Reggae / Dub

Featuring amazing covers of tracks by artists such as Leon Ware, Mtume, Archie Bell, The Gap Band, Lowrell, Prince, Starvue, Bobby Caldwell & The Isley Brothers, there is not a filler in site, essentials all the way.

The project has taken almost 2 years with the help of many musicians, singers and producers from the scene. A special shout out goes to Peter 'Honeyvoice' Hunnigale for going the extra mile and doing many introductions.

In 1979 Suns of Arqa creator and mentor Michael Wadada set about recording the ground breaking Suns of Arqa album 'Revenge of the Mozabites' with his friend Adrian Sherwood. Together they formed the ‘4D Rhythm’ label – the world was not ready! Wadada retreated to the Pennine mountain range in Lancashire, Adrian Sherwood went on to create the formidable ‘On-U Sound’ label. Three years went by before a a very curious Peter Gabriel came across a rare copy of that first Suns of Arqa album; he was putting together the very first World of Music and Dance festival (WOMAD), and asked Suns of Arqa to come and perform. Revenge of the Mozabites is where it all started, this truly eclectic album of world-dub-east-west fusion from Suns of Arqa, ignited what would ultimately become the new World Beat Dub Dance genre which has influenced & inspired so many artists today.

Fully remastered and licensed, ltd to 500 copies 180 gr vinyl. Officially the latest album released by the british super group, Lows & Highs is the triumphant epilogue to these fascinating adventure in rhythm. Featuring vocals from Crucial Tony and Lizard Logan this is probably the most straight ahead reggae album in their whole discography. Producer Adrian Sherwood is in charge behind the desk while Style Scott, Eskimo Fox and Donald Campbell bring all their potential efforts on the drums. Deadly Headley and Dave’ Flash’ Wright are the top horn section here. The album features the bonus track Read And learn from 1982 single ‘Love I Can Feel’. A must have for any english dub worshipper.

Reissued for the first time on vinyl, an amazing showcase of roots and reggae lovers, originally released on Trojan in 1977. Although his place as a reggae pioneer cannot be questioned, Owen Gray has felt for many years that he never got his due from Jamaica, his homeland. On August 6, 2023, the government finally recognized his contribution awarding him with the honor of Order Of Distinction, Jamaica's sixth-highest honor. Gray, now 87, is ecstatic about what he considers an overdue and deserved reward. In the rocksteady era, he recorded for producer Sir Clancy Collins AKA Sir Collins. His popularity continued throughout the 1960s, working with producers such as Clement Dodd, Prince Buster, Sydney Crooks, Arthur "Duke" Reid, Leslie Kong, and Clancy Eccles, including work as a duo with Millie Small, with songs ranging from ska to ballads. He continued to record regularly, having a big hit in 1968 with "Cupid." His 1970 track "Apollo 12" found favor with the early skinheads, and in 1972 he returned to Island Records, recording reggae versions of The Rolling Stones' "Tumblin' Dice" and John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," although they met with little success. During this period, he regularly had releases on Pama and Pioneer Internacional label, Camel Records, and one single on Hot Lead Records. He had greater success in Jamaica, however, with "Hail the Man," a tribute to Emperor Haile Selassie, which was popular with the increasing Rastafari following. Fully licensed, 140g vinyl.

This is the seminal first studio work by revered dub producer Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, African Head Charge), engineered by Dennis Bovell (Fela Kuti, The Slits, Orange Juice). Dub From Creation was originally released on pre-On-U Sound label Hitrun in 1978. Recommended for fans of Scientist, King Tubby and the Wackies label. A classic of the genre unavailable on vinyl since original release and now commanding high prices second-hand.

Includes download card for full album plus two bonus tracks, and printed inner sleeve with a new essay by Steve Barker (The Wire Magazine/BBC Radio) telling the story of the recording in full.

Founded in 1981 in Britain's second city Birmingham, the band Sceptre were part of a thriving local music scene, a scene that for the most part revolved around live shows in the region's community centres, university campuses, pubs and nightclubs. Neglected by major labels, many bands went unrecorded and of those that did get documented most managed to release just one or two singles. Fortunately, Sceptre recorded and released an entire album, 1984's “Essence of Redemption Ina Dif'rent Styley”. Poorly pressed, in very small numbers and with limited distribution, the album didn't sell well and barely made an impact on its release. However, whatever its problems the music itself was first class and over the last three decades, has acquired numerous fans and an ever growing reputation as a classic of the British reggae genre. Whilst still remaining underground and unknown to the vast majority of reggae fans, demand amongst those in the know has been such that used copies have fetched as much as £180. As part of our mission to document and reissue Britain's lost, forgotten and unreleased reggae heritage, Sceptre were high on our list of projects. Through the good offices of Black Symbol who had released Sceptre's previous two recordings on “Black Symbol Presents Handsworth Explosion Volume One”, (also reissued on Reggae Archive Records), we were introduced to Jean McLean and able to get the band members approval and cooperation with this project. Musically this is one of the strongest UK albums there is, with not a single weak track and many stand outs. Six of the ten songs are roots, varying between a classic roots sound based on a 1970s Jamaican blue print on “Essence of Redemption”, “Nuclear Disaster”, “Soul Searching” and “Pestilence and Bombing” to a more contemporary UK feel on “Right Time Coming,” whilst “Get Up And Go” incorporates a funk feel into the mix. Three of the tunes, “Play the Music”, “Me on My Own” and “Goodbye” are Lovers Rock with Jean McLean taking over lead vocal duties from the men, whilst Jean's sister Beverley aka Rankin Bev demonstrates her MC skills on the dancehall orientated “Ina Dif'rent Styley”. The album is brim full of great tracks and not only showcases the band's versatility, but also what talented songwriters and musicians they were. The fact that it didn't enjoy greater success and get heard by the reggae audience at large is a travesty we can finally put right. Sceptre's “Essence of Redemption Ina Dif'rent Styley” is reissued by Reggae Archive Records on 20th October 2014 and will be available on premium quality vinyl, CD and digital download from all leading outlets. To coincide with this release our sister label Sugar Shack Records is releasing former Sceptre guitarist, horn player, keyboard player and vocalist Jean McLean's new album “Everlasting” on the same date. credits

First volume – thou the 2nd never happened – of this ongoing collaboration between post-punk stalwarts Cherry Red and home of the western dub On U Sound. Adrian Sherwood obviously sitting behind the desk and a cast of marvelous artist leading the way for a reggae renaissance. Stolen and contaminated songs, we may take this as a reference point for 12 unreleased tracks showing the best of the UK underground rhythms. A further development of the Jamaican heritage, with handmade electronics and a forward thinking production. Mothmen ‘Afghani Dub’ is one of the leading track here, with future members of Durutti Column and Simply Red on board, this is a mystical post-industrial trip through upbeat rhythms. Along the way you’ll find the over the top vocal performance of Judy Nylon – more akin to certain no wave expressionism – futuristic vibes from Sun Of Arqa, contribution from New age Steppers supergroup and Creation Rebel teaming up with the so-called Jamaican ‘Voice of Thunder’ Prince Far I. All in all a (natural) mystic experience. Fully remastered and licensed, ltd to 500 copies on 180 gr. Tracklist: Side A 1 Jah Woosh - Woodpecker Sound 2 Machine Gun Hogg & Co. - Bed Bound Saga 3 Prince Far I & Creation Rebel - Quanté Giubila 4 The Chicken Granny - Quit The Body 5 Alan Pellay - Parasitic Machine 6 London Underground - Dreams Are Better Side B 1 Suns Of Arqa - Asian Rebel 2 Alan Pellay - Demonic Forces 3 The Mothmen - Afghani Dub 4 Jeb Loy & The il Wells - Things that Made U.S. 5 New Age Steppers - Yipee I Aah 6 Judy Nylon - The Dice

Rio Arriba is the sophomore album from Chancha Via Circuito, who molds local South American rhythms into global artistry. Rio Arriba bubbles up from the Andes like percussive lava, seething as it is soothing. Layers of drums play out like water and earth battling heat - heat brought by Chancha Via Circuito. Chancha has forged a path from his town outside the urban sprawl of Buenos Aires in the east of Argentina up across the border with Bolivia and into the Northern hemisphere where he's bringing new fans to native drum traditions. In his first release, Rodante, Chancha took cumbia into uncharted territory retrofitting the Latin rhythm for a worldly audience. With Rio Arriba, South American folklore takes the reins and, under Chancha’s steady hand, obscure backwoods rhythms take on a top shelf lifestyle as folklore hits the club. Cumbia made Chancha’s first album Rodante a stand out, Rio Arriba takes his sound primal, rooted in rhythm, but worldwide in scope. With recent remixes of The Ruby Suns (Sub Pop) and Gotan Project (Ya Basta/XL Recordings), Chancha proves his production can cross continents and pollinate. Rio Arriba annihilates the obvious - it's a fresh breeze from the city of good air flooding the urban habitat, sending you dancing upstream.

Hostile Environment is the first album in over forty years from the legendary Creation Rebel, who were the original On-U Sound house band and responsible for classics such as Dub from Creation and Starship Africa. The trio of Crucial Tony, Eskimo Fox and Magoo are back with producer Adrian Sherwood to create a modern spin on their heavyweight dubwise rhythms.

It is the seventh album credited to the group, who originally coalesced as a live backing group for the late, great Prince Far I, in the process sharing stages with the likes of The Clash, The Slits and Don Cherry. Vocals from their former band leader, preserved on archive tapes, feature on the new record, as well as guest contributions from the likes of Cyrus Richards (musical director for Horace Andy and the Dub Asante Band), Italian synth maestro Gaudi, and fast chat king Daddy Freddy.

The album title refers to former British Prime Minister Theresa May’s controversial policy towards asylum seekers, and the recent Windrush scandal, all too relevant to a group of musicians of Jamaican origin who have spent their whole lives operating in the darkening shadow of a former colonial power with a staggeringly short memory for historic wrongs.

Brenda Ray, who became famous for the new roots rock reggae "Walatta" that became the best seller in the 2000s, has been active since the post-punk / New Wave era, and is based in Liverpool and Manchester, the Slits and pop groups. , New Age Steppers (who interacted with A. Sherwood), etc., played reggae / dub / punk / rock crossover cutting-edge music. She has an outstanding sense of POP, and in the mid-1980s she released her works as a solo in Virgin and other places in the UK. That "Walatta" was an album like Brenda's solo career collection "after".

This work "Duya Here Me! (Hearing !?) ”is a collection of early masterpieces before“ Walatta ”.

The recorded song is a sound source of the band era that was active under the name of Naafi Sandwich / Naffi Sandwich or Naffi, and the release at that time was exclusively DIY cassette tape and 7 inches. They weren't formed as a live band, they were a unit that left the idea to record and produce their work.
In this comp, you can listen to another world of "Walatta", which has a strong influence of Jamaican music on rhythm and method, but "I didn't want to play reggae and wanted to" Dub-up "(= dub version). I wanted to do it) ”as their sound, playing reggae crossover.
The title song "D'ya Hear Me!" Is a POP tune of D.I.Y soul explosion recorded on a 4-tiger teleco using a rhythm box. Heavy and cute reggae crossover such as "Naffi Take Away" and "Krazee Music", de deep and dark roots reggae-style instrument "Spring Thing- Hippy Dread", "Walatta" popular song "Starlight" original song ( !) "Moon beams", Young Marble Giants-style "Everyday Just Another Dream", unreleased original long version, etc. Finally, a demo of "D'Ya Hear Me!" That she "excavated" this time is recorded. Highly recommended for post-punk / Neo Acoustic fans! !!

Art by Solo Viola Tracks 3 & 6 feature Andrea Stella Mastered by Rashad Becker

We love it when family return to ZamZam and #92 welcomes back Blind Prophet & Ishan Sound in their first cross-pond collab. Begun in 2019 when Joe & Cris met in Portland for the first time, “The Labyrinth” is a phantasmagoric dream of intertwining melodic figures, buoyant mid-range synth work, bright percussion and piping flutes over a driving steppers riddim. Playful, even spritely, but belying a menacing core. Flipping the key and darkening the vibe substantially, “Minotaur Dub” strips out the lighter tones, pulsing and pushing through dark tunnels of reverb and echo, deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of refracting drums and relentless bass, the sound of pursuit, predator and prey. Fusing the spectral with the functional, the mythic with the technological, this release is for deep forest dances and subterranean sessions alike. This one is ruff… and tuff!! Strictly limited to 700 copies for the world. No digital, no repress. Art, design, & screen print by Polygon Press. Mastered by Sam at Precise, pressed at Third Man. Releasing end of July, 2023.

Deejay Jah Thomas was one of the creative figures making a dramatic impact on the Kingston sound system scene of the late 1970s and early 80s, the rhythms he laid at Channel One studio with the Roots Radics helping to steer reggae towards the emerging dancehall style. Voicing and mixing his work at King Tubby’s studio, typically with the young upstart engineer known as Scientist, Thomas was another champion in the realm of dub, his re-makes of vintage Studio One and Treasure Isle rhythms part of the process. In A Dub Explosion is a thrilling comp of tough dubs, mixed by Scientist & the King. A great listening experience!

Sly & Robbie also participated! A rocker's reggae album with a fresh mix of songs and DJ style!

This special album features original compositions by a top-notch lineup of Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yuji Ohno, Mickey Yoshino, and Hiromasa Suzuki, performed by top-notch studio musicians.

Ultra-positive consciousness from Afro-Caribbean London, circa 1979. Members of the legendary 20th Century Steel Band (one of Grand Master Flash's favourites) sailing Trinidad-wise over gratifyingly intricate African ritual rhythms. Strong vocals compliment reggae, funk, disco and soul influences to form a relentless groove machine. 

Steel an' Skin, a unit composed of young nightclub musicians born in Ghana, Nigeria, St. Kitts, Trinidad and the U.K., who once performed with Ginger Johnson's Afrikan Drummers, a highlife band under the tutelage of the late Ginger Johnson and played at Johnson's Iroko Country Club in Hampstead, London. Steel an' Skin began activities giving concerts and workshops in London schools, expanding nationwide to schools, prisons, psychiatric hospitals and summer festivals, including the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival. The group combined an admirably brave, open and unironic mix of musical forms with community outreach, non-cynical and untainted by preachiness or "social work." Good feelings from good hearts. 

This EM reissue consists of Steel an' Skin's 1979 debut 12 inch single "Reggae is Here Once Again", featuring "Afro Punk Reggae (Dub)", a fine disco-dub workout, plus some tracks from their 1984 recordings, as well as one unissued track.

Roots Reggae's one and only genius Augustus Pablo! Remastered reissue of Rough Trade's early classic 7"! Augustus Pablo, the one and only genius of Roots Reggae, who is still loved beyond genres, left his only catalog in the very early days of Rough Trade, and this long-awaited remastered reissue commemorates the 45th anniversary of its release! Originally released as the label's catalog number 2, this instrumental piece traces the nostalgic melodica of Horace Andy's classic. For this reissue, the classic sleeve from that era has been reproduced, remastered and cut by Marco Perry, known for his work with Dennis Bovell and Massive Attack, and distributed in a limited edition of 100 copies in Japan!

The early days of the man affectionately known to his peers as Tubbs' are chronicled in some detail in the notes to this LP's predecessor and companion volume, not unreasonably titled "King Tubby's Classics Chapter 1". It's unlikely that anyone who buys Volume 2 will not already have Volume 1, but for the few who don't it's only fair that we start the note with a short précis of the early life and career of the boy born to be 'King ...

Laurel Aitken, a true pioneer of Jamaican music and legendary rude boy, co-starred with Skatalites in the compilation "Original Cool Jamaican Ska" released by in 1964 (the title of the board is A re-edited work centered on Laurel Aitken's songs recorded in "After Sunset") has been released from ! Here is a wonderful combination that is the basis for being passed down from generation to generation. In particular, "Freedom Train," "Zion City Wall," "Let My People Go," and "One More River to Cross" have hints on the declaration of independence and spirituality that will influence later reggae music. be! Come and enjoy the pinnacle of pure Jamaican sound of the time, recorded intermittently at Kingston's Federal Studios in 1963!

Mala and Joe Armon-Jones unite on A Way Back; a five track collaborative project that calls back the golden age of dubstep, released on Armon-Jones’ imprint Aquarii Records.

Our sub-label 333 returns again with... 333. Originally released on his seminal Ujama label in 1988, Prince Jazzbo's 333 (aka Mango Tree) features the foundation deejay riding an absolutely killer update on the famous MPLA riddim. One of the best 45s to come out of this late 80s digital era, no doubt.

333 returns to follow a reissue of the sub-label's eponymous 45 by Prince Jazzbo, with another crucial shot from his Ujama catalogue - a much-needed reproduction of the original Replay 45, complete with vocal & version. Fully licensed from the late great foundation deejay's family. A must.

Death Is Not The End’s 333 sub-label follows the reissue of Devon Russell’s Darker Than Blue LP late last year with a first-time reissue of a veritable reggae-dancehall holy grail – Robert Ffrench’s 1985 LP ‘Wondering’. Pioneering artist and producer (and cousin of the late, great Pat Kelly) Robert Ffrench was born in central Kingston in 1962, recording his first records in 1979 at the age of 17. Coming out off the back of a slew of roots & early dancehall-style 45s cut with a wide range of producers thoughout the early ’80s, the Wondering LP followed closely after two acclaimed LP sets (‘Showcase’ produced with Lord Koos & ‘The Favourite’ for Ossie Thomas’ Black Solidarity label – plus a split showcase LP with Anthony “Gunshot” Johnson for Jah Thomas’ Midnight Rock label). Ffrench would write and produce the Wondering LP himself in it’s entirity, laying down the tracks at Herman Chin-Loy’s Aquarius & Michael Carroll’s Creative Sounds studios with the help of engineer Christopher Daley. Representing the sound of an artist first confidently sriking out on his own, the album elegantly mixes a classic rub-a-dub & lovers rock-inspired sound with nascent digi-esque flourishes. It boasts an enviable list of contributors too, incl. Sly & Robbie, Dwight Pinkney, Robbie Lyn, Nelson Miller (Burning Spear) and Ronald “Nambo” Robinson among others, with Beres Hammond also providing backing vocals in places. Following the release of Wondering, Ffrench would continue to write and produce, soon after releasing two further self-produced LPs for Edgar White’s Parish label – and founded his own ‘France’ label in the late 80s, through which his productions would start to hit big, most notably alongside Courtney Melody on ‘Modern Girl’, and with US rapper Heavy D on the track ‘More Love’. Robert’s productions released through later label ‘Ffrench’ would go on to boast the cream of the crop of dancehall artists throughout the 90s and early 2000s, and he is often credited with discovering Buju Banton (producing his first single “Ruler” on the Stamina riddim). Ffrench is still actively producing music of his own to this day, having released singles ‘Everyday of My Life’ and ‘Black Is a Colour’ in late 2022 and Feb 2023 respectively, available through all digital platforms now. 333, under exclusive license from Robert Ffrench.

Featuring amazing covers of tracks by artists such as Leon Ware, Mtume, Archie Bell, The Gap Band, Lowrell, Prince, Starvue, Bobby Caldwell & The Isley Brothers, there is not a filler in site, essentials all the way.

The project has taken almost 2 years with the help of many musicians, singers and producers from the scene. A special shout out goes to Peter 'Honeyvoice' Hunnigale for going the extra mile and doing many introductions.