam, Tony Owens had a big falling out with Lee Perry at the time of the failed Jolly Brothers project in 1978 and had sat on the material for over 10 years before finally selling it over to the Roots label, most likely with this Earl Sixteen project and tried to pass it off as another long lost album.

The album itself is quite good however as Earl sings his rootsy lyrics over some of Perry's most well known rhythms, most of which appeared on the albums "Megaton Dub" which were also issued on the Seven Leaves label.

It's an album worth checking out and is often cited as Earl's best but remember that it is more or less a hoax, albeit a pretty good one.

Enjoy!  : )

Tracklisting:
  
 Disc One:
    
1) Cheating (Disco Mix)
2) Apartheid Struggle
3) Things In Life
4) Soldiers Of Jah Army
5) Set The Captives Free
6) Leaving For Zion
7) Stepping On
8) Freedom
9) Hold On
10) How You Been Doing?
11) Pot Of Gold
12) Give Jah The Praises (Discomix)
13) Concrete Castle King (12'' Single Mix)
14) Cheating (Upsetter 7'' Mix)
15) Cheating (Black Art 7'' Mix)
16) We Want Freedom {Earl Sixteen And U-Brown}

Disc Two:
  
1) Cheating (Dub)
2) Apartheid Struggle (Dub)
3) Things In Life (Dub)
4) Soldiers Of Jah Army (Dub)
5) Set The Captives Free (Dub)
6) Leaving For Zion (Dub)
7) Freedom (Dub)
8) How You Been Doing? (Dub)
9) Give Jah The Praises (Dub)
10) Concrete Castle King (Dub)

All rhythm tracks recorded at the Black Ark studio, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry.
Tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13  Voiced in the UK in 1993.
Tracks 1, 8, 14, 15, 16  Voiced at the Black Ark studio 1977 / 1978
Tracks 1, 8, 14, 15, 16  Produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry at the Black Ark studio.

Earl Sixteen - Phoenix Of Peace (Special Edition)  - 

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The Jolly Brothers - Conscious Man (Deluxe Edition) (1978)

Another classic Black Ark album from 1978 given a deluxe make-over which includes rare songs and dubs.

The Jolly Brothers debut masterpiece "Conscious Man", produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry.

The Jolly Brothers are another one of those obscure groups that not much is known about, what is known though is this:

The Jolly Brothers consisted of vocalist trio Winston Edwards, Lennox Miller and Willis Gordon but sometimes also included Clevian Lewis and Hendrick Nicholson. They were based in the Hellshire Beach area of St. Catherine which is to the west of Kingston.

In late 1977 the groups friend and musical tutor of sorts known as Mattis arranged for the group to record a session at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio in Washington Gardens, Kingston.

The result of the session was two tracks, "Conscious Man" and "Colour", two original songs with all the trademark production of Scratch and the Black Ark sound.

At this point an old acquaintance of Perry's from England named Tony George Owens arrived at the studio looking for songs to issue on his new label 'Seven Leaves' in the UK and so The Jolly Brothers tracks were given over as well as some other Black Ark recordings of the time.

However once Owens returned to the UK he gave the single over to Mo Claridge who was operating the Magnum label, a subsidiary of Pye records, which would give the song major distribution across the UK and also into Europe.

Then in early 1978 Mo Claridge started the Ballistic imprint label after striking a deal with United Artists and "Conscious Man" would be it's first single release. With major label backing the single sold well and eventually broke into the UK singles chart reaching as high as number 45.

This sparked an interest from Claridge to have the Jolly Brothers return to the studio to start work on a full album and so Tony Owens returned to Jamaica to initiate the project.

When the Jolly Brothers and Tony Owens returned to the Black Ark studio Perry was in the middle of a ground-breaking collaboration with two Congolese musicians, Seke Molenga and Kalo Kawongolo, and their project "Monama" which would be yet another album by Perry that would be declined for release by Island records.

The Jolly Brothers joined in on the sessions providing harmony and instrumentation, likewise the two Africans would do the same for the Jolly Brothers when their album sessions began.

The Jolly Brothers recorded between 10 to 12 songs at the studio, mostly very rootsy numbers and a couple of lover's rock tracks. Their style was that of the vocal trio (one lead, two harmony) but often they sang in union with all three on lead.

Overall the material was very good, not unlike previous Black Ark recordings by the likes of The Congos with yet another strong production credit for Perry.

Tracks like "Brotherly Love", which credits Hendrick Nicholson as lead vocalist, is a nice mellow tune, "Dread Dreader" highlights the growing frustration of the ghetto people and "Cool Down" reminding the people that violence is not the answer.

Also the group recorded a couple of love songs, "Right Before My Eyes" and "Play Play", the latter opening with the depressing lyrics of  "Play play with fire, fire will burn you / play play in the water, water will drown you".

At some point, once the recording sessions had finished however, there was some kind of disagreement between Tony Owens, Lee Perry and Mo Claridge that resulted in the material being held back.

Claridge instead struck a deal with producer Prince Jammy, a protoge of King Tubby, who took the Jolly Brothers into Harry J's and Channel One studios to record a separate albums worth of love songs.

These recordings are still pretty good, Jammy's sound is not unlike Perry's but still they are somewhat weaker compared to the Black Ark recordings.

Ballistic eventually released the album "Consciousness" in 1979, the album includes the Black Ark recorded "Conscious Man" as it's opening track along side the Jammy produced material.

"Consciousness" failed to sell in sufficient numbers for the label to press for a follow up and the Jolly Brothers slipped into obscurity.

Tony Owens continued to release Jolly Brothers material on his Seven Leaves imprint, mainly 45's and 12 inch singles that would fail to acknowledge Lee Perry as producer, instead Owens was given this credit. Also many of the track names and artists on the seven leaves releases were incorrect too making it difficult to track down certain songs or work out what was really on the vinyl.

They did however release two volumes of excellent Black Ark, Perry produced material, as "Megaton Dub".

The remaining material that the Jolly Brothers recorded with Perry at the Black Ark was shelved remaining unreleased for over 10 years!
 

  

This truly was a real shame as, based on the positive response to the "Conscious Man" single, an album would have most likely seen the Jolly Brothers reach a similar success to that of artists such as The Congos.

Eventually, in 1993, Tony Owens sold the publishing rights to the material and gave the master tapes over to the Roots label in the UK who pressed limited quantities of the album on both vinyl and cd.

The album contained ten tracks, all recorded and mixed at the Black Ark but by this time the album was unknown, as were the Jolly Brothers, and so it sold only to those in the know.
   

This deluxe edition adds eight bonus tracks to the ten released in 1993 including the vinyl only 7" singles and the b-side "Right Before My Eyes" as well as a number of dubs.

Better late then never as they say!

Enjoy!   : )

Tracklisting:    
    
1) Conscious Man (Discomix)
2) Brotherly Love
3) Have A Little Faith
4) Back Biter
5) Cool Down
6) Babylon A Fight Rasta
7) Dread Dreader
8) Play Play
9) Oppression
10) Colour

Bonus Tracks:

11) Right Before My Eyes (7" Single B-Side)
12) Conscious Man (7" Single Mix)
13) Conscious Man (Dub)
14) Brotherly Love (7" Single Mix)
15) Brotherly Love (Dub)
16) Dread Dreader (Dub)
17) Oppression (Disco Mix)
18) Colour (Dub)

Recorded at the Black Ark studio, 1977 / 1978, Produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry.

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The Slickers - Breakthrough (Deluxe Edition) (1978)

A classic late 70's Black Ark recording that was extremely hard to find for many years until it finally got a much needed re-issue on the Makasounds label  BUT  they didn't include the fantastic discomixes and dubs!

So finally today we present the full un-cut deluxe edition of this powerful roots reggae classic.

The Slickers began recording in the mid-60's on the back of the Rocksteady period. The group was made up predominantly of former members of the more established group The Pioneers who were formed in 1962 by brothers Derek and Sydney Crooks and they had scored big with hit singles including "Long Shot Kick De Bucket" which charted in the UK. Some claim that The Slickers are basically The Pioneers with just some minor line-up changes.

The key members of The Slickers are generally agreed to be brothers Derrick and Sydney Crooks, Winston Bailey and Abraham Green with occasional additions including George Agard, Delroy Wilson, Theo Beckford and even less often Lloyd and Jackie Robinson. Occasionally Roy Hylton Beckford is also credited although this maybe a mis-credited Theo.

The Slickers released a number of early singles in the late 60's, some of which under the alias of Johnny Melody And The Slickers, including "Nana", "Run Fatty" and "Auntie Lulu" but their biggest hit without doubt was "Johnny Too Bad".

Released as a single in 1970 "Johnny Too Bad" became a smash hit when it was included on the soundtrack to the classic Jimmy Cliff movie "The Harder They Come".

Other singles appeared throughout the early 70's credited to The Slickers but the line-up during this period is sketchy, The Pioneers had begun recording again in this time and so it's presumed that most of The Slickers had returned to the group.

A couple of singles released on the Black Cat label in 1975 are credited to The Slickers, as is a 1977 release on the Dynamic label called "Saint Jago" produced by Barry Biggs.

An album entitled "Many Rivers To Cross" appeared on the Klik label in 1976, the backing band is credited as being The Cimarons with producer Sydney Crooks but this is a tricky LP to tie down.

Then in 1978 The Slickers pop up once again, this time at Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark studio where they recorded what would eventually surface as the album "Breakthrough".

The album has that typical late 70's Black Ark sound and Perry's trademark mixing and phasing techniques of the time.

Vocals are credited to just The Slickers with musicians including Horsemouth Wallace on drums, Robbie Shakespear on bass, Mikey Chung and Earl 'Chinna' Smith on guitars, Augustus Pablo on melodica and Robbie Lynn on keys. Lee Perry is given an engineer credit whilst production goes to Tad Dawkins and Geoffrey Chung. It's highly likely that Perry recorded and produced the album at the Black Ark but it was then mixed again by Tad Dawkins and Geoffrey Chung over at Harry J's

The album came out on Tad Dawkins own TAD's Records in 1979 after it had been taken from the Black Ark to Harry J's more advanced studio for a final mixing by Geoffrey Chung and Sylvan Morris.

The original release had only seven of the ten recorded songs, three of which were discomixes (the opening 3 tracks on the A-Side "Marcus", "Johnny Too Bad" and "Every Wolf"). The sound however wasn't drastically changed as mentioned in most reviews of the album, the second mix only enhanced the bass and vocals but not much overdubbing had been added to Perry's initial mix of the album.

Indeed it is a powerful roots reggae album, songs like the previously mentioned "Marcus" and "Every Wolf" show the groups strong ties to the Rastafari movement, "Give Us A Break" is a plea for the downtrodden, the re-make of the groups earlier hit "Johnny Too Bad" is explosive in the hands of Perry whilst "Run Come" and "African Children" are both heavy Black Ark tunes.

One of the most powerful is the final track "Black And White", a call for unity between the peoples of the world regardless of colour with an excellent Perry rhythm.

The album became quite the collector's item due to it's only pressing in 1979 and so it was greeted with pleasure when Makasounds finally re-issued the album in 2007 on CD but then for some it was a bit of a let down to find the album had been remixed by Clive Hunt and the discomixes replaced by the single versions.

This was forgiven however with the inclusion of two tracks from the original sessions "Zion Calling" and "People In The Neighbourhood", both classic Black Ark. The label also added three totally unrelated instrumentals from completely different sessions to some confusion.

The Slickers - Breakthrough (Deluxe Edition) hopes to clear up all this mess and confusion however by collecting all the original album sessions, discomixes and dubs together in one simple package.

Enjoy!  : )

Tracklisting: 

1) Marcus (Disco Style)
2) Johnny Too Bad (Disco Style)
3) Every Wolf (Disco Style)
4) Give Us A Break
5) Run Come
6) African Children
7) Black And White
8) Zion Calling
9) People In The Neighbourhood
10) Marcus
11) Marcus (Dub)
12) Johnny Too Bad
13) Johnny Too Bad (Dub)
14) Every Wolf
15) Every Wolf (Dub)
16) African Children (Extended)
17) Cus Cus {Lloyd Robinson And The Slickers}
18) Cus Cus (Alternative) {Lloyd Robinson And The Slickers}
19) Right On Time {Luddy Pioneer And Joe Slicker}
20) Caught You Red-Handed {Ranking Charlie And The Slickers}


Recorded at the Black Ark studio, 1978 engineered and mixed by Lee "Scratch" Perry.
Mixed at Harry J's studio, 1979, engineered and mixed by Geoffrey Chung and Sylvan Morris.
Produced by Tad Dawkins for TAD's Records 1979.


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Turn And Fire - Upsetter Disco Dub (1989)

Turn And Fire - Upsetter Disco Dub is a collection of rare Black Ark recorded tracks that appeared on this obscure album from 1989 on the Anachron label.

The label secured the distribution rights to this material and more which featured on a separate release called "Magnetic Mirror Master Mix" and Lee Perry's early dub album "Revolution Dub" which they re-issued in 1990.

It's essentially a selection of Black Ark disco mixes from the 1976/77 period and was highly sort after for a long while being that it was the only source for a lot of these tracks for many a year.

In recent times however much of it has finally been re-released elsewhere except for the Disco Dub versions to The Heptones "Party Time" material.

So until they do enjoy them here on this rare and no longer available vinyl release.

Enjoy!   : )

Tracklisting: 

1) Lee Perry And Full Experience - Disco Devil (Extended Mix)

2) Max Romeo And The Upsetters -Norman The Gambler (Extended Domino Mix)

3) Max Romeo And The Upsetters - Sexy Natty (Disco Mix)

4) The Heptones - Why Must I? (Disco Dub)
5) The Heptones - I Shall Be Released (Disco Dub)
6) The Heptones - Mr. President (Disco Dub)

7) The Heptones - Crying Over You (Disco Dub)

All tracks recorded at the Black Ark studio, 1976/1977, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry.

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Martha Velez - Escape From Babylon (1976)

Another little gem of an album here today as we present Martha Velez - Escape From Babylon.

Released in 1976 on the Sire label it's an album with a great story behind it involving reggae legends Bob Marley and Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Martha Velez, of Puerto Rican descent, was born in New York, USA in 1945, she started singing at a young age and by the time she was 12 years old won an opera scholarship as a mezzo soprano.

She attended the high school for performing arts in New York City and went on to study acting and playwriting.

Velez began her music career in the folk group The Gaslight Singers who recorded for Mercury records before releasing her debut solo album "Friends And Angels" for the Sire label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.) in 1969. It was a blues-rock album that included guitar legend Eric Clapton and keyboardist Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac.

Her follow-up album "Hypnotized" released in 1972 came out on the Polydor label and again was blues-rock orientated.

In 1974 she released the more contemporary-pop flavoured "Matinee Weepers" which was a return to the Sire label.

In 1975 she travelled to Jamaica to record an album with Bob Marley, her producer Craig Leon had spoken to Marley about recording with Velez and it's said that after hearing her song "Living Outside The Law" from the "Hypnotized" album, Marley agreed to the project.

Bob Marley assembled his group The Wailers and long time friend and producer Lee "Scratch" Perry and the recording sessions began at Harry J's studio in Kingston, Jamaica.

The most noticeable thing about this album is that it has the sound of The Wailers (circa 1976), complete with the I-Three's harmonies (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths), and their sound is unmistakable. It is the Bob Marley sound only with a female American blues singer on vocals.

Indeed four of the albums eight songs are Bob Marley covers. "There You Are" is a take of The Wailers early tune "Stand Alone" which they had cut for Lee Perry in the early 1970's and "Happiness" is a version of "I'm Hurting Inside" from 1972.

"Get Up Stand Up" from Marley's own "Burnin'" album of 1973 gets the Velez treatment as does "Bend Down Low" a tune Marley had intended to include on his 1974 album "Natty Dread".
 

 

The musicianship is superb, Marley and The Wailers were on top form in this period, although long time members Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer had left to pursue solo careers by now, it was a peak time for the group who were gearing up for their own "Rastaman Vibration" album sessions.

The production credits for the album include Lee Perry but just how involved in this project he was is unclear. After all it wasn't recorded at his own Black Ark studio and so it has none of his trademark sound, so it's hard to say just what his input to this album was, although it's said that Perry was pretty much the producer of the project and Marley the songwriter.

The overall result is one that is unique but really it's the listener who must be the judge. Yes it's The Wailers sound, yes it's Marley's song writing and possibly Lee Perry's production but it is an American blues singer that is on lead vocals.

A strange combination at the time of release and even today it's hard to comprehend how such a project came together but it does have moments that really work. Either way it's an interesting piece of Jamaican recording history involving most of the big names of the time in Reggae music.

Enjoy!  :-)
 

 
Tracklisting: 

1) Money Man
2) There You Are
3) Wild Bird
4) Disco Night
5) Bend Down Low
6) Happiness
7) Come On In
8) Get Up Stand Up

Recorded at Harry J's studio, Kingston Jamaica, 1975
Produced by Bob Marley And Lee "Scratch" Perry

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Lion Zion - Reggae In America (1976)

How has this album still not received a re-issue? It seems really strange and if nothing else is a real shame!

Although it's had a hard time from reviewers, half of which are so far wrong in their opinions that I sometimes feel the writers have not even heard this album and are just guessing on it's quality.

It usually gets things written about it like "Lion Zion's vocals are poor", "This sounds nothing like a Black Ark album" and "I doubt Lee Perry had much to do with this one" and in my opinion these are all incorrect statements.

Lion Zion's vocals are fine throughout, they are different in style to that of other Jamaican artists of the time but this is most likely because Lion Zion had arrived from the United States and therefore doesn't seem to have the Jamaican accent.

The sound is very much the typical Black Ark sound of 1976, the rhythms resembling those used on Max Romeo's "War Ina Babylon" and even Susan Cadogan's "Hurt So Good" but with better production quality compared to the latter album. Some extra instrumentation, orchestral pieces and additional harmonies were added by Lion Zion when he returned to the USA but it's certainly Black Ark sounding through and through.

Lee Perry is credited on the album sleeve not as producer but as engineer and mixer but these cuts are no doubt Lee Perry rhythms, mixed by Perry and then extra production would have taken place back in the States by Lion Zion and others.

Lion Zion is a mysterious figure, not much is known about this artist except for a few facts and some hearsay.

A young black American, Lion Zion lived on the west coast of America in the city of Oakland, California where it's said he owned a small record shop during the 1970's.

At some point around 1975/76 during a trip to New York he met Pauline Morrison (Lee Perry's then wife) who told him about Perry's new studio, the Black Ark and that if he ever came to Jamaica he should stop by and visit.

This is indeed what happened when in 1976 Lion Zion showed up at Perry's home in Washington Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica (apparently barefoot) with a number of self-penned songs ready to record an album.

Lee Perry assembled a strong set of musicians including Lloyd Parks on bass, Anthony "Benbow" Creary on drums, pianist / keyboard legend Keith Sterling and guitarist Phil Callender and together they created some fantastic roots rhythm tracks that are completely original to this album.

Lion Zion's lyrics are also very original compared to anything else that was being produced on the reggae scene at the time as they are from the view point of an African American.

Most reggae albums of the time, especially roots reggae, would refer to America as Babylon and have a strictly Jamaican viewpoint of the way in which America was portrayed, but with Lion Zion he had an insiders view, he isn't patriotic as such and critisizes much of American culture but he does stand up for certain American beliefs and discusses it's growing stature as a global superpower and how carefully it should handle such a title.

Songs such as "American Revolution", "Gas Guzzler" and "Arise America" are not only powerful statements against the US but are surprisingly very relevant in this day and age. The references to 'Uncle Sam' on the song "Children Children" (which also includes vocals from young kids which was something Perry was often fond of including) is a very American thing that black Americans especially seemed to hate the ideology of and "Who Killed The Buffalo" attacks the vicious nature in which America was taken over in the first place.

Lion Zion covers much of the social and political situation of America during the 70's, especially the situation for African Americans, in his songs and delivers the message with a passion.  This combined with the deep and edgy sound of Perry's Black Ark, complete with horn arrangements from Vin Gordon, David Madden and Glen DaCosta and added harmonies from The Heptones duo Barry Llewellyn and Earl Morgan makes for a completely unique and engrossing listening experience.

There are also orchestral choir backings on a couple of tracks, the National Dance Theatre Singers of Jamaica feature on the song "Turn Towards The Sun" although it's not made clear if their vocals were recorded at the Black Ark, it would be unlikely due to the small nature of the studio.

What is known however is that once the album had been recorded and mixed at the Black Ark, no doubt with Lee Perry's full involvement, Lion Zion returned to the US with the master tapes and took them to Freeway Recording studios in his home city of Oakland, California.

The engineer of this studio is credited as a B. Dangerfield and his assistant Ron Hatiz and it was here that some very minor overdubbing was added to the album including some flute (on "Beautiful Day") and saxophone pieces (on "Reggae In America") by Ron Stallings, the steel drums heard on "Gas Guzzler" by Carlyle and the lead guitar added to "Arise America". Also the female vocals of Leslie Hart-Hammond on "Beautiful Day".

Another interesting addition is the choir vocals of the Oakland Black Ensemble, which included soloist Riva Florida and were conducted by Phillip Reedey, on the song "American Revolution".

Once Lion Zion had completed the work on the album it was taken to C.B.S studios in San Francisco to get a final mastering session with engineer Phil Brown. This could also explain why, compared to other Black Ark recorded albums of 1976, "Reggae In America" has a more polished and crisp sound.

Lion Zion - "Reggae In America" was eventually released in 1976 on the unknown label 'House Of Natty Records' in the USA and publishing rights credited to 'Rockstone Music Ltd.'

It's unknown just how many copies they manufactured but as of July 2016 these are still the only physical copies of the album available and, as can be imagined, are sometimes sold at high prices.

It may not be up there with "Heart Of The Congos" or "Scratch The Super Ape" but Lion Zion's "Reggae In America" is an important part of the Black Ark story. This unknown artist who turned up one day to record an album and put a lot of time, effort and no doubt money into the project and yet it still remains obscure.

Surely someone, somewhere knows who this guy was or has the rights to re-release this material?

It's yet another ground-breaking album from the Black Ark, not many African Americans had recorded a Reggae album in Jamaica at the time and of course Perry would break-ground in later years when a pair of actual Africans from the Congo would show up in 1978 (but that's a whole other story).

Hopefully one day this album will be made readily available to all, it really is a quality album with lyrics that continue to ring true in present times, it contains some of Lee Perry's most unique production work with rhythms not re-used and it remains an important part of Black Ark folklore.

For now Lion Zion remains a mysterious figure, an adventurous young African American who attempted to break Reggae in America.

Enjoy  : )
 
Tracklisting:

1) Reggae In America
2) Who Killed The Buffalo?
3) Buffalo Dub
4) American Revolution
5) Children, Children
6) Beautiful Day
7) 3rd Century
8) Gas Guzzler
9) Arise America
10) Turn Toward's The Sun

Recorded at the Black Ark studio, Kingston Jamaica, engineered and mixed by Lee "Scratch" Perry
and Freeway Recording studio, Oakland California, engineered by B. Dangerfield & Ron Hatiz
Produced by Lion Zion. 

Please be aware that all download links are currently unavailable as of January 2023.


Check out a wonderful piece on the Midnight Dread website which features a radio broadcast from KDIA Oakland California from September 18th 1977. Lion Zion is the guest on the show Inner Visions and he discusses his album "Reggae In America" as well as his views on reggae music as an African American.

http://www.midnightdread.com/LionZionKDIA77.html

Let us know your thoughts, have an extra information? leave a comment below or email us:

 pipecockjackxonrrm@gmail.com 

Bullwackie's Presents Free For All (1975)

Lloyd "Bullwackie" Barnes was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1948 and got involved in the music scene in the early 60's working with the legendary Prince Buster.

In the early 1970's he migrated to New York, USA where he set up his own studio in the Bronx district where he would record with his Reckless Breed band.

Upon a visit to Jamaica in 1975 Bullwackie was encouraged to visit Lee Perry's Black Ark studio where "Scratch" was currently working on the early dub albums "Kung Fu Meets The Dragon" and "Revolution Dub".

Bullwackie was fascinated with the studio and the way in which Perry worked and along with fellow New York visitor "Munchie" Jackson asked if he could record and produce some tracks there.

Using the Morwells band Bullwackie recorded much of what would become "Free For All", an early dub album that contains some familiar rhythms including Little Roy's "Tribal War" and "Black Byrd".

Indeed many of the rhythm tracks on this record were used for vocal cuts by various artists at the Black Ark and some that would be re-used by Perry himself.

Upon returning to his own studio in New York, Bullwackie began to record his own tracks that would resemble the Black Ark style and techniques. He was obviously very impressed with Perry's sound and imitated much of it throughout his career. Later he was very much involved in the 80's dancehall scene and a lot of the Wackie's label output is still quite challenging to track down.

Released in 1975 on Wackie's subsidary label Aires in the US, "Free For All" is another fine example of early Dub music in Jamaica and how Lee Perry and the Black Ark was often an inspiration for young artists during this period and thereafter.

Tracklisting:

                    
1) Free For All
2) Space Age
3) Roots
4) Drum Call
5) Tribal Dub
6) All For Free
7) Dis Ya A Dub
8) Boma Ye Dub
9) Meditation Dub
10) Blackbyrd

Produced by Lloyd "Bullwackie" Barnes And Munchie Jackson
Recorded at the Black Ark studio - Engineered by Lee "Scratch" Perry

Please be aware that all download links are currently unavailable as of January 2023.


What did you make of this record? Enjoy it? Comment below or email us:
 pipecockjackxonrrm@gmail.com 

Penthouse Presents: One Riddim - On The Move

Another one riddim album for you today, this time from the Penthouse label who were quite popular during the 80's and 90's dancehall scene. This one is a little rarity called "One Riddim - On The Move".
  
Although it's credited on some versions of this release as a King Jammy's set it was actually produced by Donovan Germaine and is often referred to as the "Pon Mi Nozzle" riddim.

Originally released in 1989 and re-issued a couple of times by Penthouse it's quite tricky to track down a physical copy on vinyl, cassestte or cd.

On The Move is a great riddim that is essentially based on an old religious song called "Troubles And Trials" that has long been popular in Jamaican churches and at some point was taken in by the Reggae music scene.
  
The closest version on this collection to the original is Chaka Demus' "Chaka On The Move" which has the modified chorus of  "It soon be done/all the troubles and trials/when I get home/on the other side".
  
It was also a chart hit for Shaggy in 1992 and appeared on his album "Pure Pleasure" which also contained his breakthrough track "Oh Carolina".
  
This riddim is also sometimes credited as the "Pon Mi Nozzle" riddim due to the version by Cutty Ranks, also on this collection, which was a big hit for Cutty at the time.
  
Other good cuts included here are Flourgan's "Panama Invasion", Peter Metro's "Bow Cat" and Norbert Clarke's "Champion Bubbler".

Enjoy!   : )

Tracklisting:


1) Chaka Demus - Chaka On The Move
2) Beenie Don - Down And Put Down
3) Peter Metro - Bow Cat
4) Lady Junie - Bow Cat
5) Henkle Irie - Deh Yah
6) Norbert Clarke - Champion Bubbler
7) Daddy Lizard - Boonoonus
8) Cutty Ranks - Pon Me Nozzle
9) Scotty - Walk The Streets At Night
10) Junie Ranks - Careful Who You Love
11) Flourgan - Panama Invasion


Please be aware that all download links are currently unavailable as of January 2023.

Let's us know your thoughts, leave a comment below or drop us an email:
   pipecockjackxonrrm@gmail.com