The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983

Various Artists

4/5 

RECORD  COLLECTOR REVIEW

There’s been a  thriving reggae scene in England for four decades now, thanks to excellent bands from London ( Aswad,  Matumbi, Reggae Regular) or Birmingham (Steel Pulse and, if you must, UB40). But how about Bristol? Isolated from the mainstream of the UK Scene, the western city nutured a flourishing scene both live and on disc, as The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983 proves.

The local labels may have operated on a shoestring, but there’s nothing cheap about the performance or the production of tracks such as Black Roots sturdy Bristol Rock or Talisman’s ear-catching Dole Age, which is lyrically bleak but rides a rhythm of which Leslie Kong would have been proud. The albums tour-de-force is the highly sought-after Africa by Joshua Moses, a dignified cultural anthem which segues into a crisply menacing dub. Sharon Bengamin’s Mr Guy is sweetly amateurish, but no more so than much London-recorded lover’s rock. BRING ON VOLUME TWO!   

(Michael de Koningh)

THE FLEECE, BRISTOL, FRIDAY MAY 27TH – TICKETS £12 – 14+ SHOW

Talisman were one of the UK’s top Roots Reggae bands in the later 70′s and early 80′s.The band’s prowess earned them support slots with acts as diverse as Burning Spear, The Clash and The Rolling Stones. They have reformed with the original line up after 30 years apart to support the release on May 9th 2011 of their album ‘Dole Age’ – The 1981 Reggae Collection released via Bristol Archive Records . One of Bristol’s finest ever live acts are BACK and playing the Fleece – Don’t miss this special anniversary party!

For tickets and more information:http://www.thefleece.co.uk/listings/index.html

• VARIOUS “THE BRISTOL REGGAE EXPLOSION 1978-1983″ (BRISTOL ARCHIVE RECORDS)
• 
  RELEASED? Preorder now
• 
  SOUNDS LIKE? Let’s be clear. I am a white male. Yes, I’m Irish, but being included in merry English signage like ‘no dogs, no blacks, no Irish” does not make me Bob Marley. Neither does appearing on this album. So, I can only hack this is as boring n bog standard white reggae lover, which means that anything outside the comfort n cool zone defined by love of Althea & Donna, Desmond Decker, Bob Marley, Dave & Ansell Collins and hatred for UB40 is going to be a white, white knuckle ride. Except that it isn’t. Now, this is probably a temporal rather than racial thing, but every single one of these tracks has been prepared with love, care, pride, sometimes expertise, but always with the right attitude.

  Let’s highlight a couple; Buggs Durrant isn’t a household name, but “Baby Come Back” chips with snare and brass breezes a soulful tale of love lost with soulful and blatantly poppy guile, it’s fucking brilliant, and so is “Africa”, a little something from Joshua Moses that sweetly torch and finger-pops a reggae shuffle ballad that soothes as  it stirs, the cutey girl backing vox honey drip the “don’t let the wicked men fool you” chorus and melts you, just melts you.

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  IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes, yes, yes. This may well be real reggae from people you haven’t heard of, but it’s largely fantastic and reassuringly catchy n commercial.
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  WHERE IS IT? www.bristolarchiverecords.com

The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983
Kingston, Handsworth, Notting Hill…even Coventry. These are names which spring to mind when you think of ska and reggae in the late ’70s and early ’80s. But, as this CD is pure evidence to, Bristol also had a historic and steadfast reggae scene. This album is a powerful introduction to artists over 14 tracks, each with their own unique take on reggae. There’s a real journey on this album, from Buggs Durrant and his sublime pop sound reminiscent of Donna and Althea, to Joshua Moses in his vocal ‘Africa (Is Our Land)’ for Rastafarian politics. Black Root’s ‘Tribal War’ a close to dub music, heavy and gloriously hypnotic. If you want some grim 1980s socially conscious music, check out Black Roots’ ‘Juvenile Delinquent’, a reference to the infinite rude boy tracks of Trojan Records music in the 1960s. There’s even Live number ‘Wicked Dem’ by Talisman, a uplifting political number in which the lead singer declares anti-racism and pro-CND. “We are no capitalists” the song makes quite clear. So there’s music you can dance to, and music you can smoke to, and music you can get fired up to. Political reggae and fun reggae.

The album is well-crafted, plenty of care gone into flagging up years, writers and record labels to give representation and respect to the original writers. Some of the tracks are rarities, remastered from tapes of limited number vinyl, ensuring this is a delight for any hardcore reggae fantastic to own something long since out-of-print. But it still holds the strong reggae charm of being an album you can simply out on in most environments and let it play through, filling any room in feel-good vibes. The album is wonderfully bookmarked, opening with the early Peter Tosh-sounding Black Roots and their anthem ‘Bristol Rock’, the perfect introduction to a Bristol reggae compilation. But it ends on Talisman’s ‘Dole Age’, leaving the album on the historic note that this scene strived and these songs were written under Thatcherite politics with 3 million unemployed. They serve as documentation of the atmosphere and mood at the time, and evidence as to how they fought back and empowered themselves with music. It’s all too easy to make parallels with 2010 and modern reggae/ska/punk bands but certainly I think in the coming months I’ll be listening to 3D’s ‘Riot’ for a lot more reason than simply historical curiosity.

Taken from:http://www.pushtofire.com/musicreviews.html#article423

Sugar Shack Records Ltd

Firstly can I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

You will no doubt be fully aware of the economic position we currently find ourselves in the UK.

The music industry is in a complete mess with physical product sales decreasing month on month and download sales increasing very slightly but not at a rate which will save the industry or the companies who trade within it.

I had to make a difficult decision in 2010 to cease trading as Sugar Shack Records Ltd on the advice of my Accountants MWM.

Where are we now?

As you should be aware Bristol Archive Records is a subsidiary label of Sugar Shack and with effect from the 1^st October 2010 we continue business as usual with the new name Sugar Shack Records. The Archive label is by far the bigger party now with an average of six digital releases per month.

In 2010 The Archive has released three compilation CDs and two Vinyl albums however across the board sales including digital, have been bitterly disappointing.

The Future?

My commitment to Bristol music remains as strong as ever and my passion to ensure that artists from the past should be remembered and not forgotten is as important today as it was on the launch of www.bristolarchiverecords.com . Sugar Shack however will not release many new records in 2011.

I’m excited about The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983 on CD and Vinyl to be released in Feb 2011 and we follow this with a Talisman album in April. Pre sales look more positive and the initial press looks like we should get good reviews.

One of the major positives is the amount of traffic the website obtains and this is reflected in the search engine positions when tracking Bristol Archive Records – clearly people are interested.

I could not run the label without the support of the small team that works with me to provide the mastering, artwork, design, websites and sourcing of material. Thanks a million to all the team and thank you to you the artist for allowing your material to be made available through the Archive and Sugar Shack.

I wish I could report a healthier picture and I wish we were selling more music.

Please contact me directly if you wish to receive an accurate of account of your individual sales.

 In time as the Archive gets bigger I believe things will improve but for now let’s drink a toast to the New Year 2011.

Yours sincerely

M DARBY

On behalf of the team

www.bristolarchiverecords.com   /    www.sugarshackrecords.co.uk

Bristol Archive Records are thrilled to announce a distribution deal with Bristol Underground Sounds.

The first release will be the incredible JASHWHA MOSES album ‘NO WAR’ released in March 2011

Available on all digital platforms worldwide and with a single yet to be agreed, this is the RETURN of Jashwha.

Jashwha was born in Clarindon, Jamaica over 50 years ago and his previous releases included ‘Africa Is Our Land’ in 1978 and ‘Pretty Girl’ in 1979. His single ‘Africa’ was produced by Dennis Bovell who has worked with such artists as Bob Marley, Dennis Brown to Shabba Ranks.

These tunes can be found on the Feb 2011 release ‘The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983′ on Vinyl, CD and Digital download

THE VOICE OF JAHGGAE HAS ARRIVED!

Check  http://mickyfin.com/ for release details and cuts from the related film clips

The Bristol Reggae Explosion

Interesting compilation coming out on Bristol Archive Records seeing an official release in the early part of next year, though it is available to purchase in advance here – http://bristolarchiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-bristol-reggae-explosion-1978-1983

I’ve got a promo copy for the car and have particularly enjoyed Ressurection’s – Four Point Plan, apparently Ressurection featured a young Rob Smith on guitar, he’s better known now as Smith of Smith N’ Mighty, reknowned remixers. Like a lot of good things, he hails from Bristol.

Bristol is and was one of the important musical and particularly Jamaican musical hotspots in the UK, and alongside Birmingham and London is was where it was all happening back in the day, check out your intro into the Bristolian affect on this release, heartily recommended.

Here is what the label says about it:

THE BRISTOL REGGAE EXPLOSION 1978-1983 Released on CD, VINYL and DIGITAL DOWNLOADRelease date 21st February 2011

BUY NOW: http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=12937

From Pop to Punk, the late seventies and early eighties saw a huge explosion in the number of local bands as more and more people thought they’d give it a go, new studios and independent labels weren’t far behind and Reggae wasn’t going to be left out of the musical mix.If the majors were even aware of Bristol they showed minimal interest and it was left to the bands themselves and the handful of indie labels to document Bristol’s contribution to what was then a vibrant UK Reggae scene. Working on tight budgets and with no money for marketing campaigns local bands managed to release a small, but steady flow of vinyl, mostly pressed in tiny quantities and often sold direct to fans at gigs, these records, although cherished by those who own them, and sought by those in the know, have been largely ignored by the wider music industry.

Fortunately Bristol music has its own champion in the shape of Bristol Archive Records, a label with a mission to share our great musical heritage with the world, “The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983” is the first and only attempt to document the local Reggae scene from the late seventies until the early eighties. With the exception of the Black Roots tracks none of the recordings have ever been reissued and all were originally released before CD had been launched, so this is their debut in the digital format.

The music itself reflects the dominance of the Roots style in Bristol, even today Roots is by far the most popular type of Reggae in both the retail and live scenes locally, Black Roots live up to their name and show why they were the equal of any UK Reggae band in their day, Talisman, Restriction and 3D Production follow in their Roots footsteps, but a real highlight of this release is the inclusion of the ultra rare “Africa Is Our land” from Joshua Moses, a UK Roots classic. Bristol wasn’t all about Roots though and the other tracks follow a more mellow template, dealing with love and relationships, both Talisman and Joshua Moses show another side to their music and are joined by tracks from Buggs Durrant, The Radicals and Sharon Bengamin who’s “Mr. Guy” is a classic UK Lover’s track in the mould of Janet Kay, Carroll Thompson, Louisa Marks et al.

“The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978-1983” will be released as a fourteen track CD, but you can’t have a proper Reggae release without it being on vinyl so there will be a very limited vinyl pressing featuring an eight track selection and just to keep things local the sleeve art is a mid-eighties carnival shot from Bristol’s own Beezer, (www.beezerphotos.com), featuring a classic image of Jah Revelation sound-system.
This release will shine the spotlight on a long neglected corner of the UK Reggae scene and Bristol’s musical heritage, the same music that would help underpin Bristol’s musical dominance in the following decade.
www.bristolarchiverecords.com

credits

released 21 February 2011
The Bristol Reggae Explosion 1978 – 1983 Track listing:01. Black Roots : Bristol Rock (Bunny Marrett) (Arranged by Black Roots) p Nubian Music 1981

02. Joshua Moses : Africa (Is Our Land) (Joshua Moses 1978) p Copyright Control 1978

03. Talisman : Run Come Girl – Live (Taylor / Talisman 1980) p Recreational Music 1981

04. Restriction : Four Point Plan (Restriction 1983) p Unitone Publishing 1983

05. Black Roots : Tribal War 12” Mix (Black Roots) p Nubian Music 1981

06. Restriction : Restriction (Restriction 1983) p Unitone Publishing 1983

07. Joshua Moses : Pretty Girl (Joshua Moses 1979) p Unitone Publishing 1979

08. Talisman : Wicked Dem – Live ( Taylor / Talisman 1980) p Recreational Music 1981

09. The Radicals : Nights Of Passion ( John Carley 1980) p Copyright Control 1980

10. Sharon Bengamin : Mr Guy (Unknown 1980) p Unitone Publishing 1980

11. Black Roots : Juvenile Delinqent (Black Roots) p Nubian Music

12. Buggs Durrant : Baby Come Back(Home) (Errol Williams 1983) p Unitone Publishing 1983

13. 3-D Production : Riot (John Carley 1980) p Third Kind Music 1980

14. Talisman : Dole Age 12” Mix ( Joseph / Talisman 1981) p Recreational Music 1981

Tracks 1, 5, 11 originally released on Nubian Records
Track 2 originally released on More Cut Records
Track 3 and 8 previously unreleased Live Recordings
Track 4 and 6 originally released on Restriction Records 1983
Track 7, 10 and 12 originally released on Shoc Wave Records 1979, 1980 and 1983
Track 9 originally released on The Bristol Recorder 2 1980
Track 13 originally released on Third Kind Records 1980
Track 14 originally released on Recreational Records 1981

Track 1, 5 and 11 Engineered by UK Scientist, Recorded at The Facility, Produced by UK Scientist and Black Roots
Track 2 Engineered by Dennis Bovell, Recorded at Gooseberry Studios London, Produced by Dennis Bovell
Track 3 Recorded Live at Glastonbury Festival
Track 4 and 6 Engineered and Mixed by The Mad Professor, Recorded at Ariwa Sound Studios London, Produced by Restriction
Track 7, 10 and 12 Produced by Gene Walsh, Recording location unknown
Track 8 Recorded Live at Bath University
Track 9 Engineered and Produced by David Lord at Crescent Studios Bath
Track 13 Recording location unknown, Arranged and Produced by Ron Green
Track 14 Engineered by David Lord at Crescent Studios Bath, Mixed by UK Scientist, Produced by Talisman and UK Scientist

All tracks re-mastered by Steve Street, July 2010
All Rights Reserved

P c Bristol Archive Records 2010

Thanks to

Martin Langford, Steve Street, Sam Giles, Gene Walsh/Joshua Moses / Shoc Wave, Brendan, Des, Denison / Talisman, Jabulani Ngozi / Black Roots, John Carley, Rob Smith / Restriction, Adrian at Great Bear, Lloyd Harris / Chris Parker/Recreational Records, Alfredo / Nubian Records, St.Pauls Carnival Office / Steve , Thomas Brooman CBE / The Bristol Recorder People, Gary Chapple and “all the musicians who played on these tracks”.

Photo credits: Thanks to the original photographers and artwork designers with whom copyright remains on their work

Front cover image Beezer

Artwork by [email protected]

This album is dedicated to Mark Simpson and Trinity Hall

Bristol Archive Records, July 2010
www.bristolarchiverecords.com
email: [email protected]

Taken from: http://bigmikeydread.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/the-bristol-reggae-explosion-1978-1983/