RE-ISSUE LONG PLAYERS UPDATE FEB 07

JAH THOMAS - DANCE ON THE CORNER (ROOTS RECORDS)

Very nice re-issue of a classic Jah Tomas deejay long player from 1979. Starting off with a storming deejay ride on the ’My conversation’ riddim. Same one that was used on the classic ’Cricket lovely Cricket’ which also features. The quality riddims are carried on throughout this long player with lovely, full Roots Radics sound. The title track (which is the well known version, on the Real Rock riddim, used by Barrington Levy for ‘Looking my love’) is a great example of very late 70’s roots from this very underated deejay. Roots records (a sub label of Acid Jazz) have promised more releases from Midnight Rock (Jah Thomas label) as well as Hit Sounds (U Browns label).

Next up is BARRINGTON LEVY - SHAOLIN TEMPLE (AURALUX).

A long overdue re-issue of this classic Barrington Levy long player which really shows of his powerful voice over late 70’s Junjo Lewis produced stormers. Similar nice sound to the Jah Thomas release. Highlights are ‘Shine eye gal‘, ‘Looking my love’, ’Collie weed’ (on the ’My Conversation’ riddim) and the bonus tracks. Extended versions of ’Stray away girl’ , ’Hammer’ and a couple of versions of the title track. One with an appearance from Jah Thomas. Also available is a Dub album  c/o King Tubbys. Should be reviewed next time.

Right on to Studio One stuff . SOUL DIMENSION - SOUL SHAKEDOWN VOL 1 (SOUL JAZZ).

I was a bit worried that this was just going to be a collection of the Soul Dimension tracks that everyone has already got. It is not.  It focuses on the lesser known riddims. As well as Revival Pressure favourites ‘Hail Don D’ and ‘Baby face’ there are another 14 tracks and not a weak one! Staring off with ‘Heavy beat’, a wicked version on the riddim used for Delroy Wilsons ’Conquer me’ complete with some awesome horns, carrying  on with tracks like ’Upsetters Dream’ on the riddim used for Carlton & the Shoes ’Love me forever’ Hopefully being part one, this means there are more planned.

Easily Soul Jazz’s best compilation. V/A - STUDIO ONE DEEJAYS VOL 2 (SOUL JAZZ).

A good little collection of  some of the quality deejay work from out of Studio One. Stand out tracks are ‘Fever Teaser’ by Dennis Alcapone, the corking version of the Selected Few’s ‘Selection Train’ by Carey Johnson, called ‘Correction train’, ‘Ram Dancemaster’ by Briggy, Lone Rangers ‘Tribute to Bob Marley’ and the deejay ride to Alexander Henrys ‘Please be true’ from Jah Jesco ‘West gone Black‘. Whilst some people will have a few of the tracks anyway, this is still a worth while release.

As is V/A - STUDIO ONE SCORCHER VOL 2 (SOUL JAZZ).

Same as above really only for instrumentals. Any long player with Brentford All Stars ‘Race tack’, Pablove Blacks brilliant ‘High Locks’ (the tuff, tuff melodica cut to Burning Spears ‘Foggy Road’) and ‘Black Wax’ (version to Prince Jazzbo’s ‘Check Mr Lester) is going to be a hit, but the inclusion of Vin Gordons ‘Joe Grazier’ steals it for me. What a tune.

With so much poor quality, dubiously sourced and re-titled dub releases a new dub re-issue is treated with some caution.This record however is an absolute gem . COXSONE V QUAKER CITY - DUB WAR (ATTACK) is a re-issue of Bunny Lee productions mixed at Tubbys by Scientist. They sound like proper dub specials. I have certainly not heard them before. With deejay introductions bigging up (and quite rightfully) two of the UK’s premier sound systems, you are in for a treat. Versions of Johnny Clarkes ’Ride on’ and Peace and love in the ghetto’ and a wall-shaking version to Horace Andys ’Money is the root of all evil’, these are proper dubs in proper sound system style. Probably quite limited re-issue. I have seen it at  Dub Vendor and Massive International (see links page).DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS CLASSIC RE-ISSUE!!

TRAVELLERS - BLACK BLACK MIND (PRESSURE SOUNDS) is a re-issue of a hard to find Jammys produced vocal group. Whilst his work with Black Uhuru got the coverage that it deserved, the Travellers material has appeared fleetingly and scatted on a few obscure 7’s. ‘Keep on trying’ has long been a favourite at Revival Pressure and is included here as well as  couple of  U Blacks deejay versions and Jammys dubs of course. All tracks are strong and have that trademark early Jammys sound.

Last up is GLEN BROWN - RHYTHMASTER VOL 1 (HOT POT) which is a mix and match of Glen Browns obscure riddims. Whilst not being a ‘greatest hits’ collection this is still a good collection of his works. Tracks like ‘Dirty Harry’, ‘Determination Skank’ ‘Mr Harry Skank’ and ‘Save our nation’ always stand out from the rest. There is part 2 to this (which I will review next update) containing more Glen Brown tracks. Also heard a rumour that the next release from Hot Pot will be a collection of Black and White versions. Hot pot-Bring it on!

Last and by no means least is the COXSONE MUSIC DISCGRAPHY. The best thing I can say about it, is that I can find no errors and releases not listed. All records are listed in artist order, song title order and matrix number order making it very easy to use. Highly recommended. I got my copy from the Sounds of the Universe store (see store guide). Any problems contact Outernational Records at OUTA1@HARBORNET.COM.