Great feature on the label:

http://thewordmagazine.com/music/the-sound-of-bristol-vs-belgium/

30^th Anniversary Re-release

RECORD STORE DAY SPECIAL with Unique Hand Made Screen Printed Sleeve (original sleeve included)

Strictly Limited to 100 copies and Limited to 3 copies per person

Released 20th April 2013.

With the release of the latest Black Roots album “On The Ground” and its dub counterpart “On The Ground In Dub” via our sister label Sugar Shack Records, Bristol Archive Records decided to do something special to celebrate the band’s return to the studio. What could be better than a very special reissue of Black Roots self-titled first album, released to coincide with its 30^th anniversary and, as this will be a vinyl only release we thought we’d combine it with this year’s Record Store Day event.

“Black Roots” was originally released in 1983, by which time the band was established as one of the UK’s leading live acts with a strong repertoire of socially aware songs reflecting the issues of the day. When it came to their first album, they chose eight of their strongest tracks and assembled what was to become one of the classic British reggae albums of the decade.

Featuring the tracks; “The Father”, “Survival”, “Juvenile Delinquent”, “What Them ‘A Do”, “Opportunity”, “Tribal War”, “Africa” and “Move On”, the album covers themes of social alienation, deprivation, repatriation, Rastafari, violence within the black community and ends, with the tale of a failing relationship. Three decades later, many of the songs are just as relevant and provide the perfect complement to their latest recordings.

This new release will be strictly limited to 500 copies worldwide. 400 copies will be available for Record Store Day, 20th April 2013, at participating retailers and feature a facsimile of the original sleeve, whilst 100 copies will be available directly from Bristol Archive Records and very select retailers and feature a unique handmade screen printed sleeve as well as being individually numbered, a very special edition.

This is the first time this album has been available on vinyl for twenty five years and there is every likelihood that demand will outstrip supply so be sure to grab your copy.

www.bristolarchiverecords.com / www.nubianrecords.co.uk

ARTIST: Black Roots

TITLE: Black Roots

RELEASE DATE: 20th April 2013 – RECORD STORE DAY

LABEL: Bristol Archive Records

DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock

FORMAT:  Limited Edition Vinyl and Digital Download

CAT NO: ARC265V

BARCODE: 5052571041611

Tracks:

1.The Father

2.Survival

3.Juvenile Delinquent

4.What Them A Do

5.Opportunity

6.Tribal War

7.Africa

8.Move On

http://youtu.be/Vk0EvNIMw7Y

http://bristolarchiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/black-roots

A message from Claytown Troupe: Dear Folks

Do feel free to help spread some word on our forthcoming board-tread at the Camden Rocks festival June 1st, most appreciated, but would love to see you there too.
Christian

Our strong advice would be – BE THERE!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Claytown-Troupe/35746454786?sk=events

‘THE BRISTOL REGGAE EXPLOSION

LIVE’ – VARIOUS ARTISTS

17 Track CD / 11 Track DVD & Digital Download. Released 3^rdJune 2013.

For the past three years, Bristol Archive Records have shone the spotlight on the City’s musical legacy, particularly reggae. Last year we decided we’d turn the spotlight on the artists themselves and so in August, a who’s who of Bristol reggae artists gathered together for The Bristol Reggae Explosion Live. It was a unique chance to enjoy more than ten of the city’s finest veterans sharing the same stage, in some cases for the first time in two decades.

The show was a huge success with the whole crowd and all the artists going home with large grins on their faces, having enjoyed one of the best shows and some of the nicest vibes in years. By chance, young film makers from 8th Sense Media and the “Dubplate To Dubstep” Ujima Radio film project were in attendance to document the evening and although we hadn’t planned a commercial release, the show was such a great success we decided that perhaps we should share the footage.

With many of the artists coming from St. Paul’s and with most of them having been involved in past carnivals, it seemed obvious to turn this celebration of Bristol and St. Paul’s musical legacy performed by the elders and filmed by the youths into something that could benefit the community and the next generation of performers.

Knowing of the yearly struggle to raise funds for St. Paul’s Carnival, Bristol Archive Records will be releasing “The Bristol Reggae Explosion Live 2012” as a CD/DVD package on 3^rd June 2013 with profits donated to The St. Paul’s Carnival.

Although technical issues mean that not every artist is represented, the DVD contains eleven performances from Lord John Hutchinson, Bunny Marrett, Dennis McCalla aka Dallas, Popsy Curious, Glen Crookes, Dan Ratchet, Jashwha Moses and the mighty Talisman, who also provide backing for the other acts.

The accompanying CD contains 17 studio recordings from the acts involved and as well as those featured on the DVD, we get to enjoy the talents of Winston Minott, Veronica Morrison aka Veereal, Vibes and Cool Runnings with several tracks previously unreleased.

A special mention must go to Michael Jenkins and Steve Street whose hard work on the video and soundtrack respectively, made this release possible and of course the young film makers who captured the evening.

Whether you were fortunate enough to be present on that August night, are a fan of the acts or the label, want to support St. Paul’s Carnival or are just curious, you are sure to enjoy this package.

St. Pauls Carnival takes place in Bristol on 6^th July 2013.

www.bristolarchiverecords.com

ARTIST: Various Artists

TITLE: The Bristol Reggae Explosion Live

RELEASE DATE: 3^rd June 2013

LABEL: Bristol Archive Records

DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock

FORMAT:  CD/DVD and Digital Download

CAT NO: ARC267CD

BARCODE: 5052571045923

http://www.whisperinandhollerin.com/reviews/review.asp?id=9965

Great news for the label

Joshua Moses – Joshua to Jashwha 30 years In The Wilderness

Bunny Marrett – I’m Free

Both albums in the Top 11 Reggae albums of the year in Record Collector

Congratulations to all the team involved

A COMPILATION OF BANDS FROM THE FORGOTTEN YEARS 1979 – 1981

FEATURING GLAXOBABIES, TALISMAN, SHOES FOR INDUSTRY, ELECTRIC GUITARS, THE VARIOUS ARTISTS and many others.

RERELEASED 18^th February 2013

DISTRIBUTION BY SHELLSHOCK

ARC001

Bristol Archive Records

Awash with 40th birthday parties, it’s been a great couple of years for viewing fat, sag and follicle loss amongst Bristols ‘we’re going to make it’ set of the 70′s and early 80′s. At the latest we were pre-warned by our hosts (including Gareth Sager -Pop Group, Rip Rig and Panic Kevin (Ebo) Evans- Colour Tapes) to anticipate the onset of the ageing process. So I squeezed into a pair of leathers, applied layers of slap and prayed for dim lighting….. and do you know it plain didn’t matter. The Tabernacle, Notting Hill was simply oozing with Bristol-weaned artistic talent. From a Make up artist on Eastenders to Dexter Dalwood – Cortinas now an internationally acclaimed artist, what these people shared was a Bristol Music past that must of made an impact long before the Bristol Sound was invented. Unfortunately together with physical deterioration, memory loss is a big set back for the over 40′s or is it simply that the 60′s catchphrase about not really having been there if you remember it, applies to all decades. In either case, try and get people to remember back then and you get lots of ‘I always stuck to the Dug Out carpet’ and not much more.

My very first experience of bands and such like was gawking at my friends brothers band Exiguus Mus containing Ben Young  (pre Cold Storage entrepreneurism) and the dabblings of Tony Moore (of Eurovision Fame!).  I really can’t remember the music but it was probably of the ‘progressive’ genre. In search of a more diverse musical education and boys that wore Ben Shermans, I joined Youth Clubs and lent against palm trees at Tiffany’s hoping for a musical awakening. No sooner positioned than some boys I knew got a gig ‘up the Youth Club. ‘It was my first local live experience and although Jeremy Valentine was the butt of my newly discovered sharp tongue (I adamantly deny having ever snogged him), I had to concede that together with Mike Fewins, Nick Shepherd, Danny Swan and Dexter Dalwood, The Cortinas were on the road to somewhere.

Now Mark Stewart, who I had considered extremely uncool as I was the only girl at his Birthday party at which his Mother produced a Birthday cake, announced his intention to ‘gig.’  The Pop Group’s first outing was at Tiffany’s and I was there, ready to ‘take the piss’. Instead I came away hooked, hooked on the music, hooked on the rock and roll dream and hooked on the endless possibilities for boys. The Pop Group rise to fame and the esteem with which they are revered today is well documented and the Birthday incident now replaced in my memory by one of Mrs Stewart standing next to Ian Dury at a Pop Group ‘event’ at Hope Centre. Jeremy Valentine, a bitten off ear, a punkette and presumably Shane McGowan (as he has been credited with the incident), for me it was the first time someone I knew appeared in the national music press.

Meanwhile other groups were emerging on the Bristol circuit and with them my realisation that going to watch a band didn’t need to be the intense experience that Maestro’s Sager and Stewart would have us believe. The Spics were my first love, not only were they graced with a plethora of good looks (I can’t look at Michaelangelo’s David to this day without remembering John Shennan), but their music was fun, I could dance to it (they did a mean version of Springsteen’s-Fire, before The Pointer Sisters) and Wendy, Sarah and Jo’s backing vocals introduced me to a previously unknown concept, that girls could do it too.  The back bar of The Lion, Cliftonwood, once I’d found it, was the place to hang. The glitterati met and talked in loud voices of big name supports and ‘pie in the sky ‘ record deals, but here too ‘yet-to-be exploited’ innovations were realised.  Bands were formed, shuffled and renamed. No one had any money, signing on was fine if you said you were a poet, all our clothes were from second hand shops and DIY record production was the toast of the day. Heartbeat, Fried Egg, Wavelength recorded The Spics, Shoes for Industry, Various Artists, Gardez Darkx, The Europeans, The Untouchables, Wild Beasts, Essential Bop and more.  Avon Calling became the first Bristol compilation album and in the absence of anyone spotting my potential as a lead vocalist, I became the first female DJ down the Dug Out Ah, the Dug Out, unique and never cloned, a club for non-clubbers, where chatting was easy and disco scorned. Where Indie could be mixed with Reggae and Glaxobabies back to back with Joe Loss (1979- I did it first!).  From then chronological order  becomes blurred. Mike ‘Spic’ knew some people moving into a house in Redland, they needed a sixth. I was that girl, although I seriously doubted my sanity on first meeting Neil and Richard (at least I combed my hair on a regular basis), but Matthew was quite cute. They’d moved in together to form a band and after much deliberation and Pils quaffing in The Kensington, became The Electric Guitars.

The house was a pigsty, the basement a rehearsal room and the kitchen a health and safety hazard. (Why Gary Clail broke in and nicked our baked beans is a mystery to this day.)  Proverbially ‘starving in their garret’ these boys produced a new genre of music and stage presence that took Bristol by storm. At some point the innovative Video Bar, down the Dug Out was Rockfords Restaurant and who better to staff it than Bristols wannabes. Amongst others Mandy Joseph (Art Objects Muse) Mandy Stewart (Scream and Dance), Mike Smith, (Joe Public, Circus Circus) and Ian Mullard (Circus Circus) cooked and waited between gigs. Yours truly not content with the decks downstairs, and the griddle upstairs promoted bands on Wednesday nights, Pete Brandt’s -Slow Twitch Fibres amongst them. We cooked and partied, Green Rooms, The Stonehouse and later Carwardines. Out of towners came proving we were with the groove Echo And The Bunnymen, Paul Young’s Q Tips, U2 at Redland Teacher Training College. Sometime along the way I DJ’d at Trinity Hall, supporting the likes of The Cramps and The Thompson Twins.

Wavelength metamorphisised into The Bristol Recorder, brainchild of Martin Elbourne, Jonathan Arthur and Thos Brooman (sometime drummer, once WOMAD overlord). Where other Independents had failed trying to promote more than one up-and-coming band at a time, a clever gimmick (then) of incorporating an ad filled magazine between the covers, aimed to fund this compilation album of local bands. The high quality music became staple diet at my Monday night Dug Out slot, returning the compliment, Recorder 2 mentioned the Dug Out to be ‘excellent with Jill at the controls.’(Spelling forgiven). By the time Recorder 3 appeared, the eighties had begun to take hold and with it a crisis of confidence in the local scene. Major record companies ate ‘indies’ for breakfast, the recorder used The Thompson Twins to boost sales and potential Bristol Sounds were swallowed by way of Tax loss. Pigbag made Top of the Pops, but that didn’t have the knock on effect that Massive Attack has had today. I moved to London and partied with Shane McGowan, The Higsons and tried to set up an Independent record company with Speedy Keen (Thunderclap Newman), our showcase act Cold Fish dumping us for the first Major that made them an offer, never to be heard of again..(Pete Howard re-emerged with Nick Shepherd in The Clash, who incidentally have  a lot to thank me for, I was obviously the catalyst!) Returning to Bristol with big city ideas.  I promoted new bands (Brilliant Corners) at the new function bar Upstairs (above the Dug Out), tried the ‘Club one nighter, ‘The Dug Down Too Far’ ahead of my time, band management (Tootin’ Crocodiles) and gradually gave up DJ’ing. No way was I getting into that scratching business and ruining my vinyl. (Anyway some geezers calling themselves The Wild Bunch seemed to have that all sewn up).When the lights went on that night at The Tabernacle, the 80’s survivors were revealed and in the corner was a forty year old woman beating herself over the head for giving up DJ’ing at a giddy peak of eight quid a night. (Press release by Gill Loats currently writing the words for a Book on ‘Punk to Funk Bristol Boys Make More Noise’)

Track listing:

Glaxobabies                        This Is Your Life

Gardez Darkx                      Bliss

The Spics                             You & Me

The Numbers                      Alternative Suicide

Electric Guitars                   Continental Shelf

Apartment                            The Car

Shoes For Industry            Invasion Of The French Boyfriends

Essential Bop                      Raiders Blues

Fishfood                               The Modern Dance Craze

Art Objects                           Hard Objects

The X-Certs                         Queen and Country

The Various Artists            Time Of Your Life

Talisman                               Dole Age (Extended Version)

One of the best reggae bands from the 1980s, BLACK ROOTS, performed on home turf on Saturday night (10 November) with an official album launch gig in St Pauls.

The Malcolm X Centre show was the band’s chance to translate their new record On The Ground to the stage and prove their relevance in a much-changed musical landscape since their inception in 1979.

The result on the night was… success.

The reinvigorated roots reggae group recently dropped their first studio recording for more than 20 years and fittingly played pretty much every track off the new album interspersed with occasional older material.

Classic tracks on the night such as “The Father” and “Tribal War” fitted in well with new material including recent double A 12” “Pompous Way” adding a continuing social commentary, and “Oh Mama Africa” – an upbeat song celebrating Africa. Here it is live:

With 11 musicians on stage, including six members of the original line-up (Carlton Smith, Errol Brown, Kondwani Ngozi, Jabulani Ngozi, Cordell Francis and Charlie), the sound was not muddied or overcomplicated but rather added depth and layers of instrumentation to recreate the sound of the new record.

The newer members of the band, including a skilled horn section and a suitably tight rhythm section, also showcased their skills and place among the original musicians in the group.

Here’s the Bristol band performing new track “Landscape” from On The Ground:

Here’s “Militancy”, which could have easily come from the group’s first incarnation:

Overall BLACK ROOTS were back in their classic roots groove and seemed to keep existing fans happy while appealing to a new younger generation.

The new record On The Ground (out on Sugar Shack Records) is available on LP, CD and digital download from the usual outlets including Amazon, iTunes and the Bristol Archive Records online shop.

Nubian Records has also put together the following “reggaementry”, filmed during the recording of On The Ground, and including exclusive interviews with BLACK ROOTS original members.