‘Times Are Getting Harder’ / ‘Hard Times Dub’ – Bunny Marrett

Released on Limited Edition Black Vinyl (200 Copies only) 28th August 2026 via Bristol Archive Records

For someone who had been performing since childhood in Jamaica and regularly sang with
bands after relocating to the UK as well as writing several songs for other artists, Bunny Marrett was poorly served for contemporary releases. In fact his sole vinyl outing was 1980′s “Times Are Getting Harder”, a nice roots vocal with accompanying “Hard Times Dub” released on Gene Walsh’s nascent Shoc Wave label.

Gene was still finding his feet in the music industry and still learning the balancing act between copies pressed and potential demand. For “Times Are Getting Harder” Gene kept his costs low and did the minimum pressing run. He also kept costs down with his choice of B side using his pool of local musicians including Joshua Moses to provide a brace of dub tracks, “Running Dub” and “Creation Dub” enigmatically credited to Don Gordon.

Like countless other excellent British reggae singles, the lack of proper distribution and promotion saw “Times Are Getting Harder” barely sell beyond Bristol or more specifically the St. Paul’s area where Bunny was well known as a pillar of the community. It’s likely that “Times Are Getting Harder” is the scarcest Bristol reggae release with copies having always being difficult to find, even in Bristol. With online sellers now asking three figure sums for the occasional copy that surfaces, a properly done reissue is long overdue.

 

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