SELASSIE I LOVE & MERCY IN THE CRUMBLING CITY

double post this morning. get it while you can.

thanks to the good works of the dudes over at irieites, i've recently discovered two amazing (and previously CD-only) Sizzla tunes. for today, here's the better of the two. this is a Digital B production from ~1999 and it's maybe the finest piece of '90s roots i've ever heard. perfect in every way.

Sizzla - Mockries and Phrase

before irieites recent vinyl release, this tune appeared on the Sizzla LP "Good Ways."


"living in this pollution and despair, youth so strong, judgement again..."

ROOTS

as with all previous blog attempts, life gets in the way.
anyway, here's a new post.

tune of the moment -
Barry Brown - We Just Can't Live Like This

masterful roots.


selah, enjoy.

Perilous Times

deeply moving & magnificent roots. same tune, different titles, different mixes.

Mystic Eyes - Judgement Time (from "Mysterious" LP, Burning Sounds UK)

Mystic Eyes & Trinity - Perilous Time (Greensleeves 12" UK)

The Revolutionaries - Freedom Dub (from "Outlaw Dub" LP, Trojan UK - dub to "Judgement Time")

Trinity - Pope Paul Dead (Thompson Sound 7" JA reissue - deejay cut to "Perilous Time")


oh jah oh jah, sent forth thy blessings
on thy people now, for this is perilous times
we living inna a judgment time, a dis is a perilous time, we living in a judgement time
one got to seek their bread, outta desolate places
trodding thru the valley of evil faces, you got to beware
'cause a one grain of corn, and a small loaf of cornbread
for that thou shall be sanctified, 'cause this is perilous time
we living inna a judgment time, a dis is a perilous time, we living in a judgement time
judgement, now
not the buyer nor the seller, none of them shall rejoice
'cause some a them a rob, and some a them a crab
i say, inna dis ya perilous time, we living inna judgement time, 'cause this is a perilous time
we living inna judgement time
the scribes and the pharises pass them by (pass them pass them)
they hold their heads up high (head up high)
na na na, na na na, now you got no one to turn to
so you better turn to jah, so you better call on jah
come on and turn to jah, people
so you better call on jah
jah jah, jah jah, jah jah, jah jah
so you better turn to jah, come on and call on jah
my people rastafari
turn to jah oh no
so you better call on jah
so you got to turn to jah
i'm telling you now
call on jah, hey hey, hey hey
turn to jah, so you better call on jah


mp3 wanted:
Mystic Eyes "Judgement Time" (Thompson Sound 12" US)
Trinity "Pope Paul Dead" (Attack 12" UK)
Trinity "Pope Paul Dead" (Thompson Sound 7" US)
dub cut of "judgement time" from Revolutionaries "Outlaw Dub" (Trojan LP UK) now added above
please!

Finally Out of Dark Shadows

so a while back i heard that the German World In Sound label were finally going to do what's needed doing for years - a reissue of the Cold Sun recordings, probably the greatest (semi) lost psych band of all time. if ya dunno these cats, read here (review about mid page) and here. really amazing stuff - if i wanted to use a stupid metaphor, i would say they're like a teenaged early Elevators as played by a more-competent Index, but still with that same beautifully-sublime-naivety vibe. the World In Sound site claims a prospective release date of May 2008, for CD and vinyl, and with 2 bonus tracks! Very exciting. 2007 finally saw the reissue of both of the Bobb Trimble records, and now Cold Sun in 2008. let's hope 2009 and beyond sees more people doing the lord's work, and we get readily-available reissues of the Index 1st LP, Dave Bixby LP, and more...(no links for those, future posts maybe?).

Original Singer Fe Years

so i came across this excellent quality soundtape of Silverhawk in Montego Bay, circa '88/'89. the main artists featured are Brigadier Jerry, Conroy Smith, and White Mice. killer. since Conroy is one of my favorite singers ever in all of music, i did myself and all of you the favor of excerpting all his parts from the continuous ~90 minute recording of the session. so here they are. enjoy!

Conroy Smith & White Mice - two the hard way (live on Silverhawk) cool combination tune!

Conroy Smith - Dancehall Possie - mr. bassie riddim (live on Silverhawk)

Conroy Smith - 3 song medley (live on Silverhawk) tunes are: the devil (pretty sure this is one of his dubplate-only tunes), no gold chain pon me (? - never heard this one before), girl yu mus be stallion (on the original Studio 1 real rock riddim!)

Conroy Smith - come follow me - modern girl riddim (live on Silverhawk)

Bolo Pon Yuh Corner

Yami Bolo is one of my favorite singers in all of music. it seems i listen to at least one of his songs every day. with just over 20 years deep in the game now, he has a tremendous body of work. so i figured a little post and a couple lists are in order to get some of you casual reggae listeners acquainted with this cat. here goes...
Yami Bolo was one of the best 'youthman' (read: very young and almost-child-voiced) singers to emerge from the '80s. he's one of the few of that crop who continues to record regularly to this day, and for me, the only one who's work has never faltered. Bolo continues voicing roots and culture in the true inimitable Waterhouse style. his history is well known to fans, but here's a quick recap for the uninitiated. not unlike many other legendary reggae vocalists, his first 'break' came in 1983, when at age 13 he won a talent contest singing what would become his first trademark tune, 'when a man's in love.' from there it was a short stop to singing on two of the top soundsystems of the digital era - Youth Promotion and Stur Mars. he first entered a studio in 1986, recording for Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion label. Yami says he recorded a full album at this time, but only four singles from this session were ever released, two in '86 and the other two not until '99 and the early '00s! so we don't get bogged down in details, a discography of Yami's '80s tunes in rough chronological order will be at the bottom of this post. Yami next recorded for Winston Riley's Techniques label, and Kenneth Black's Skengdon label. in 1987 Yami hooked up with Augustus Pablo, going on tour with Pablo's Rockers soundsystem and recording a good deal for Pablo over the next couple of years. these recordings would yield a batch of singles for Pablo's labels, and Yami's first two LP's, the first one coming in 1989. on into the '90s and it was full speed ahead; by '90 he was grown and establishing himself as one of the finest roots singers out. to date Yami has recorded hundreds of singles and is probably approaching 30 albums by now. of course his '80s youthman work will always be the best for me, but with his amazing voice and knack for voicing on terrific contemporary roots riddims, i've got dozens of excellent singles from him, and undoubtedly dozens and dozens more yet to acquire.

so, here's a little discographical information. i'll put a couple of mp3 links in the lists below. if you dig and want to hear more, then send an email and i'll sort you out with my Yami '80s mixtape or 'best of Yami' mixtape, both of which contain most of the tunes listed below.

Yami Bolo - 1980's discography (rough chronological order), all essential!!! of course, corrections & additions are welcomed.
-Roots Pon Mi Corner (Youth Promotion 7" JA)
-Original True Love (Youth Promotion 7" JA - rec. '86?, rel. '00s)
-Through The Falling Rain (Youth Promotion 7" JA / Youth Promotion 12" US)
-Youth Promotion (V/A - Hidden Treasures CD - Easy Star UK - rec. '86?, rel. '99)
-When A Man's In Love (Techniques 7" JA // V/A - Original Stalag 17-18 and 19 LP - Techniques JA // VP Dancehall Classics 12" US - rel. '00, first rel. on 12"?)
-Bad Boy Posse (Techniques 7" JA // V/A - Rebel Teng LP - Techniques JA)
-Jah Jah Made Them All (Techniques 7" JA / High Power Music 12" UK)
-Free Mandela (Skengdon 7" US / Skengdon 12" US // V/A - Skengdon All Stars - Skengdon LP US)
-Walkie Talkie (Skengdon 7" JA / Skengdon 12" UK)
-Loving You My Dear (Skengdon 7" JA)
-'Dance Hall Pt. 1' on V/A - A Tribute To Tenor Saw - Sky High LP JA - excerpt from Stur Mars live session circa mid-'80s, LP rel. '89; Yami sings part of George's Michael's 'Careless Whisper' and 'When A Man's In Love'!!!
-Ransom of a Man's Life (Message 7" JA / Ransom LP/CD - Greensleeves UK/Shanachie US)
-She Loves Me So (Rockers 7" JA / Ransom LP/CD - Greensleeves UK/Shanachie US)
-Tell Me Why Is This Fussing & Fighting (Message 7" JA)
-Love Me With Feeling [w/ Junior Delgado] (Rockers 7" JA)
-Poverty and Brutality (Message 7" JA)
-Ransom LP/CD (Greensleeves UK / Shanachie US)
some or all of those last 5 Rockers/Message singles might have been rel. '90, can't be sure.

'90s-present killers, my personal faves!
*i need a few of these, noted below, if you can help with vinyl or even mp3, get at me!
-Weep Not (Digital B) mr. bassie riddim
-Put Down Yuh Weapon [w/ Capleton] (Fat Eyes) african beat riddim
-African Brother (Jahara Music) youthman riddim
-Almighty One (Kennedy Int'l) mr. bassie riddim
-Free Africa (Jammy's/Kingston 11) answer riddim
-Glock War, Gun War (Yam Euphony/RAS)
-Gun Bag (JR Production) WANTED
-Mystery Babylon (Thompson Sound) voiced on '70s rhythm
-Throw Down Your Arms (Tubb Sound) a Swiss production!
-I Don't Know Why (Wacam) tempo riddim
-Leave Out The Badness (Xterminator)
-Mr. Smith & Wesson/Set Sail (Stone Love 12") give me the right riddim
-Rema & Jungle (Buffalo) VERY WANTED
-Trample (Taxi/Music City)
-Traitors & Vampires (Yam Euphony)
-It's Not Surprising (Grove Music/Parson Pickney) WANTED
-Door Peep [w/ Ruffy & Tuffy] (Rockers)
-Jah Made Them All (Rockers)
-Struggle in Babylon (Rockers/RAS)
-Bad Boys (Don One) wicked Brooklyn production from last year!

Beware

...the devil is everywhere. two roots monsters about the ultimate evil and his followers are in the heaviest of rotation here the past couple days. first we have Cultural Roots "devil ites" (mis-credited as "devil eyes" on the label) on a crisp Germain 12" circa early '80s.
"a which boat a go take some a dem across river jordan...devil ites, how you gwaan enter, inna zion?"
this one quickly became a roots all-time top-ten'er for me; lead heavy, militant, driving, a perfect crystallization of the ominous it-dread-out-deh vibe that i dig the most. the other jam is Calman Scott's "devil in the city" (sorry for the wack link, not much out there on this cat), with following deejay piece from Jah Hugh (no dice on him either). the 7" of this one (sans deejay of course) was out on Wackie's RAWSE label in '77 (though apparently not a Wackie's production), and this 12" cut, apparently around the same time via a UK press on GG's Hit label. been after this one for a hot minute, and finally dug up this ('lighty truncated') mp3 thru some diligent googling. yes, my less-than-part-time status as a roots collector has this jawn still on my want list. holler if you can help. back to business though, Calman's voice and delivery here is more on a clear '70s soul tip, and i wonder then if he was an American-Jamaican cat.
"the devil is here in the city, the city wake up with the devil, everyday is just fight, people taking each other's life..."
enough jabber, dig 'em here and here.
visuals -


*sorry, no pic of the 12" to be found, weak, i know. anyone?

believe it if you need it

click here to (free, legit) download the first ever live performance of the Dead's 'box of rain', 9-17-70 @ Fillmore East, NYC. at this moment around here, s'the apex of the Dead's rural rock period. jam it. i tried to find a more 'rural/rugged' looking photo of Phil (lol) but this was the best i could find. still a good one.

np: neil young - live in London 1971 (CDR)

ENDLESS BOOGIE

one more post for this afternoon. Endless Boogie are playing in Jersey City tonight, info here. if a picture of these freaks wasn't enough to convince you, check the resume on three of these cats - A, B, C. nuff said. they've had a couple of records that are 'coming out soon' for like forever now, i hope they finally materialize sooner than later. anyway, i seen 'em live before and they were great, raw and loose extended jamming. i couldn't find a download link for their 2 also-great-and-too-limited self-released LP's from a couple years ago (their label is called A MOUND DUEL, lol), so please settle for this real audio (i know, i know) of their WFMU live set. jersey people, come out to the gig tonight! Dingo's will still be there later, i promise. PKWYSTL posse will be in full effect so leave all str33t b33f at home (unless you wanna be kontra'd, then we can take it there). see you in the pit.

EDIT: Jesse No Contest comes thru with uploads of both the aforementioned ltd. LP's! he had them labeled as 'Vol. 1' and 'Vol. 2', not sure what that means, as they seem to be generally referred to as 'white cover' or 'black cover' (both are s/t)...but here they are - click here vol. 1 and click here vol. 2. thanks jesse!

np: v/a - worries in the dance (empire LP)

Dashiell Hedayat

weirdo French head who was getting stoned with Daevid Allen, et al. in the late '60s, and made one hazy LP for Shandar in '71. jammed this today for this first time in a while. if you can deal with sometimes-whisper-spoken French vocals (not an easy task, i know), this is a grower. some nice organic jamming. don't fear the Gong connection (it's during their 'good' years anyway), this one is not overly fey or generally gross (in the bad way). features one of the great sleeve notes of all time - "warning: this record must be played as loud as possible, must be heard as stoned as impossible and thank you everybody." cop the album here or here. quick disclaimer for all future posts - unless otherwise indicated, all D/L links are stolen from other blogs/whereever and no degree of audio quality or even completeness is implied.