Search:roy shirley

Rocksteady took over Orange Street ,Kingston, Jamaica around 1966,the same time that an extreme heat wave hit the Jamaican Island.
Some say the previous jerky Ska Rhythms proved too strenuous of an activity to partake in during the all night Sound Systems.
So it proved a winning formula to slow the beat down to a more leisurely pace.

Whatever the reasons were this two year period that ran until 1968 would see some of the power escape from the big three producers,Clement 'Coxonne 'Dodd,Prince Buster and Duke Reid...who up to that period ruled the airwaves. It was time to make room for a new wave of up and coming producers that also had something to offer the people.

So sit back and enjoy some Rocksteady straight from the dances of Jamaica...Hope you enjoy the set...............

'The greatest man that came from Jamaica and changed the whole beat from Ska to Rock Steady was Lyn Taitt.He was from Trinidad but Bryon Lee did bring him come to Jamaica as an organist but he started playing guitar and the rest is history! We should call him Rock Steady...Its Lyn Taitt as he was the man! He played lead guitar and Ska at the same time'...Bunny Lee

Rock Steady only lasted for a brief period from 1966 to 1968,but its significance to the subsequent development of Jamaican music is incalculable and it would go on to shape each successive musical movement over the next four decades.
Deejays,Digital and Dance hall all stepped to the tune and pace of rhythms whose origins were grounded in the Rock Steady beat and it is impossible to ever overstate its importance...or its beauty

Countless incredible records were made in Kingston between 1968 and 1971 that has never been able to lose the stigma of being described as 'Skinhead Reggae' but in Jamaica the term never meant anything. However Bunny Lee's Aggro Sound's both at home and away.
They were tougher then tough ,rougher then rough ,kicked like a 'bovver' boot and were sharper then a razor cut trim.
Raw, pure and undiluted every time...some even troubled the UK national charts..
To say the man and his music dominated at the time would be a complete understatement.
'Striker' was everywhere...travelling between Kingston, where he opened his Agro Sounds record shop at 101 Orange Street and London where he set up his Unity label with the Palmer Brothers for the exclusive release of his productions and his Jackpot subsidiaries with both Trojan and Pama records.
Ubiquitous does not start to come into it.
We sincerely hope that this compilation helps to point you in the direction of some of the best music from this often overlooked period from one of the greatest producers EVER!
'The Aggro Man' himself Bunny Lee

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Rocksteady music genre, 17 North Parade presents "First Class Rocksteady". The collection captures early work from some of the genre's defining artists, and here are further 24 hot tracks additionally to the tracks of the limited edition 7x7Inch box set of the same name. Available as double vinyl with deluxe printed inner sleeves featuring sleeve notes and images.

Tracklisting: Side One A1. Hold Them - Roy Shirley with Lynn Taitt & His Band A2. I Am Lonely - The Heptones with The Supersonics A3. Dance All Night - The Tartans A4. Rock Steady - Alton Ellis and The Flames A5. Ba Ba Boom - The Jamaicans with Tommy McCook & The Supersonics A6. Pata Pata Rock Steady - Patsy & The Count Ossie Band Side Two B1. You Don't Care - The Techniques with Tommy McCook & The Supersonics B2. Little Boy Blue - Pat Kelly and The Uniques with Bobby Aitken & The Carib Beats B3. I'm A Loving Pauper - Dobby Dobson with Tommy McCook & The Supersonics B4. Return Home - Alva Lewis with Lynn Taitt & His Band B5. Just Like A River - Stranger Cole & Gladdy B6. El Casino Royale - Lynn Taitt & The Jets feat. Count Sticky Side Three C1. The Beatitude - The Uniques C2. Revelation - Alva Lewis C3. A Change Is Gonna Come - Ken Parker with Bobby Aitken & The Carib Beats C4. The Big Takeover - The Overtakers C5. I Am The Upsetter - Lee Perry C6. Musically - Keith Blake with Lynn Taitt Band Side Four D1. Lonely Heartaches - The Clarendonians with The Aubrey Adams All Stars D2. Napoleon Solo - Lynn Taitt & The Jets D3. Intensified - Desmond Dekker and The Aces D4. Hold Me Tight - Johnny Nash D5. Seeing Is Knowing - Stranger Cole & Gladdy with Lynn Taitt & The Jets D6. Darling Jeboza Macoo - Stranger Cole

2026 Repress

Producer and bassist Huw Marc Bennett presents ‘Tresilian Bay’, a new project that draws from artists such as Tim Maia, Augustus Pablo and Idris Muhammed as much as the jazz scene and community he has found in south-east London. The languid, sultry sound fuses both modern and vintage, travelling from South London electronica, to Brazillian groove, Nigerian Afrobeat and Ghanaian Highlife along with a streak of Welsh psychedelia.

‘Tresilian Bay’ is a nod to hedonistic summer nights, whether spent on the Glamorgan coast or the hot Lewisham streets. The album is titled in honour of the bay near where Huw grew up, an area steeped in stories of ancient Welsh royalty, smugglers and pirates.

The album started out as a lost live session recorded at the Total Refreshment Centre studios, featuring Chelsea Carmichael (sax), Rosie Turton (trombone), Shirley Tetteh (guitar) and Jake Long (drums) with Huw at the helm on bass and compositions. With glorious vocal contributions from Miryam Solomon; Huw utilised his human style of production and multi instrumentality heard in his Susso project (Soundway Records, 2016) to mold these recordings into this mature and emotional debut.

The album was mixed and mastered by Albert's Favourites co-founder Adam Scrimshire with artwork by Jonny Drop.

The Golden Age of southern soul lasted from about 1962 to 1975, when disco ripped the heart out of it. And although it may seem as though the blend of country, gospel and R & B that emerged from the great studios in Memphis and Muscle Shoals in that decade was entirely fresh and new, like any other genre classic, southern soul picked up musical cues and absorbed influences from a whole variety of sources: horn lines from Louisiana's swamp pop, lyrical themes from the blues, songs from country music, and of course so, so much from the black churches. Part of the 'History of Soul' series, this LP reveals the musical antecedents that gave southern soul its inspiration. The music here will tell you the real story - and it will knock your socks off too! Notes by John Ridley.

Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare or Sly and Robbie as they are affectionately known are the drum and bass backbone of Reggae Music, they have played on, produced, invented, reinvented more records then many of their contemporaries put together.

Sly Dunbar born Lowell Charles Dunbar on 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica, drummed his first session for Mr Lee Perry which included a Jamaican hit ,a track called 'Night Doctor', before moving on to the group Skin, Flesh & Bones who had a residency at Kingston's famous 'Tit for Tat' club. This band would evolve into the Channel One house band The Revolutionaries where Sly named after his fondness of the band Sly and the Family Stone would begin to play alongside a bass player who would become his long standing partner in music, namely one Robbie Shakespeare.

Robbie Shakespeare born 27 September 1953, Kingston, Jamaica, had worked his way through session bands including the legendary Aggrovators before uniting with Sly Dunbar in The Revolutionaries. Both musicians had worked with other respective bass / drum players including such figures as Lloyd Parks bass, Carlton 'Santa' Davis drums, but everything seemed to fall into place when they worked together.

They also both had a quest to push the boundaries of reggae music, which they would do throughout their careers, over many sessions to numerous to mention. But highlights would include the groundbreaking Mighty Diamonds 1976 set 'Right Time' with its fresh rockers rhythms which lead the way in the 1970's. Also their work with the bands Culture and Black Uhuru the later of which they toured extensively with, spreading the reggae vibes across Europe and America. Not to forget to mention their Taxi label / productions which are always inventitive whether its in the reggae field or outside where their playing / production skills are much in demand.

The third piece of this jigsaw is the mighty Mr Bunny 'Striker' Lee who brought these legends together. Born Edward O'Sullivan Lee 23 August 1941, he must be one of reggae's most underrated producers. Leading the way in the 1970's especially in the dub field and being one of the early exponents of a King Tubby remix ,which would see nearly all his 7'' releases carrying a Tubby reworking on its flip side. Bunny started his musical career in 1962 working for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label and soon moved into the world of production gaining his first hit in 1967 with 'Musical Field' by Roy Shirley for the WIRL label. The 1970's was a very productive time for Bunny Lee and saw the launch of his LEE'S label which was producing hits in Jamaica. Not having a studio of his own and renting studio time from the existing establishments like Randy's Studio 17 and Channel One he had to have a crack team of session players to carry out this task, fast and efficiently. This happened firstly under the guise of THE AGGROVATORS see The Aggrovators dubbing it studio 1 style JRCD005 and then with the group of musicians THE REVOLUTIONARIES[ see The Revolutionaries at Channel 1 dub plate specials JRCDOO3]. It’s here in the latter of these groups that Bunny matched Sly and Robbie together for the first time and it’s this match made in heaven that these tracks on this release are culled from. Sessions that Bunny Lee produced with Sly and Robbie during this magical 70's period. These rare dubs are taken from the original master tapes, you may have heard the tune before but not these versions. So sit back and enjoy Reggae Musical History in the making....

In the history of Black American soul music many recording artists have been called “Legends” some deservedly and perhaps some not so deserving of this current over used accolade? I might be a tad biased here, perhaps? but in my book one James Howard McCelland a.k.a Jesse James has surely earned the right to be called a “Legend” this octogenarian performer has weathered many storms and shifts in musical trends and styles over the years but like the trouper that he is albeit in lower keys these days he still manages time and time again to come up with the goods! “Back On Top Again” is Jesse James latest production album, a project filled with recent and current recordings in a southern soul style that has likened in passing by several respected soul scribes to the Malaco Sound I’ll let the record buying public make their own minds up on that one, I’m sure veteran DJ Bob Jones won’t mind me using his quote below:

The album also features two of Jesse’s friend’s with Donnie McKisic providing the rapping and additional backing vocals on the upbeat “I Lost My Baby On Face Book” and Shirley Diamond who you may recall from Soul Junction’s recent 45 release “You Don’t Know Who You Sleeping With” (SJ1021) returning with another excellent Diamond & James duet “Another Love Lay Over” as a further foot note the featured song “I’d Be A Fool 2 Fool Around On You” is an excellent cover version of what was a previously unissued Harvey Scales song until Soul Junction released it as the flipside their thirteenth 45 single release way back in 2011.

Album Sleeve Notes:

At the dawn of the 1960’s a young aspiring soul singer from Richmond, California by the name of James H. McClelland was honing his performing skills in several local nightclubs. At one particular show the compere struggled to pronounce the young performer’s surname and to hide his embarrassment he hurriedly introduced him as ‘Jesse James’, which became Jesse’s Stage name to the present day.

Jesse’s big break came through his aunt who at that time just happened to be dating West Coast Blues and R&B Legend Jimmy McCracklin. The aunt suggested to McCracklin the he should take a listen to her talented nephew, suitably impressed McCracklin produced Jesse on a song he’d written “I Will Go” for the local Shirley label. The release is credited to Jesse James & The Royal Aces a bunch of local musicians that Jesse had grown up with which included Slyvester Stewart a.k.a Mr “Dance To The Music” himself Sly Stone” on guitar. “I Will Go” was quite a popular record locally and led to a further four Jesse James releases on Shirley culminating in Jesse’s most sought-after record the delightful “Are You Gonna Leave Me”in 1966. The following year Jesse recorded the minor hit “Believe In Me Baby” released by the local ‘Hit’ label before being picked up by 20th Century for national distribution. While signed to 20th Century Jesse recorded a self-titled album and three other 45 singles before leaving the label.

Following a solitary 45 release for the Uni Label in 1969 Jesse formed his own Production and Publishing company ‘South Richmond Music’ releasing 45’s on his own label logo’s Zea and Zay before returning to 20th Century for a second time during 1974, releasing two 45 singles of which the sublime “If You Want A Love Affair” reaching #92 in the Billboard R&B charts in 1975, a song that would later receive worldwide acclaimed and is now regarded as Jesse’s signature tune. Ron Carson had been the producer on the later 20th Century releases and it was he that placed one of Jesse’s songs “The Same Thing Happens” on the Happy Fox label’s blaxploitation album “Black Fist”.

Into the 1980’s Jesse leased some of his songs for release on the Atlanta Georgia, Midtown label, a solitary release on the Moonlite Hope Music label (a lead single for a proposed album that never materialised) followed before Jesse joined Max Kidd’s Washington based TTED label. The TTED imprint was to yield Jesse’s biggest hit record “I Can Do Bad By Myself” reaching #61 in the R&B Charts. Following TTED Jesse formed Gunsmoke records releasing “Love On The Side” in 1988, from there on Jesse has continued to regularly release numerous studio albums though the 90’s into the new millennium and on to the present day.

Now well into his seventh decade as a performer this most resilient and enduring performer, has never been one to let the grass grow under his feet. He still performs live shows and is actively writing, producing and recording fresh new material. Soul Junction have now gathered together some of Jesse’s most recent and new recordings to form this album project which is aptly titled “Back On Top Again” Ride on Jesse James!

The immediate successor to ska, the soulful, melodic sound of rock steady first developed during the long hot Jamaican summer of 1966 and reigned supreme thereafter for two glorious years before finally being superseded by the more energetic style of reggae.

Despite its relatively brief period as the island’s national sound, the rhythms of many of its biggest hits have continued to influence and inspire music-makers to the present day, resulting in renewed interest in the sub-genre among record buyers in recent years.

This superb 2xLP vinyl collection features 24 of the most popular recordings of the rock steady era, including the UK hits, ‘007’, ‘Train To Skaville’ and ‘It Miek’ and The Maytals’ anthemic dance-filler, ’54 46 That’s My Number’.

Pressed on high quality 140gm vinyl and presented in a stylishly designed sleeve, the album not only provides the ideal introduction to this hugely popular and influential sound, but is also a must for established fans of the Jamaican sub-genre, with many of the tracks appearing on vinyl for the first time in decades.

Temple, Bassey, MacLaine and now, Hurt; in a world of Shirleys, the name Sophia Ruby Katz has chosen for her music is perhaps prophetic as it captures her stunningly emotive vocal approach. And whilst Shirley Hurt might be the perfect nom de plume for the creative Toronto-based artist, it’s her self-titled debut album which positions her as protagonist of her own universe.

Traversing sonic landscapes, Shirley Hurt’s vocals ebb and flow like lyrical Ley lines tracking the contours of her own well-travelled map. By the age of 18, Hurt had travelled extensively, having lived in upwards of 20 different apartments and houses, as a result never really feeling “at home” anywhere. At this age was when Hurt found herself in New York, dipping her toes into various scenes and musical realms. The first and only place she ever felt at home, and a partial home-base for her, she travelled between Toronto and New York until the age of 26.When the project she was working on in New York reached a dead-end she returned West, moving in with musicians Harrison Forman (Hieronymus Harry, Zones) and Patrick Lefler (Roy, Possum). Being surrounded by their improvising at all hours, a new approach emerged. “Harrison is a virtuosic guitar player, and I hadn't picked up a guitar in any serious way since I was 16,” she says, “by osmosis I started playing again for fun.” Without agenda, the process grew organically from there.

Hurt and Forman decided to travel across the US and Canada in a trailer for half a year, with the entire album written in the final months of their trip. Hurt had been writing loose ideas here and there but felt blocked creatively. When the pair reached Berkley, they wound up house-sitting for a tuned-in friend who recommended she pray, in a very direct way, to remove the block. “I took her advice and to my surprise it worked. The album was conceptualized and finished within a couple of months.” Shapeshifting in tone and phrasing, Hurt’s music alchemizes the furthest corners of experimental indie folk, pop, and country into a singular sound with elegant unpredictability.

Whilst Shirley Hurt’s lyrical and structural ideas may have emerged on the road, the album was self-produced and recorded at Joseph Shabason (The War on Drugs)’s Aytche studio in Toronto’s West End. It was engineered by Nathan Vanderwielen and Chris Shannon (Bart), and Hurt enlisted collaborators Jason Bhattacharya, Nick Dourado, Patrick Lefler, and Harrison Forman to hone her vision. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the songs until we returned to Toronto,” she recalls. “Joseph and I had been talking about working together after sending across some demos and Jason happened to recommend his studio at the exact same time, so everything came together naturally at that point.”

Whilst her most recent adventures may have seen Shirley Hurt bound for Texas as an official SXSW artist (hand-picked by Gorilla Vs Bear to perform at their own showcase), she currently resides in her native Canada, more specifically rural Ontario, close to friends and family, and is already working on her second album. The ties to lineage are interwoven in the fabric of the music. Hurt’s mother, artist Leala Hewak, instilled a lust for life and innate value of creativity in her from a young age as she explored the role of gallery owner, vintage jewellery show host, mid-century modern furniture expert, real estate agent, painter. Hurt’s father, a civil litigation lawyer and new-wave obsessed music lover with an extensive vinyl collection, introduced Hurt to a wide-range of artists at a young age such as Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson, Tom Tom Club, and endless others.

In her video for ‘Problem Child’ Hurt’s grandmother walks her through a generationally revered pie-making process. One would be tempted to hear this, and other songs, as autobiographical. Yet, Hurt’s lyrics are rarely pulled from her relationships or personal history––at least not consciously. Rather, they arise from somewhere less tangible or defined. “Lyrics tend to come to me when I am doing non-musical things - washing dishes, brushing my dogs, walking to the grocery store. I have a lot of voice memos on my phone and half-filled notebooks and when I hear something, I have to stop what I'm doing to get the idea down. Usually it’s bits and pieces. It's rare a full song comes to me in one go, but it's great when they do, and those are often my favourites.”

Carving out a space of her own in an all-encompassing universe, Shirley Hurt is the introduction to a long artistic story, and if the journey so far is anything to go by, it will be stippled with evermore unpredictable chapters.

RIYL: The Fall, Royal Trux, The Dead C, Shirley Collins, ’70s British progressive rock, Dean Blunt.
Throughout their legendary, decade-long run, the Shadow Ring were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. Before their disbandment in 2002, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of rowdy teenagers in southeast England, left behind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7"s, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zine appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, all which have bolstered their enduring word-of-mouth mystique. Beginning this year with the first-ever vinyl pressing of the self-released pre-Shadow Ring tape The Cat & Bells Club (1992), Blank Forms Editions is conducting a systematic retrospective of the storied group, including a multi-year LP reissue effort and a forthcoming comprehensive CD box set and an over five hundred page book. Recorded in summer of 1994 at S.H.P studios (frontman Graham Lambkin’s parents’ home), the group’s sophomore record Put the Music In Its Coffin is a more sinister, saturnine affair than their debut City Lights. Coffin was many listeners’ introduction to the Shadow Ring, who had hitherto self-released their music, courting a steady stable of international fans through the magazine and mail-order catalog Forced Exposure. For their follow-up, the duo reached out to the ascending Philadelphia label Siltbreeze, whose eclectic roster of sneering, low-fidelity rock and noise connected disparate subterranean scenes from rust-belt America to the English Midlands, Dunedin, and beyond. As luck would have it, Siltbreeze proprietor Tom Lax was already a fan of the band’s first record and arranged to release both a 7” and their “difficult second album.” The connection proved to run deeper than vinyl within six months, Lax would pick up the pair from the airport for their spring 1995 US tour. This episode marked not only their first trip to the States but their first live performances at all, formally introducing the Shadow Ring to the American underground and solidifying the allure of the Folkestone pair. From the get-go, the record has a menacing, vile ambience. Its opening track “Horse-Meat Cakes,” inspired by an anecdote by pulp author Philip K. Dick about how he and his wife subsisted off low-grade pet food when he first arrived in San Francisco, sets the tone lyrically and sonically. Subsequent tracks are filled with Rabelaisian body horror and sinewy, haptic diction. “I try to pass out vital organs, convinced that they are waste,” intones Lambkin in “Heart, Liver & Lungs,” before a chorus of detuned guitars kicks in, nearly drowning out the speaker’s account of consuming chevaline intestines. Later songs similarly detail vernacular cooking (“Caribbean Porridge,” about a cornmeal hangover cure), bodily processes (“Nocturnal Middle Rumbles,” about nighttime defecation), and creaturely conflict (“Crystal Tears” and “Spin The Animal Dial”). The album’s makeshift percussion and teenaged rawness resembles the verve of City Lights, while its screeching strings and gnarly distorted vocals give it a sparse, miasmic atmosphere that look towards the uncompromising, otherworldly experimentation of the band’s Hold Onto I.D. (1996) and Lighthouse (1997), making this one of the Shadow Ring’s most distilled musical statements

Throughout their legendary, decade-long run, the Shadow Ring were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. Before their disbandment in 2002, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of rowdy teenagers in southeast England, left behind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7"s, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zine appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, all which have bolstered their enduring word-of-mouth mystique. Beginning this year with the first-ever vinyl pressing of the self-released pre-Shadow Ring tape The Cat & Bells Club (1992), Blank Forms Editions is conducting a systematic retrospective of the storied group, including a multi-year LP reissue effort and a forthcoming comprehensive CD box set and an over five hundred page book. Recorded and self-released by the group's own Dry Leaf Discs in 1993, City Lights is the debut record of the then duo Graham Lambkin and Darren Harris_an assured arrival statement teeming with stripling angst and ambition. Lifelong chums Lambkin and Harris were barely nineteen and living at home in the seaside town of Folkestone, Kent, with few overhead expenses. The two were freshly employed as a forklift operator at a hardware store and an aide at a home for children with disabilities, respectively, affording them the time and funds to commit to a proper full-length release. Frontman Lambkin describes the album as a "microscopic examination of leisure activities, this time centered around a nightclub," a conceit surging through its lyrics, song titles, cover art (depicting an audience of cats and mice at the Leas Club, a Folkestone fixture), and flip side (replete with fictional bandmates and pseudonymous liner notes). On a recently-acquired secondhand guitar, Lambkin plays repetitive, brooding licks that form the record's backbone, weaving in and out of sync with Harris's free-form percussion and the pair's sing-song poetry. Tracks range from unraveling nursery-rhyme ditties to extended jams awash with Casiotone and toy piano noodling. The duo's musical hobby-horses work themselves in: the influence of Mark E. Smith's breathless deadpan, the headless outer-edges of ESP-Disk's back catalog, the eerie atmospherics of Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa, and the deconstructed rock tunes of the Dunedin scene are all detectable, although there is a sui generis quality to the Shadow Ring's artless temerity. "I've got to see and taste those city lights," intones Lambkin on the album's title track_indeed, this is a record of naked drive and pent-up desperation, and a shimmering glimpse of what's to come. For Fans of The Fall, Royal Trux, The Dead C, Shirley Collins, '70s British progressive rock, Dean Blunt.

Fever hit Jamaica around 1966 when the jerky Ska rhythms slowed down to a more leisurely, sexy pace. Some say due to the extreme heat that hit the island that year, making frenzied dance routines of the earlier sounds seem like hard work in the all night Sound System Sessions. Others would say Reggae’s beat is always evolving and changing into something slightly different and moving with the times.

Whatever the reasons were, this two year period that ran until 1968, would see some of the power escape from then big three producers, Clemet ‘Coxone’ Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid, who ruled the airwaves. They had to finally make room for the new wave of up and coming producers who had something to say.

Such names as Joel Gibson (Joe Gibbs), Sonia Pottiger, Derrick Harriot and the most prolific of them all, Mr Bunny Lee, would unleash some fine music in this fascinating, if short lived period in Reggae;s history. We have compiled some of the biggest hits from the Rocksteady era alongside some lesser known cuts we believe deserve to be re-evaluated.

Rocksteady was an inspirational time and some may say a little overlooked, but we hope you agree with us when we say that it brought us some outstanding music. So sit back and enjoy some Rocksteady straight from the dancefloors of Jamaica.

Hope you enjoy the set…..

Rocksteady took Over Orange Street, Jamaica around 1966, the same time that an extreme heatwave hit the Jamaican island. Some say the previous jerky Ska Rhythms proved too strenuous of an activity to partake in, during the all night Sound System sessions .So it proved a winning formula to slow the beat down to a more leisurely pace.

Whatever the reasons were this two year period that ran until 1968, would see some of the power escape from the big three producers, Clement ‘Coxone’ Dodd, Prince Buster and Duke Reid, who up until this period had ruled the airwaves .It was time to make room for a new wave of up and coming producers that also had something to offer the people. Such names as Joel Gibson ( Joe Gibbs ), Sonia Pottinger, Derrick Harriott and most prolific of them all Mr Bunny Lee.

These new names would unleash some fine music in what would be a short lived chapter in the ever changing and moving beat that is reggae’s history. We have compiled some of the biggest hits from the Rocksteady period, alongside some lesser known cuts we believe deserve to be re-evaluated. Rocksteady was an inspirational and somewhat over looked sound that provided us with some outstanding music. So sit back and enjoy some Rocksteady straight from the dances of Jamaica.

CVC (or Church Village Collective in full) hail from a sleepy village 10 miles north of Cardiff, nestling atop a hill in the Welsh valleys.

 CVC is comprised of singer Francesco Orsi, bassist Ben Thorne, drummer Tom Fry, keyboardist Daniel ‘Naniel’ Jones and singing guitarists David Bassey and Elliott Bradfield. (It’s worth noting that the latter two, despite never having met them, are related to Welsh royalty Dame Shirley Bassey and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield.)

 Maybe owing to genetics, Bassey states “I don’t think I’d be able to not do this, I don’t actively choose to, I’m just drawn to it.”

 Their lush three-part harmonies echo the music they grew up on - contemporary pop’s building blocks: the Beatles, Neil Young and the Beach Boys - rich, melodic and pristine music that’s steeped in rock’s history.

 ‘Get Real’, CVC’s 11-track debut album, brings a touch of Laurel Canyon to the valleys. Made over four sun-baked weeks (once their time was up, Ross Orton Arctic Monkeys mixed the finished product), they kept it local by recording it in Bradfields’ living room.

Orange Street, Kingston, Jamaica the epicentre of the Reggae world.
Where all the record shops, studios, pressing plants were based.
The new cut 45’s would be taken to the shops after a testing on various Sound Systems around the people and passed to the record shop proprietors to sell.
Bunny Lee as a former record plugger and now a leading producer knew what the people wanted and a great ear for a hit tune.
This collection carries some of the stand out tracks from this period, when music was finding a new beat as Rocksteady rolled into the late 60’s early 70’s Reggae Sound.
The Ravers ‘Mati and Fulli’ telling the story that the ‘Rent too High’ to The Twinkle Brothers ‘Miss Laba Laba’ …you see and blind you must hear and deaf…clean up your own backyard before talking about others.
All stories of daily life and love songs told over a cracking rhythm played by finest musicians on the island.
So yes ‘Some A Holla Some A Bawl’ as Max Romeo would say but it can’t be denied that all the tunes on this selection are of a fine pedigree….
So sit back and Enjoy the Ride…………..

By the close of the Sixties, record retailer and jukebox businessman Karl ‘J.J.’ Johnson was firmly established as one of Jamaica’s leading record producers, having released a string of best-selling rock steady and proto-reggae 45s by such noted local acts as Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, the Rulers, Carl Dawkins, the Kingstonians and the Ethiopians. Early in 1969, Trojan Records released an album containing a dozen of Johnson’s latest recordings in the new reggae style. Entitled Reggae Power, the LP was dominated by regular hit-makers the Ethiopians.

Reggae Power is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on orange coloured vinyl.

** SISTER FUNK, SOUL-JAZZ and BLUE-EYED-SOUL - OBSCURE RARE GROOVES ALL THE WAY THRU! **

- the double vinyl LP comes with a full album download code
- deluxe double-gatefold LP with detailed liner notes & unseen photographs
- ALL songs appear on LP & digital for the very first-time
- sales notes by Joel Ricci (aka Lucky Brown)

When Tramp Records was founded, there really were very few ways in which the music lover could discover new music besides the traditional methods of digging, good luck, and inheritance. First there were torrent sites such as Napster and Limewire where generous collectors might digitize and upload portions of their accessions, and sometimes you could find entire radio show broadcasts of live vinyl curation made by real Disc Jockeys out there, a lot of the Deep Funk I heard for the first time in around 1999 I found this way via Disc Jockeys on radio shows from the UK, tunes were faded and mixed together and of course veiled with that unmistakable Mp3 'whoosh'. And unless you have been living as an off-grid hermit for the past 20 years, you know the rest of the story.

But though our world has changed, and even though everyone from our grandparents to our 5-year old nieces are curating their own internet playlists, I submit that the role of DJ has become even more vital, not less. We as a culture have always relied on our Disc Jockeys to introduce us to sounds that speak to their souls, to control the vibe and most importantly put forth the narrative that speaks to society as a whole. DJs are our tribal storytellers, and the music they bring us are the stories. And when a DJ like Tobias Kirmayer is telling us that story clearly and with conviction, it speaks to our souls as well.

"Countdown to...SOUL" is a compilation series that, much like Tramp Records' other critically-acclaimed comps such as Movements, Feeling Nice, and the Praise Poems Series' examines a unique facet of the Golden Era of Soul, Funk, Jazz and R&B. Perhaps, in this case the dawning of the Soul era, "proto-soul", "primitive soul", or even "pre-soul" if you will. When they were recorded, many of these tunes were still firmly ensconced in the Black Radical Jazz tradition, but there was a change in the air, something happening in the coming years that would revolutionize popular music forever. In fact, Soul had already taken over the world by the time many of these tunes were released on 45, but for various reasons, the artists and their music occupied the fringes of the idiom and therefore remained obscure. Countdown to...SOUL chronicles that beginning, that buildup, those heady moments before the lid blew off and American Black music would explode across the planet, while scouring the outskirts and tide pools for specimens that were emanating in their own respective neighborhoods and communities, so often overlooked by the American pop music machine.

Side A features barrier-breaking pioneer Frankie Staton and her message of "Love One Another" to the world that is as fresh and vital today as it was when it first came out in the late seventies. In that spirit, Tenison Stevens' appeal "Don't Rip Me Off" reminds us to treat each other as brothers and sisters.

Side B meets us at the altar of the formidable Hammond Organ with an Unknown and uncredited Organist found languishing on a one-of-a-kind unreleased acetate and moving on to explore the nexus of Soul, Bebop, and R&B with Don Patterson's "Paddy Wagon".

Side C satisfies our hunger for the blaring horn sections, big beat drums, wailing Hammonds, pleading vocals and gritty guitars of authentic Soul music (both brown and blue-eyed) with Marva Josie, Shirley Wahls and The Echomen, among others, but then takes a hard left turn into undoubtedly uncharted territory with the hybrid folk/country/soul story of Sherrif Black and poor Sally who, though she is tragically met with a terrible fate, thanks to the careful and conscientious mastering of our German engineers, the song itself remains alive and is a genuine addition to the canon.

For the remaining side, I'm gonna just let you discover this music on its own terms, as you won't find these tunes anywhere else, not on Napster, not even on Limewire, or anywhere else. I want to personally thank you for putting your trust in the DJ and for continuing to listen, study, appreciate, and share the work and mission of Tramp Records.

-Joel Ricci (May 2022)

One of the most significant collections in Trojan’s immense catalogue, the ‘The Trojan Story’ album dramatically changed the perception of Jamaican music among the general British public outside of the country’s Afro-Caribbean population.

Prior to its release in 1971 there had never been an attempt to present a comprehensive anthology of the island’s musical development, with vintage ska, rock steady and reggae widely regarded as obsolete and of precious little merit.

The treble disc set, which became an instant best-seller, had been the brainchild of Trojan’s label manager and Black Music fan, Rob Bell, who, assisted by Trojan stalwarts, Dandy, Webster Shrowder and Joe Sinclair, produced arguably the most significant Jamaican music retrospectives of all time.

Now, 50 years following its original release, this hugely influential album has been revisited by Bell, along with reggae musician, Rusty Zinn, who have succeeded in improving what was already an almost perfect collection.

Presented in the original eye-catching artwork, the set is further enhanced by a highly illustrated 50-page booklet in which Bell relates the stories behind the release and the 50 tracks featured on the compilation.