Reggae / Dub

1993 album, their last On-U produced LP for 12 years. African Head Charge blend dub, trance, electronica and world music throughout with Bonjo I at the helm and typically skilful production from Adrian Sherwood.

Originally released in 2011 to celebrate the 30th year of On-U Sound. The album is essentially the continuation of a process that has seen both band and label expanding and transforming the landscape of contemporary reggae into new and exciting shapes. All the elements of a classic African Head Charge album are present; a triumphant mix of dub, psychedelia, trance, afro and tribal rhythms that have given them their own unique place in contemporary music.

Unreleased tracks and version excursions 1981 – 1986.

Inspired by Eno’s “vision of a psychedelic Africa”, English dub producer Adrian Sherwood and master Jamaican percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah collaborated on a series of studio experiments under the African Head Charge moniker, resulting in groundbreaking albums such as Environmental Studies and Off The Beaten Track. The otherworldly sounds they conjure up have touchstones in Count Ossie’s mystic revelations, Can’s ethnological forgery series and the post-punk underground, but ultimately inhabit a genre of their own creation.

These radically different versions of early AHC classics and been lovingly restored and sequenced from the original master tapes by On-U archivist Patrick Dokter. This compilation first released in 2016.

A virtual wizard of the mixing desk, Overton H Brown has been one of the key figures in dub since the late 1970s. Getting his start as a teenager at King Tubby's legendary studio in Waterhouse, Brown was known as 'The Scientist' because his imaginative approach to the mixing desk and electronic gadgetry seemed to derive from magical powers that linked him to some intangible, futuristic realm.

Johnny Clarke ruled the dancehall in the mid '70s, using the clever "Flyers Rhythms" that gave some of his tunes an edge with the sound systems. But his voice was always bigger than this and his versatility to sing a wide range of vocal styles has seen him cut through the decades as one of reggae's best voices. Produced by Bunny Lee, mixed at King Tubby's studio, an absolute reggae/roots classic.

An early 1982 masterpiece by Scientist, a dub alchemist also known as King Tubby's right arm. The jacket and title are amazing, but the content is heavy, crazy and humorous dub processing.

Originally issued in 1973, Blackboard Jungle Dub is considered a milestone in the history of dub. Tracks include "African Skank" -- based on Junior Byles' "A Place Called Africa" -- and "Dreamland Skank", "Moving Skank" and "Kaya Skank" which are dub versions of Wailers" "Dreamland", "Keep On Moving" and "Kaya".

70年代中頃のBlack Ark 時代の音源を集めた、サイケデリックなダブ満載のアルバム。

Reissue of Ital Dub, originally released in 1975. This is Augustus Pablo's first collaboration with King Tubby.

reissue of the 1976 historic collaboration between producer instrumentalist Augustus Pablo and dub engineer King Tubby.

The world premiere of a two-disc set of the ultimate rarities in dub history from a renowned label known for its archival reissues of rare and high quality reggae and dub material. The combination of Jamaica's most talented producer, Bunny Lee, Prince Jammy's mix and The Aggrovators' performance is the ultimate combination of Johnny Clarke, Tommy McCook, Hortense Ellis and Derrick Morgan. Conflict Dub" (1977) was released in very small quantities on the white label at the time and is rarely seen on the used market. And now, for the first time, we're reissuing this fantastic album (recorded around the same time as the previously reissued "Dubbing in the Backyard") under the name "Dubbing in the Front Yard". (recorded at the same time as the previously reissued "Dubbing in the Backyard"). This interesting release couples the early days and maturity of the creative and strong partnership between Bunny Lee and Prince Jammy, who produced many classic albums at King Tubby's, the heaviest mixing studio in Jamaica at the time. The newly prepared cover features a rare photo taken by Howard Johnson, director of the Channel 4 documentary "Deep Roots Music", in the same week as the 1982 recording.

Limited edition transparent blue vinyl in 3mm colour printed sleeve with printed inner , full sleevenotes, fold-out 24” x 12” Pay It All Back concert poster and download card.

'As always, the Pay It All Back series is intended to promote our upcoming releases and productions. It also offers soundtracks from artists we would like to promote, including unreleased songs and versions that will only be included on this one. Sadly, we lost many greats in the music world last year, including Lee Scratch Perry, George Oban, and John Sharp. Lee laughed at death. For him, death was just a part of life, a new beginning... I have faith in Lee. I am very proud to release this album. This album is a gift to all the On-U Sound crew and to all the irreplaceable friends I will never see again. Adrian Sherwood

Japanese Balearic Masterpiece ('93) is re-pressed on Clear Blue Vinyl! HIROSHI II HIROSHI" is a unit of Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hiroshi Kawanabe (Tokyo No.1 SOUL SET). This is their chill-out~Balearic classic (EP), which was distributed as a picture disc with a vinyl jacket at the time, and is now a popular and expensive item on the second-hand market. The EP features "H2O," the first track that takes you to a fictional resort with its gentle guitar strumming, and "Beauty & Beast + Bagle (Dub)," an exquisite summer resort dubwise track with melting sounds and the melancholy of the sun in the west. The album also includes six evergreen songs that pioneered the Café Del Mar craze that later spread throughout Japan. The artwork is a faithful reproduction of the CD-era design by Hiroshi Nagai.

Austudy Records is proud to present it’s debut release Burning It Up: Australian Reggae (1979-1986). A compilation surveying the influence of Reggae on Australia’s preoccupation with Rock, Pop and New Wave between the years of 1979-1986. This selection of 8 obscure tracks originally issued on 7” records represent some of the earliest examples of Reggae sounds in Australian recorded music. Across 8 tracks Burning It Up encounters a psychedelic Dub-Soul stepper in Janie Conway’s Temptation, similarly The Lifesavers provide the compilation’s name-sake in their own spaced-out, improv-riddim. In Sydney Delaney/Venn join forces with Marcia Hines to deliver a glammed-out anthem while down the road a few ex-pats known as The Nights In Shining dance to an anthem of their own at a disco on the beach. The mysterious Wide Boy Youth preaches over Roots-Rock from some plastic-tropics whilst up north the irrepressible Time Lords Inc. fight the good fight in a loose funk-rock protest. Faded, late-night echoes of Ska wane with the The Agents and one of, if not the earliest examples of an Australian dub reverberates gloriously in Jo Jo Zep's hands-on approach to his Oz-Rock-classic.

Rare dubs, version excursions and unreleased tracks from the vault 1980 - 1983.

In the tradition of archival On-U Sound compilations of recent years such as the Return Of The Crocodile and Churchical Chant Of The Iyabinghi sets for African Head Charge; and the Displaced Masters LP of early Dub Synidcate rarities, we’ve gone through the tape vaults to put together this special record of unreleased versions and rarities from the white hot early days of the New Age Steppers, the group that launched the On-U Sound label by appearing on both the first single and album.

Highlights include a restored track from their infamous and long-lost 1983 John Peel session (an ebullient cover of Atlantic Starr’s “Send For Me” featuring a beautifully spirited vocal performance from the much-missed Ari Up), the Jah Woosh deejay cut of “Love Forever”, some rare dubs previously only available on Japanese import CDs, all bookended by two very different takes on Chaka Khan’s “Some Love”. An essential set for collectors of post-punk, dub and other outernational sounds.

Produced by Lee Perry, this release is in essence the Soul Rebels album first issued in 1970, omitting the instrumental track My Sympathy but adding two singles Mr. Brown and Duppy Conqueror.

Reissue on vinyl for this classic album originally released in 1982 on Daddy Kool Rec. Jah Thomas was an important figure on the Jamaican music scene during both the roots era of the '70s and the subsequent dancehall decade of the '80s. Besides releasing several DJ sides of his own in the latter half of the '70s, Thomas also came into his own as one of the island's top producers for both singers and DJs. Many of these sides found their way to the dub studios of King Tubby, who transformed a wealth of Thomas' rhythms into a some of the best dub tracks to emerge from Jamaica.

In 1981, Brenda Ray / Naffi Sandwich released the sweetly yearning “D’Ya Hear Me!”. The song is now considered a post-punk classic, and here we have a warm digi-reggae version sung by Kyoto composer/producer/vocalist NTsKI (“Natsuki”), with backing tracks performed, recorded and mixed by Osaka-based producer/guitarist 7FO (“nana f o”). Also on this release are a karaoke version, plus two remixes, the first a dancehall-flavoured version by Bim One Production, a Tokyo electro-reggae production duo. The second mix is from Nagoya-based electronic producer CVN, who provides a harder version. This revisioning of a much-loved classic is available on CD, 10-inch vinyl and digital.

Mastering: Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes)
Special thanks: Brenda Ray, Hiroshi Takakura (Riddim Chango)

CD version: Gatefold cardboard case

TRACKS:
01. D’Ya Hear Me!
02. D’Ya Hear Me! (Karaoke)
03. D’Ya Hear Me! (Bim One Production Remix)
04. D’Ya Hear Me! (CVN Remix)

In 1981, Brenda Ray / Naffi Sandwich released the sweetly yearning “D’Ya Hear Me!”. The song is now considered a post-punk classic, and here we have a warm digi-reggae version sung by Kyoto composer/producer/vocalist NTsKI (“Natsuki”), with backing tracks performed, recorded and mixed by Osaka-based producer/guitarist 7FO (“nana f o”). Also on this release are a karaoke version, plus two remixes, the first a dancehall-flavoured version by Bim One Production, a Tokyo electro-reggae production duo. The second mix is from Nagoya-based electronic producer CVN, who provides a harder version. This revisioning of a much-loved classic is available on CD, 10-inch vinyl and digital.

Mastering: Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes)
Special thanks: Brenda Ray, Hiroshi Takakura (Riddim Chango)

CD version: Gatefold cardboard case

TRACKS:
01. D’Ya Hear Me!
02. D’Ya Hear Me! (Karaoke)
03. D’Ya Hear Me! (Bim One Production Remix)
04. D’Ya Hear Me! (CVN Remix)

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! !!

In the early 1980s, one London recording studio became the favoured hang out for visiting Jamaican producers and British reggae musicians alike. Easy Street Studios in Bethnal Green had humble beginnings, but was soon pouring out an impressive run of hit tunes by artists like Sugar Minott, Winston Reedy, Alton Ellis and Barrington Levy. Phil Pratt: “Well, Easy Street was a bit like a party place them times. There was a backroom where everybody can go round there and do what them want do, you understand me, it was nice man. Cos in those days everybody get tipsy and drink, cos it was like fun those times, and we get together and come up with some good things. Everybody who come from Jamaica would work at the studio cos it had the best sound, the bottom was superb, so 95% of the reggae tune made up here was made at Easy Street. It was a good sound and me met some good fellow out of it too.” Founded by Eddy ‘Eddyman’ Williams, the studio soon recruited a team of local East Enders, like Dean ‘Joe 90’ Richards, Mike Stephenson, Jeff Chandler and Stuart Breed, who became known as the Easy Street Crew. Stuart Breed: “I first met Eddyman when I was 16 in 1977, when he was in a band (The Foster Brothers) that was signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records, and they had one hit in the UK. Eddy took the money he got from the record deal and started a rehearsal room. The guy who’d signed them, Roger Bain, became head of A&R at Phonogram Records, and he used to send different bands down to Easy Street to do demos. Roger gave Eddy an advance to buy some recording equipment, so you had an environment that was like a rehearsal room plus a recording studio as well. And one of the bands sent down to record a demo at Easy Street was Black Slate, and Eddy was nuts about reggae at the time, so the band said we’ll bring some friends down. And then within a matter of months we were doing almost exclusively reggae acts.” Phil Pratt: “Everybody get along, black and white, and I remember Joe 90 used to joke say him have a black head too, but really him have a blackhead pimple on his arse! So we all live good together and every man get along, English and Jamaican.” Stuart Breed: “I was just a kid then, a hippy, 147 pounds with long blond hair. In the beginning it was strange having all these guys coming in from Jamaica, and it could be a bit overbearing for a kid of my age, but those guys were great and a lot of fun. The spliff smoking sometimes brought me to a complete standstill, cos really I preferred a beer, but I would have to say I spent most of my life at Easy Street on a contact high! I used to work with Errol Dunkley, Alton Ellis and Lloyd Coxsone a lot. Sugar Minott worked mostly with Eddy.” Phil Pratt had an illustrious career in Jamaica stretching back to the rocksteady years of the 60s, scoring huge hits such as ‘My Heart Is Gone’ and ‘Artibella’, but by the 80s was increasingly finishing his productions in London. Easy Street was a low budget studio with professional but fairly limited equipment – a Soundcraft TS24 mixing desk, a Roland RE301 Chorus Echo, an AKG BX5 reverb, and an MXR flanger/doubler – and a speedy way of working which suited the incoming rush of reggae producers. Stuart Breed: “We used to work really quickly in those days, because of budgets. People would walk in, say hello, spark up a spliff and hit the record button. We had everything always set up, like mics on the drum kit and guitar amps, so people could just start recording immediately. Sometimes people would come in and record an album in one session, lay some tracks, do some vocal overdubs, very minimal stuff, bang out the mix and done, all in six hours.” Phil Pratt: “I worked with Stuart a lot, and most of the things me do at Easy Street was with him. He was a great guy, and very helpful and creative. And Joe 90 also help a lot, ca him play guitar and piano good, so it was really like a team. I almost felt like one of Stuart’s students engineering-wise, cos while I showed him what I want the sound to be like, he was teaching me some things around the board. So me just watch and make him work, cos him very technical with sound and him know exactly where to put that and put this. He just a great, great engineer – trust me, I miss him now.” Hearing such praise, it’s no surprise that he asked Stuart Breed to mix ‘The War Is On Dub Style’, an album that typifies Phil’s working methods in those days, with the backing tracks recorded at Joe Gibbs’ Studio in Jamaica, and overdubs and mixing done in London. Phil Pratt: “‘The War Is On’ was the dubs to songs by Ronnie Davis, like ‘Black Cinderella’ and ‘Strange Things’, which were voiced in Jamaica. And the parts by Bobby Kalphat were all recorded in Jamaica. Bobby Kalphat just a great musician, my favourite keyboardist, so when we finish record the rhythm we go back and record solos and phrases, and make an instrumental on melodica. To be honest with you he was better than Augustus Pablo by far, but we have to give Pablo some credit cos he did start the melodica thing. Next I come to England with the multitrack tapes, the big 16 into 24 track tapes, and trust me, them tapes was real heavy to carry back! Then at Easy Street we voiced some Blackstones tracks and ‘Hear We Them A Say’ by Owen Grey. At Easy Street we paid by the hour, but when we mix this dub LP we go over it about three times. Cos me never like the first sound that we have, it was all right but it wasn’t sellable. So we did go over it again and again til we get what me want.” Stuart Breed: “We used to get a lot of multitrack tapes coming in from Jamaica, from Channel One and Tuff Gong studios especially. The Jamaican engineering was very different from what was popular with chart records in the UK at that time, but it had its own unique sound which I appreciated. I wasn’t really listening to King Tubby, I was mostly listening to Roxy Music and Japan and bands like that, so I tried to emulate that in my mixes, but a lot of the reggae artists would say no, and stop you from going too far in that direction. So I had to adjust to give them what they wanted.” Phil Pratt: “Yes, he’s telling the truth, Stuart was a rock man not a reggae man. So yes, I had to teach him the tone of the sound we want, and him make it marvellous. Some people would leave off from the record sleeve if it mixed in England, but that never occurred to me because I could get the sound from Jamaica which nobody else could a get. And the secret was all in the voltage: Jamaica was 110 volts and England was 220 volts, so Jamaica lower in the voltage, and people don’t know it but the voltage was part of the sound. So when I was in England me have a step down transformer that me work with, me have everything and me bring it to Easy Street and we switch the tape machine to 110 volts and then we get the sound. People didn’t believe it could a work cos it sound stupid, but it work and we get the Jamaican sound. We used to sell ten or twelve thousand of these dub albums easy.” By the mid 80s Easy Street was scoring further successes with homegrown lovers’ rock and deejay tunes, and to support their breakthrough acts the Easy Street Crew started to go out on the road and into concert venues and dancehalls. Stuart Breed: “Once we started doing the reggae stuff, Eddy invested in a decent sized PA system. And we went out doing gigs with the reggae bands, and also sound system clashes, so we’d be in these dancehalls and we’d be the Easy Street Sound playing against these other sound systems. So I learnt about live sound doing those reggae gigs, and then a few years later I found myself doing sound at the Albert Hall with Art Garfunkel – which was quite different from playing a dance in Brixton!” By the late 80s Phil Pratt was starting to ease up a bit on record production, concentrating more on running his restaurant business in London. And Stuart Breed had moved from Easy Street to George Martin’s Air Studios in Oxford Street, where he worked on various dance remixes before launching successfully into the mainstream, engineering for the likes of Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Demis Roussos. Stuart now lives in Savannah, Georgia, and has been Art Garfunkel’s main vocal engineer for the last 29 years. Stuart Breed: “Mixing dub definitely set me up for doing remixes later on. We did a lot of experimental stuff, and the dub mixes I’d done at Easy Street set me in very good stead later when I was doing 12” dance remixes at Air, cos I wasn’t scared to try things. And with all that toasting stuff, we were really doing rap records before rap was even around. Easy Street was really a ground- breaking studio, a very prolific place, and a lot of people cut their teeth down there and went on to do some great things. For a little studio that started out with nothing, it managed to get some amazing results.” Diggory Kenrick

Finally, the classic "Dub Prophecy" album that has been talked about for over 40 years!
A masterpiece of delicate and clever dub by Pat Kelly!

The masterpiece of dub "King Tubby's Prophecies Of Dub" (1976) has finally been reissued from the prestigious Pressure Sounds, which is known for archival reissues of precious and high-quality reggae/dub recordings! This album is produced by Yabby You and Bunny Lee, and recorded by Pat Kelly, a student of King Tubby, at King Tubby's studio. This is a valuable piece of dub recording.

Pat Kelly was a singer in the 1960's, and later a dub mixer and recording engineer who King Tubby trusted very much. This album includes a dub of Linval Thompson's "Long Long Dreadlocks," a dub of Jonny Clark's cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Ten To One," and dubs of Horace Andy and Delroy Wilson.

A1. RAIN DUB (feat. KAZUFUMI KODAMA)
A2. NON STOPPA DUB (feat.MISS RED)

B1. DIVISION OF THE WORLD DUB (feat. ADDIS PABLO)
B2. SHINE DUB (feat. HOLLIE COOK)

Additional Production and Remixed by MAD PROFESSOR@ARIWA SOUNDS STUDIO, LONDON

The ‘3000 Volts of Holt’ album was the third in a series of records that launched John Holt into the UK charts in the 1970’s. To say that every home had a copy of a 1000 Volts and many 2000 Volts of Holt might be an overstatement but it certainly felt that way, as all good radio stations and parties seemed to have these tracks on permanent rotation.’3000 Volts of Holt’ was the more roots sounding of the three albums but still carried that sweetened string sound that set these recordings together.