Jan 04

Yabby You & The Prophets – Beware [1978]

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1970s, Dub

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Yabby You & The Prophets - Beware [1978]

This is a really unusual album cover for a late 70s dub album, the airbrush/graffiti style wasn’t often seen on dub albums. The album design and art direction was probably a reflection that this version of the album was released on ‘Grove Music’ records, a UK based roots reggae label that was active between 1979 to 1982.

The cover depicts a dread smashing up the Statue of Liberty with one of the tablets of the 10 commandments, and the artwork has a real 70s New York hip-hop feel to it (apart from the actual subject being depicted that is).

Released in 1978, this is a great dub album from the legendary Yabby You & The Prophets and features some of the most proficient Jamaican musicians that you’ll find anywhere –
including Tommy McCook, Sly & Robbie, Ansel Collins, Albert Griffiths, and more.

The music is rich, dense, complex, and often eerie and unnerving – a consistent characteristic of Yabby You’s deeply spiritual music. Modern day dub-step artists, like Burial, would probably have been making albums like this if they were recording in the 70s. Steeped in thick atmosphere, this is a great dub album.

It was also re-released in 1981 on ‘Jah Live Records’ with a different cover and a re-jigged track listing. You can see the cover below:
Yabby You & The Prophets - Beware [1978] Jah Live Records

Track List:

  • Peace
  • Give Praises
  • Together
  • Plague
  • Freedom
  • Beware
  • Deliverance
  • Prophets
  • Feel All Right
  • Praises

Listen To It
 
 
Listen to ‘Praise’ by Yabby You & The Prophets:

Listen to ‘Plague’ by Yabby You & The Prophets:

Buy It
 
 
Yabby You has been subject to countless re-issues over the years, so finding the best tracks isn’t too difficult, even though the original albums may be rare or out of circulation.

  • Download ‘Beware’ by Yabby You & The Prophets from Amazon.com
  • Download ‘Beware’ by Yabby You & The Prophets from Amazon.co.uk
  • Download ‘Beware’ by Yabby You & The Prophets from iTunes [UK]
  • Download ‘Beware’ by Yabby You & The Prophets from iTunes [US]icon

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Dec 06

Prince Jazzbo – Kick Boy Face [1976]

Categories:

1970s, Reggae DJs

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Prince Jazzbo - Kick Boy Face [1976]
Kick Boy Face was released by Prince Jazzbo in 1976 on UK based ‘Third World’ records and features a great hand-drawn Kung-Fu cover in a ‘Blaxploitation’ cinematic style.

The ‘Blaxploitation’ film genre was hugely popular in the 1970s and the action-packed and swagger-filled films were adopted with relish amongst Jamaican audiences and reggae DJs – with many artists naming themselves after the heroes (i.e. DJ Jim Kelly) or name-checking the silver screen stars in their songs:

“Check Jim Kelly him a kick to the belly” – Dillinger, from ‘Natty Kick Like Lightning’ (CB 200 album)

If someone produced a range of classic posters of reggae album art, then this would be pretty high up on my wish-list.

The album itself was mixed At King Tubby Studio Kingston, Jamaica, and was produced by Bunny Lee, and it collects together some great DJ tracks from Prince Jazzbo. Well worth a listen. Hard to find now though, but many of the tracks are available for download on other Prince Jazzbo albums.

Track List:

  • Kick Boy Face
  • I And I
  • Hand Of Babylon
  • Nigger Is A Winner
  • Virgin
  • Rebel Boy
  • Church Is A Rome
  • Far Star
  • Hello
  • Youth In Service

Listen To It
 
 
Listen to ‘Church is a Rome’ by Prince Jazzbo:

Listen to ‘Hand of Babylon’ by Prince Jazzbo:

Buy It
 
 

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Dec 05

Sound Business (Full Documentary)

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Videos

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Wow – this is incredible.

This is the full documentary made in 1981 in the UK and narrated by Mikey Dread. The film looks at the role of the Sound System in reggae and in UK culture in general, during a golden area for UK based Sound Systems.

It has particular focus on Sound Systems like ‘Young Lion’ Sound System, and ‘Sir Coxsone’ Sound System, with in depth interviews with the crew of each.

It’s packed full of rarely seen interviews with Lloyd Coxsone, a young David Rodigan (with moustache), and contributions from Sugar Minott, Trinity and many more.

This is well worth 40+minutes of your life, so make some time for it and watch it below.

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Dec 04

Dubbing In The Back Yard – King Tubby and The Aggrovators [1982]

Categories:

1980s, Dub

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Dubbing In The Back Yard - King Tubby and The Aggrovators [1982]
What’s not to love about this album cover? The ‘Bunny’ has escaped from his hutch and is chilling with his briefcase in the garden.

“Dubbing In The Back Yard” was a 1982 release on UK based “Black Music” record label – which goes someway in explaining the cover photo for this Dub album. The photo shows Bunny Lee relaxing in a garden that looks like it must have been taken in England…..the rabbit hutch and the tower block in the background is a bit of a giveaway.

Despite the title, King Tubby was not at the controls for this Dub release; the music was mixed at Tubby’s studio, but the actual production was all done by Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee with Prince Jammy on mixing duties.

This dub album includes some nice heavy roots tracks, with a few bass-heavy excursions into early 80s dancehall versions of riddims like the ‘Johnny Dollar riddim’ (‘Natural Glow’).

Tracklist

  • A1 Relaxing Mood
  • A2 Adventure
  • A3 Summers Eve
  • A4 Warm Weather
  • A5 Easy Mood
  • B1 Natural Glow
  • B2 Plantation Run
  • B3 Hot Weather
  • B4 Mountain Rains
  • B5 Hideaway

Listen To It
 
 
Listen to ‘Natural Glow’:

Listen to ‘Adventure’:

Buy It
 
 

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Dec 03

U Brown vs Peter Yellow – DJ Confrontation [1982]

Categories:

1980s, Compilations, Reggae DJs

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U Brown vs Peter Yellow - DJ Confrontation (1982)
U Brown vs Peter Yellow - DJ Confrontation (1982) (record)

I’m a huge fan of the Jamaican DJ ‘clash’ or ‘confrontation’ style albums that were big in the 1980s. Usually these releases saw a producer take two popular DJs and collected together 5 tracks from each on their latest or popular riddims, and gave them a side each (or alternating tracks on the same side) – It was a great way to showcase two artists.

These albums usually produced some eye-catching artwork. This album is no different and the dubious art-skill on display shows two heavyweights competing against each other in a race to grab a microphone from what looks a bit like ‘Nick Nack’ from the Bond film “The Man with the Golden Gun”.

Incidentally, the two obese figures that are drawn on the cover bear no real resemblance to the two DJs on the album…..Peter Yellow is an albino for a start.

Peter Yellow was a DJ from King Jammy’s Sound System and also recorded under then name Purpleman. Much of his output on vinyl came in the form of DJ albums where he shared the billing, and he enjoyed the bulk of his success between the early to mid-1980s. U Brown by contrast, made his name in the 1970s DJing over heavy roots riddims and based his vocal style on U Roy.

This album was released on CF Records in 1982 and production duties were shared between Ribbs (a.k.a. Robert Fearon) and Prince Jammy. Jammy produced all the Peter Yellow tracks and Ribbs was responsible for the U Brown tracks. As you would expect, the Jammy’s productions are classic 80s dancehall riddims with Peter Yellow dropping dancehall slang and lyrics, whilst the U Brown side comes across much more roots orientated with Old Testament subject material. This makes for an unusual listening experience for a DJ clash album.

Track List:

  • Peter Yellow – Life In A Gp
  • Peter Yellow – Dangerous Thing
  • Peter Yellow – Can’t Take The Boss Man
  • Peter Yellow – Take A Set
  • U Brown – World Wide Crisis
  • U Brown – Get Organised
  • U Brown – Reggae Rockers
  • U Brown – Chant It Down

Producer : Ribbs & Prince Jammy
Engineer : Ribbs & Prince Jammy
Vocals : Purpleman & U Brown
Backing Band : The Revolutionaries & The High Times Band & The Instigators & The Roots Radics

Listen To It
 
 
Listen to ‘Chant it Down’ by U Brown:

Listen to ‘Dangerous Thing’ by Peter Yellow:

Buy It
 
 

You wont find this album available for download via official channels, but you can still get U Brown (Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk) and some Peter Yellow/Purpleman (Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk) tracks available for download.

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