Taken from: http://www.uberrock.co.uk/features/78-march-features/4134-forget-banksy-brooksy-gets-ready-to-paint-bristol-red-and-gold-green-and-black.html

It is with regret that The Cortinas have had to cancel their proposed tour dates this summer.

Due to circumstances beyond their control the band have made the disappointing decision.

They hope to revisit the idea at some stage in the future, until then the reunion is off.

Mike Darby

www.bristolarchiverecords.com

Various: The Bristol Reggae Explosion 3 (Bristol Archive)

The third of this series of compilations of 80s reggae from Bristol, and it does seem that the keepers of the Bristol reggae archive are saving the best for last. If part one was an introduction of sorts to the now only dimly recalled bands and vocalists that were keeping Stokes Croft skanking three decades ago, and part two a reminder of some of the more musically developed tracks that were emerging from the scene then, part 3 delves into some quality songwriting and some of the really quite astounding reggae/jazz crossover that fully deserve a wider hearing today. Second track, Bunny Marrett’s ‘I’m Free’ is a verging upon actual genius example of this. The tune is carried by a double bass and piano, with some bongos to add percussion and moving away from the more recognised approach to reggae musicianship gives the track a remarkable air of originality, adding depth to Marrett’s vocal as it does so – something like Burning Spear fronting Count Ossie’s band, awash with spiritual depth and with its jazz groove providing a dash of invention.

Talisman’s ‘Taking The Strain’ is a slightly ahead of its time (1983) roots tune of the kind that Aswad would take into the charts later in the decade, and its infectious keyboard riff could very well have found a larger audience at the time. Ron Green is credited with dubby instrumental ‘Then Came You’ whose resonating drum sounds piledrive their way across the track, and the album press release makes a request for more info about Zapp Stereo, whose ‘The Mission’ resembles PIL jamming with Pigbag’s brass section amidst a storming array of sound effects. None of the other 15 tracks are anything less than inspired and, credit where its due, Volume 3 is the album which takes the Bristol reggae archive away from just historical curiousity to a vital listen entirely in its own right.
www.bristolarchiverecords.com

JG

Taken from:

http://www.tastyfanzine.org.uk/albums120mar12.htm#VariousTheBristolReggaeExplosion3

Joshua Moses                                              4/5

Talisman                                                       4/5

Bristol Reggae Explosion 3                       4/5

The Joshua review is killa:

‘This is one of the must – have reissue albums of the year’ 4/5   RecordCollector

BUNNY MARRETT- ‘I’M FREE’

Released 18^th June 2012 as Vinyl LP (Limited Edition), CD & Digital Download,

through Bristol Archive Records / Shellshock and all digital platforms.

          An influential figure on the Bristol reggae scene since the 1970s, Bunny Marrett has been shamefully neglected on record with just two tracks on the A side of a 1981 Shoc Wave 12” his sole output, although his compositions have fared somewhat better having been recorded and released by both Black Roots and Delroy Ogilvie.

     Bristol Archive Record’s June 18^th release of Bunny’s 1986 recorded album “I’m Free,” should go some way to making up for that oversight. As a bonus, Bunny is accompanied by legendary Bristol band The Startled Insects and equally legendary local jazz drummer Tony Orrell.

     Bunny may be a reggae artist, but he is also a jazz lover and with first rate jazz accompaniment, the music they produced is a totally natural fusion of reggae and jazz that more than twenty five years after it was recorded still sounds totally fresh.  It’s naturalness, it’s simplicity and it’s beauty make this music timeless and with an appeal far beyond the traditional reggae market. This is joyful music created by musicians who were obviously having fun and that shines through. There is no artifice in this meeting of Jamaica’s and the United States’ greatest musical gifts, it just works as a perfect blend of styles.

     Bunny has been singing since his childhood in Montego Bay and after relocating to Kingston was soon entering talent competitions. Moving to England whilst still in his teens, Bunny continued to sing as well as becoming involved with sound systems. He also embraced the local jazz scene as well as the diverse music of the West Indies including learning to play Piano with Laurel Aitken. Although his profile outside of Bristol may not have been high, by the time he recorded “I’m Free” he was an experienced writer and performer.

      When they collaborated with Bunny the, Startled Insects had already made an impact with their first two records on Antenna and were about to be signed by Island. One of the Startled Insects, Richard Lewis, will be well known to fans of Bristol Archive Records as legendary engineer and producer UK Scientist. The remaining band members known as just the Insects, would go on to a very successful career scoring music for film and television, writing for Massive Attack and working with several leading UK acts.

       Drummer Tony Orrell is something of a legend in Bristol music circles. In fact, having played with Spirit Level, Sphere, Andy Sheppard and Adrian Utley to name just a few, he’s a hugely respected musician on the UK jazz scene and has often utilised his talents for non jazz artists.

       The vinyl LP contains the 1986 album as it was envisioned, four vocals, the uplifting title track “I’m Free”, Bunny’s tribute to Bob Marley with “Jazzy Reggae” making an excellent adaptation of the Wailers original. “Farm Diggin’” inspired by life in rural Jamaica and “Natural Princess” a pure love song, “Jazzy Reggae and “Farm Digging” are accompanied by their versions/dubs. For the CD issue we have added “Times Are Getting Harder” and “Hard Times (dub)” both tracks from Bunny’s Shoc Wave 12”.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                www.bristolarchiverecords.com

ARTIST: Bunny Marrett

TITLE: I’m Free

RELEASE DATE: 18th June 2012

LABEL: Bristol Archive Records

DISTRIBUTION: Shellshock

FORMAT: Format:   Vinyl LP (Limited Edition), CD and Digital Download

CAT NO: ARC253V and ARC253CD

BARCODE: 5052571027318 / 5052571027325

DOWNLOAD LINK (For review purposes only): 

WEBSITE: www.bristolarchiverecords.com

CONTACT: Mike Darby, E: [email protected]  T: 07885 498 402

Tracks:

Vinyl

Side 1:

!. “I’m Free”

2. “Natural Princess”

3. “Farm Diggin’”

Side 2:

1. “Farm Dubbin’”

2. “Jazzy Reggae”

3. “Jazzy Reggae Dub”

CD

1. “I’m Free”

2. “Natural Princess”

3. “Farm Diggin’”

4. “Farm Dubbin’”

5. “Jazzy Reggae”

6. “Jazzy reggae Dub”

7. “Times Are Getting Harder”

8. “Hard Times Dub”

JOSHUA (JASHWHA) MOSES AND THE RAS BAND

PLUS SPECIAL GUEST AND PAPA ROOTS SOUND SYSTEM

FRIDAY JUNE 29^TH THE FLEECE, BRISTOL, UK

In the early 1980s, Joshua Moses was one of Bristol’s most popular live performers. He took his brand of Roots Reggae on tour across the UK and Europe but like many others, changes in taste and the loss of venues saw Joshua virtually retire from live shows.

      Now with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album “Joshua to Jashwha – 30 Years In the Wilderness” released via Bristol Archive Records, Joshua makes his long overdue return with a gig at the Fleece. With support from The Ras Band and a catalogue of great songs, many of which he’ll be performing live for the first time, Joshua will be reminding fans old and new just why his music was so popular first time around.

      Along with Joshua there will be a surprise special guest and support from Papa Roots Sound System. It’s been a long time coming but the return of Joshua Moses isn’t to be missed.

A joint presentation by The Fleece, Bristol Archive Records and Midnight Mango Agency.

You Tube Video link:

http://youtu.be/-tfbvKCoffA

Various
THE BRISTOL REGGAE EXPLOSION Vol 3 The 80’s Part 2
BRISTOL ARCHIVE RECORDS 19.3.12
@www.vanguard-online.co.uk

It’s hard to believe that this series is up to volume three, documenting the music being made in one city, in one genre. They’re onto mostly unreleased music but the quality is still there, there was clearly just too much around to find a market at the time. These are the boom years of British reggae; the very end of the seventies and up to the middle part of the eighties. After that, the fire kind of went out, though isolated examples from later have value. The Rastafari movement and Roots reggae gave a spiritual and political impetus to the music being made but, as people moved back to love songs, things lost their stepping force.

Talisman feature large, three times if you count their previous incarnation as Revalation Rockers, with strong cuts. Bunny Marrett has an affecting demo, sounding like it was recorded in a cave and none the worse for it. Joshua Moses, a man who failed to get more than two tracks released in thirty years, has a great live cut, Stick It Up, sounding filthy but actually lambasting hypocrites and parasites, it captures the groove of live reggae. Some dub gives colour, from Alfred McIntosh and Babylon Fire – Ron Green is the best of the set though, groovy, dubby, echoey. The strangely named Popsy Curious has a classic in Chant Down Bobby Rome, a hypnotic repetition of “Brother are you ready, Sister are you ready, Ready to chant down Babylon”. Kind of sums up Roots for me. Zapp Stereo bring more dub, while Cool Runnings (presumably named for the eighties film about the Jamaican bobsleigh team) are nothing less than excellent. Popsy reappears on The Vibes Lovers Rock contribution – a sweet thing, before Dan Rachet ends the set with more Lovers. At seventy minutes, this third compilation isn’t a moment too long – an astonishing achievement!

A continuing record of an era when British musicians eclipsed Jamaica, I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy this, reggae aficionado or not. This is a really great compilation – if this much was going on in the early eighties in Bristol, it makes me want to take a time machine back there. This is the next best thing.

Ross McGibbon

www.bristolarchiverecords.com

Joshua Moses

Joshua to Jashwha: 30 Years in the Wilderness Bristol Archive ARC250CD

2012

**** (pick)

The Bristol Archive label continues its project of documenting the long-neglected Bristol reggae scene with this odds-and-ends assortment of recordings by Joshua Moses. Moses began recording in 1978, and soon became a local favorite. However, when Bristol Archives contacted him to begin the project of compiling a retrospective album, they found that he had kept no copies of any of his many recordings. Joshua to Jashwa: 30 Years in the Wilderness is therefore the product of extensive detective work, and includes the only two Moses tracks ever to have been commercially

released: “Africa Is Our Land” and its dub version. Where the rest of this material came from is a mystery, but reggae lovers everywhere owe a huge debt to those who dug it up‹this is top-quality roots reggae. Moses’ voice is smooth and strong, sometimes strongly reminiscent of Johnny Clarke’s, and his songs are simple and straightforward but powerfully engaging.

Those who have been following the Bristol Archive’s aggressive release schedule over the past few years will recognize “Rise Up” from the excellent Bristol Reggae Explosion, Vol. 2 compilation, but there is even better material here: excellent live versions of “House of Dread” and “Protection”; the weirdly chugging “Steel”; his adaptation of Aswad’s “Promised Land” rhythm into the original song “Jah Time Has Come”; the ska-inflected “Bobby Wrong.” At the peak of his powers Moses was both deeply rooted in the traditional reggae verities and a truly unique vocalist and songwriter‹a combination both counterintuitive and wonderful.

Despite one or two minor clunkers (check out the bizarrely unbalanced sound on “Nothing to Lose” and the messy pseudo-delta-blues of  “Distant

Guns”) this album should be considered an essential purchase by all serious reggae lovers.

Taken from All-Media Guide from the USA

Dan Ratchet 12″ Vinyl (Limited Edition) ARC254V
Recorded in London and mixed at Dynamic Studios, Jamaica 1986
Produced by Simbarashe Tongogara
Never released until now – 11th June 2012
Pre-sales will be up soon at www.bristolarchiverecords.com and all major and minor overground and underground mainstream and reggae distribution outlets
The album drops in July 2012 with more previously unreleased material to follow later in the year and 2013 – busy time for Dan and exciting for the team
Video for Afrikana Policies will be uploaded and available in March