reggae/dancehall

along with his rival, cornell campbell, johnny clarke was one of the most esteemed singers of the roots reggae era. having grown up next door to a popular sound system on waltham park road in western kingston, clarke s early fascination with music led him to hang out at studio one with jacob miller while still at school. he then made the rounds of talent shows with barry brown, sugar minott and the diamonds, which led to a debut recording in 1973, for the pianist glen stair, which remains unreleased. an early effort for clancy eccles, ‘god made the sea and sun,’ was not promoted properly, though ‘everyday wondering,’ for rupie edwards, impacted in britain, ‘golden snake’ for stamma houghton and a cover of smokey robinson’s ‘you really got a hold on me’ for glen brown were also false starts. the breakthrough finally came in 1975 when clarke linked with bunny lee, who had him voice the rastafari landmark ‘none shall escape the judgement’ (written by earl zero, who failed to muster a credible take), which kick-started the ‘flying cymbal’ craze. clarke’s resultant debut album, enter into his gates with praise, mixed hard-hitting rastafari devotional material with sympathetic cover versions of classics by the likes of the paragons, slim smith and delroy wilson, along with a few reggae renditions of some vintage american r&b.

during the mid-1970s, the aggrovators could do no wrong. this ace team of session musicians that was forged as an off-shoot of the soul syndicate were responsible for some of the biggest hits of the decade, recorded with bunny lees rising stars, such as johnnie clarke and his rival, cornell campbell. following on from the great shalom dub set of 1975, rasta dub 76 is another truly magnificent dub set culled from aggrovators hits (by johnny clarke, cornell campbell and others), this time, the entire album was given a scintillating mix-down at king tubbys studio by the great prince jammy, and the sonic excellence has stood the test of time. another must-have for all connoisseurs of dub.

distinctive tenor singer linval thompson honed his singing craft in his formative years, growing in the west kingston ghetto of three mile, where he was associated with dennis brown, johnnie clarke and al campbell. a subsequent move to new york brought him into expatriate act hugh hendricks and the buccaneers, with his debut recording, ‘no other woman,’ being made circa early 1974 at patrick alley’s art craft studio. a series of other singles followed from his new york sojourn, but the return to jamaica in 1974 led to more noteworthy singles for stamma hobson, phil pratt and lee ‘scratch’ perry, with ‘jah jah redder than red’ and ‘girl you’ve got to run,’ both cut at the black ark for pratt, being the most successful. yet, it was all but a prelude to the breakthrough success he would finally achieve upon teaming up with bunny lee for ‘don’t cut off your dreadlocks,’ one of the most popular releases of 1975, a debut album of the same name, issued by third world in 1976, contained some of his most outstanding material, including the devotional ‘jah jah the conqueror’ and ‘long long dreadlocks,’ the romance thriller ‘black princess lady’ and the anti-rude boy opus, ‘cool down your temper.’

vibrations is a new label set up by christopher galloway and piers harrison of roots unit. the first release comes from the ever-dependable and very busy mark e, who drops two killer jams for the dancefloor. escape is a bassline driven banger that drops into a hefty loop half-way through – large. the flip, midnight fires, is a more introspective, techno influenced cut, with crazy jazzy drums and swirling synths. we are thinking about early morning dancefloors for this one. escape is also remixed by roots unit, who add chicago house elements within a reggae aesthetic.

deep & dubby quality work by beat pharmacy, dave dk, djorvin clain &hirotaka miyamoto

reissue with new remix!

cult combo hiem finally get round to releasing their first full length long player escape from division street through the new startalk international imprint

sunburned reggae incl. johnny clarke, barry brown, horace andy and many more

a great collection of classic roots recordings from the mid-70’s for the singer who came close in challenging bob marley & dennis brown for reggae’s crown. all re-mastered recordings available as 23-track 2lp-set in a gatefold sleeve, with in-depth sleeve notes by noel hawkes. the release is supported by several summer festival appearances.

enter the spiral - the title of the opening track by the first collaborative work between sebastian mullaert and eitan reiter is not just a random name. it is a title which anticipates what can happen if you let yourself go alongside their nine epic musical trips

remixes by blaze, dj escape & johnny vicious

enter the spiral - the title of the opening track by the first collaborative work between sebastian mullaert and eitan reiter is not just a random name. it is a title which anticipates what can happen if you let yourself go alongside their nine epic musical trips.

johnny clarke war in den 80ger jahren eine fest groesse in der jamaikanischen dancehall-szene! auf der cd finden sich besten dubs von johnny-clarke wieder, an denen bunny lee und der gro§e dubmeister king tubby hand angelegt haben. incl. vier bonus-tracks

best price - paul van dyk vonyk sessions on 2xcd !!