Various - Roots, Rock, Reggae

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 9 / 8 / 2020

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When I was a kid in the late Seventies I used to listen to, among other things, a lot of black music because of my dad and his own love for that genre. He had music from the great Motown label and other assortments, but the genre he really loved and which he had very little of was reggae. So, on a Tuesday night after it was bedtime for us kids in our house, I stole myself away with a torch and spent the rest of the night – well, until one or two o’clock at least – hid under the bedclothes in my bedroom with my earphones plugged into my Amstrad, and I would listen to all the wonderfully smooth reggae music that they used to play on Radio Trent at that time. I would spend hour after hour listening. One of the styles of music I have been searching for all my life and, I have been searching, is that exact music. Then all of a sudden pretty much all that music from that era in my life appears on one double CD globally re-released by the lovely folk at Cherry Red. There are tracks from labels such as the mighty Doctor Bird, Cactus, Weed Beat and Big Phil. Originally released by Creole Records in 1978, 'Roots, Rock Reggae' primarily served as a showcase vehicle for the most recent productions of Phil Mathias and his Big Phil label. Comprising of fourteen tracks of the highest quality, the album featured some of Jamaica’s leading talents, notably the In Crowd, Cornel Campbell, Sugar Minott, Delroy Wilson and Leroy Smart. The album was released in a number of countries around the globe, and it proved a bestseller, but, despite its popularity and rich musical content, it subsequently remained unavailable until the early 1990s when it was re-issued in Germany in limited numbers. This superb collection of high quality roots reggae is now being made available once more, with its original track-listing augmented by the best of Mathias’s remaining productions from the period. Thirteen of the tracks on it were previously unavailable on any CD and it also includes six previously unreleased tracks. If you know your reggae, or even for that matter if you don’t, this is a fantastic addition to your black music repertoire. Artists keep flooding at you like The In Crowd –'Riding High', the immense Bim Sherman – 'Golden Locks', the Mindbenders - 'Black Beauty' - and on and on. Check out the 12” mix of the Studs' 'Too Sweet to Let to Go' on CD 2, as this is just beyond music itself. I am back to being under the bedsheets with my torch and hairs rising on the back of my neck by the second. It is a colourful affair with artwork front and back but it is the booklet that makes the package. It is crammed as full as a dish of chicken jerk with all sorts of information, and comes complete with the story of Phil Mathias’ journey from Portland, Jamaica to North London and back again and his glorious Big Phil label. Portraits of artists pictures of key record sleeves adorn each page and are a wonderful addition. One of the best compilations of that era of black reggae music you will find. Bloody marvellous!

Track Listing:-

1 RIDING HIGH
2 MY COUNTRY
3 BLACK BEAUTY
4 JAM UP, JAM DOWN
5 LOVE AND HARMONY
6 CONSIDER YOURSELF
7 A LONELY WALK
8 IN THE RESIDENCE
9 BABY MY LOVE
10 LOVE OF A WOMAN
11 ONCE UPON A TIME
12 MISERABLE WOMAN
13 THINK ABOUT TOMORROW
14 NEVER GET WEARY
15 WHY DON’T YOU COME ON
16 BLOOD A GO RUN
17 SHADOW AFTER DARK
18 WISE MAN
19 SO MANY TIMES
20 LIGHTNING AND THUNDER
21 GOLDEN LOCKS
22 RUNNING (12” MIX)
23 RED GOLD & GREEN (12” MIX)
24 TOO SWEET TO LET GO (12” MIX)
25 PRESS ALONG (12” MIX)
26 NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR
27 WHEN YOU’RE SMILING (12” MIX)
28 HELP US JAH (12” MIX)
29 ROAD TRAFFIC LAW (12” MIX)
30 NATTY DREAD A WEH SHE WANT (12” MIX)
31 TRIBULATION (12” MIX)
32 KALLIE
33 ISLAND MUSIC

Label Links:-

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/CherryRedRecords
https://twitter.com/cherryredgroup
https://www.youtube.com/CherryRedRecords

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