Blood & Fire Ladel S/D

Destroy-ish: Some of the dee-jay stuff is less than exciting (not the I-Roy and Big Youth collections though those are amazing. . . put those up in search!) The collections seem kind of useless, but only because most of the stuff on them works better on the albums they're pulled from. Supposedly the Willi Williams album is just meh. Actually I guess there are quite a few records after release 39 which I haven't heard.

Stuff I haven't heard but want and haven't gotten only because I haven't seen them cheap enough yet: The Chantels & Friends thing, the Prince Alla/Junior Spear/Tappa Zukie double CD thing, Fisherman Style.

cybele started a thread on the "fisherman" comp -

Is Blood and Fire's "Fisherman" comp not the best thing ever?

Jesus Dread has vocal versions and dubs and instrumentals and deejay versions of the same tunes.

Destroy-ish: Some of the dee-jay stuff is less than exciting

Noooo, the Niney the Observer collection is now one of my faves. I'm not so hot on the I-Roy one except for a couple tracks, but the packaging for it looks really good. Haven't heard the Big Youth one yet.

How is the Prince Far I that they put out? I never see that one get mentioned.

i only have mr. isaacs & heart of the congos, but both are obviously amazing.

I forgot about the Niney the Observer collection (If Deejay Was Your Trade is also good.) I was thinking more along of the Jah Stitch collection or the Welton Irie half of Lambs Bread International or the U-Brown thing when I said Destroy-ish. None of that stuff is bad though by any stretch of the imagination though.

Ernie reshaped the whole reggae distribution game in the US very agressively, the upside being we can get so much stuff, at such a good price, but Barrow is an historian.

http://www.reggaenews.co.uk/img/interviews/steve_barrow.jpg
http://www.reggaenews.co.uk/img/interviews/barrows_records1.jpg
http://www.reggaenews.co.uk/img/interviews/barrows_records2.jpg

http://www.reggaenews.co.uk/interviews/steve_barrow.asp
http://www.geocities.com/studiowon/dob/DobBarrow.htm

I really need to catch up, I haven't bought a BAF disc in a decade prob'ly. I did, however, po for a copy of Lloyd Bradley "Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King" from Amazon UK. $26 to my door in the US (outch).

what an unbelievable sale!

both of those i've really played the hell out of. the children of jah comp is probably one of my favorite CDs of ever, any genre, an era

I've got mostly all the dub stuff but none of the vocal albums, so I need to get on those. Are the Campbell or Clarke ones the best to start with?

I did, however, po for a copy of Lloyd Bradley "Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King" from Amazon UK. $26 to my door in the US (outch).

I meant to get a copy of that. Is it any good?

i agree w/ the nerdery part but disagree that the good stuff's all been heard.

blood and fire is awesome by the way, but i prefer the vocal stuff to the dubs.

It's from his 96 unfaves thing I think. I thought Simon was crazy then and I think he's crazier now. Esp. since the packaging, remastering and general attention to detail on the B&F and Pressure Sounds (and Wackies) reissues is about a million miles from the original Pebbles/Nuggets/Back From The Grave stuff.

"ts for murdering your wallet: blood and fire vs. basic channel wackies reissue avalanche"

Blood & Fire probably, although the fact that so much of the catalogue is marked down now probably mitigates it somewhat.

http://www.ebreggae.com/

Yes, although really you can't go wrong with any of the vocal albums. And as mentioned previously Jesus Dread is stunning and essential.

xpost

No-one has mentioned Mick Hucknall yet.

even if he's just the "daddy warbucks" behind the label, the fact that he's financed such a fucking beautiful string of (re)releases from a top-notch label over the years earns him crazy respect in my book.

but maybe that's just me.

Don't worry I think they run them periodically. Get on their mailing list and check the site occassionally.

Oooooooooh.

Try emailing [email protected] and ask to get their mailer.

picked up a couple trojan comps too, johnny clarke/king tubby and big youth. how do these compare with the ones on blood and fire? funny how many labels try to imitate the b & f design template, trojan included.

Which Big Youth collection? The Ride Like Lightning collection is excellent and fills in a couple holes that the (even better IMO, esp. sound quality-wise) B&F collection misses. I don't have the new-er Trojan version of Screaming Target (it's amazing obv) but nothing on that record is on the B&F collection if I recall correctly so if you like Big Youth get both. No Johnny Clarke record is as good as the B&F collection (even though maybe Clarke's single greatest song and Bunny Lee's single greatest production "None Shall Escape Judgement" isn't on it.)

Everyone tries to rip off B&F, straight down to trying to steal their graphics. :(

the johnny clarke is good but too many versions and not enough variety. and the dennis brown/king jammy thing - the umoja half is really nice while the 2nd half is meh, i may rip it and resell it

Are you a fan of Big Youth, Daniel? Because if you are, that boxed set is definitely well worth it.

Reggae is a music that is built on subtle differentiation (or, as philistines and Babylonians might say, it all tends to sound the same), and that means that it's important to sow a little variety wherever you can.

So I mentioned above a slew of Niney comps are on sale at Ernie B's (they still are) and I want point everyone to the excellent Rock On: Greatest Hits From The Observer Label, Truth & Rights: Observer Style (both on Heartbeat) and the aformented Sufferation: The Deep Roots Reggae Of Niney The Observer (on Auralux.) I've had the latter for a while, but I bought the other two and all three are excellent (Rock On has a number of great discomixes) and can be had for $6 or less.

The B&F sale doesn't seem to have made it out here sadly.

Just got a response from Ernie B's- apparently only early pressings had the slipcase and booklet, and that those are long gone (from Ernie's anyway).

-- Telephone thing, Friday, April 27, 2007 12:30 PM (1 month ago)

huh. good on ernie b's for clearing that up i guess.

so the same store that i got the bunk copy of congos had the whole packaged version this time. odd.. but now i have a copy :D

also just noticing that trojan is reissuing a lot of shit, gussie presenting i-roy, tommy mccook and the aggrovators(!), tappa zukie

unfortunately they also release laughable crap like this:
"Furry Selection : Luxury Cuts Of Trojan Chosen By A Super Furry Animal" Following in the footsteps of Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Super Furry Animal Guto Pryce digs into the Trojan archive for a selection of his favourite cuts from the past forty years of the label's existence.

but holy shit i didn't know wayne jarrett did something for greensleeves

http://www.greensleeves.net/pics/grewcd28.jpg

Featuring 10 solid "Junjo" rhythms, this set boasts the talents of Scientist on the desk, mixed at King Tubbys and rhythms laid by Roots Radics at Channel One.

none of this is blood and fire heh :]

Holy fucking shit! Okay so Ernie's B not only finally got a sale on the Blood & Fire stuff going, but nearly every Auralux and Motion CD is also on sale, everything on Nighthawk is on sale, every Madhouse CD single is 29 cents and about a million other things to boot. Seriously ANYONE who cares remotely about reggae should go to the site right now and peruse the sale stock.

biiiiiig upsssssssssssss

how long does this last? i want 'termination dub' and maybe that leroy smart best of.

what are these like
Aggrovators - Johnny In The Echo Chamber
Prince Alla - Only Love Can Conquer (1976-1979)

you don't have "termination dub"?

OMG get it now, "version 78 style" = my all-time favorite dub, the birth of acid house

no i have it ripped, i just like to get copies of b&f things. version 78 style is the birth of a lot things!

That Prince Alla comp is fucking awesome! He's got an amazing voice.

Okay this is what I bought today:

1 x CD $4.99 Ranking Joe - Zion High
1 x CD $0.29 Baby Cham, Bounty Killer - Another Level (CD Single, 5 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Beenie Man, Mr. Easy - Haters & Fools (CD Single, 5 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Lady Saw - Dial Tone (CD Single, 5 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Spragga Benz - Can't Get No Gal (CD Single, 5 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Bounty Killer - Look (CD Single, 5 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Baby Cham - Ghetto Pledge (CD Single, 5 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Wayne Wonder - Keep Them Coming (With Frankie Sly 'Haters Anthem') (CD Single, 6 Tracks)
1 x CD $0.29 Frisco Kid - What You Up To (CD Single, 4 Tracks)
1 x CD $5.99 Various - We Are Getting Bad: The Sound Of Phase One
1 x CD $4.99 Sly & Robbie - Taxi Sound
1 x CD $4.99 Heptones - Unreleased Night Food And Rare Black Ark Sessions
1 x CD $4.99 Barrington Levy - Barrington Levy In Dub: Lost Mixes From King Tubby's Studio (1980)
1 x CD $5.99 Prince Jammy, Crucial Bunny - Fatman Presents Dub Contest (1977-1979)
1 x CD $6.99 Barrington Levy - Shaolin Temple (1979-1982)
1 x CD $4.99 Itals - Brutal Out Deh (1981)
1 x CD $4.99 Various - Calling Rastafari (Culture, Gladiators, etc.) (1981)
1 x CD $4.99 Gladiators - Serious Thing (1981)
1 x CD $3.99 Justin Hinds - Travel With Love (1982-1984)
1 x CD $4.99 Itals - Early Recordings 1971-1979
1 x CD $4.99 Gladiators - Full Time (1981-1982)
1 x CD $2.99 Mad Professor - Dub Me Crazy 2: Beyond The Realms Of Dub (1982)

Of the Blood & Fire stuff that's on sale these are totally essential: Glen Brown & King Tubby, Cornell Campbell, Dub Gone Crazy 2, Mr Isaacs, Horace Andy, Prince Alla.

Of the Auralux stuff: the Sufferation comp, Jack Ruby Hi-Fi.

Of the Motion stuff: Born In The Sky, King Tubby's Motion Dub Special (a label sampler, but a good one.)

haha $0.29

i'm gonna pass on the leroy smart. i heard samples of it at juno and its not what i thought it was. didn't notice the jack ruby in there, good looking out.

you forgot 'black foundation in dub', that might be my favorite motion release.

that u-roy 'right time rockers' is pretty awesome too

thanks for the heads up alex. i picked up a few b&f things.

am i the only one ernie b's site isn't working for? i get weird errors!!

ok now it's working

blingbert

funny blingee image

Just picked up:

Keith Hudson - Pick a Dub
Horace Andy - Good Vibes ($5.99!)
Congos & Friends - Fisherman Style
v/a- 100% Dynamite! ($10!)
A Certain Ratio - The Graveyard & The Ballroom (not reggae, not on sale, but I need it to fill a gap in my Factory shelf and hey, $15.99 for a Soul Jazz release ain't bad)

Yeah, I need to get some of these...how long does the sale run for, though?

I'm about to order a bunch of shit, too. Thanks for the heads up, Alex. BTW, that Justin Hinds you ordered is one of my favorites.

Well going by last years sale and my posts on this thread, I think it is safe to assume that it does not last forever.

BTW the Prince Jammy vs. Crucial Bunny album is fantastic!

http://www.bloodandfire.co.uk/index.php
word is the label has gone bust.
tragic if true ..

Where did you hear the word?

Yeah, the Blood & Fire website that the hyperlink leads to says the site is "Currently Unavailable." That's a bad omen, but have you heard or seen something else about the label going under?

eeps. well there's still a bunch of their stuff up on emusic, i guess i should grab it fast just in case.

That's what I'm thinking, too. But it's also just a shame, if true.

Their websites have gone done before.

ahem, down.

Oh. Well, a quick GOOGLE search doesn't reveal any dire news stories. So what's the basis for believing that the label has gone under, Mark?

I see it's all over Roots-Archives message boards as well (with no official link or announcement, mind you.) Very sad if it is true obv.

I see it's all over Roots-Archives message boards as well (with no official link or announcement, mind you.)

Is this unlike the other times you've seen the Blood & Fire website "go down"?

admiteddly, i have no official source, but it seems to be rattling around this forum : here

hopefully its a case of website issues as people seem to indicate, as i would seriously hate to see this label go.

hopefully its a case of website issues as people seem to indicate

I'm not hopeful. Too many people -- and too many allegedly knowledgeable people -- on the message board you linked to seem convinced that Blood & Fire is gone. Still, there may be a glimmer of hope:

I understand there are commercial reasons for it not being made official, and as I understand it the Blood and Fire brand may live again.

Although, assuming it's true, we won't know how much new ownership will change -- or diminish -- the brand until they actually acquire (and start tinkering with) it.

"Is this unlike the other times you've seen the Blood & Fire website "go down"?"

Haha sorta. I mean in between the "Jesus Dread" set and whatever the next release was there was a pretty large downtime and I think the old website had some ticks. I don't remember guys from Twilight Circus going out and making announcements on behalf of the label. It may be true, but I'd still like to see something official.

I seriously doubt any ownership change will hurt the label. In fact, a deal with Island (for example) would be hugely beneficial for both parties as Island doesn't seem to have a clue how to market their awesome back catalogue and B&F has had difficulty licensing top notch stuff as of late (in part because the reggae reissue marketplace has gotten so stuffed with competitors--Pressure Sounds, Basic Replay, Wackie's, Auralux, Motion, Hot Pot, etc.)

I seriously doubt any ownership change will hurt the label. In fact, a deal with Island (for example) would be hugely beneficial for both parties as Island doesn't seem to have a clue how to market their awesome back catalogue and B&F has had difficulty licensing top notch stuff as of late (in part because the reggae reissue marketplace has gotten so stuffed with competitors--Pressure Sounds, Basic Replay, Wackie's, Auralux, Motion, Hot Pot, etc.)

It depends, I suppose, on whether the old management team at Blood & Fire is retained and given (relatively) free reign to continue releasing high-quality reissues true to their original vision of the label.

All speculation. We'll see.

?¿?

"It depends, I suppose, on whether the old management team at Blood & Fire is retained and given (relatively) free reign to continue releasing high-quality reissues true to their original vision of the label."

I don't understanding re-using the brand unless they are doing just that. These are reggae enthusiasts not juice box buyers. If the releases aren't up to snuff it will quickly be swamped in this market. There are just too many good reggae reissue labels.

maybe they're just updating the site for the general echo cd

http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/muze/music/987557.jpg

Yeah very excited about that.

Any update on the status of Blood & Fire? Their website is still "temporarily unavailable," but all their titles are still (thankfully) available on eMusic.

what makes u think a label going out of business would stop selling their music mp3s?

music via mp3s

what makes u think a label going out of business would stop selling their music via mp3s?

Nothing, except (a) I don't know what generally happens to a defunct reissue label's catalogue, and (b) on the website that's discussing the situation (which mark e linked to upthread), someone said that the fact that all Blood & Fire's titles were listed as "out of stock" on the label's website just before it went down is a sign of the label's closing. If the physical discs being pulled is a consequence of the label closing, I worried that the MP3s would also be pulled as a consequence of the label closing (if, in fact, it's closing). Tipsy Mothra expressed the same worry upthread ("well there's still a bunch of their stuff up on emusic, i guess i should grab it fast just in case.").

right but how do mp3s go out of stock ^_^

i admittedly don't know how this stuff works but i would think that a label going bust means they won't put out future releases, not that they don't want to continue making money off existing product

That makes sense. In related news, a little internet digging unearthed more indications that Blood & Fire folded:

Post numero uno here,

As B&F's US publicist and promotions person, I can tell you that B&F is gone. I can't go into too much detail about what happened but Bob Harding resigned and as of now it's over. It would be great if someone picked it up and carried on in some capacity but I haven't heard anything suchlike. The only person to tell me anything was Steve; I never heard a word from Bob. Thanks.

I am bummed for all the predictable reasons, big and small, generous and selfish, and not the least of which was that a forthcoming release would have been a (great) idea of mine that had approval from the respective producers in JA; maybe Steve can release it on Hot Pot.

I am having a hard time getting used to this one.

Mark

ah shit. was really hoping it was just internet rumor

"i admittedly don't know how this stuff works but i would think that a label going bust means they won't put out future releases, not that they don't want to continue making money off existing product"

It's not unusual when labels go bust that they lose the rights to their music (either because those rights revert to their original owners or because they are sold as assets if the label needs to recoup monies.) It's a legit fear that emusic would be requiired to take down the B&F mp3s if the label has folded at some point in the near future.

you're right, i should've guessed it wouldn't be that simple

I'm gobbling up Blood & Fire titles from eMusic before they possibly disappear. I just nabbed Glen Brown/King Tubby (Termination Dub), King Tubby (Dub Gone Crazy), King Tubby (Freedom Sounds in Dub), Niney The Observer (Microphone Attack), Prince Alla (Only Love Can Conquer), Tapper Zukie (In Dub), and Tommy McCook (Blazing Horns/Tenor In Roots).

So much more I need. Thank goodness my downloads refresh tomorrow.

All of those are really really good. That Tapper Zukie album is DEEPLY underrated.

Yeah. Tomorrow brings some hard choices, I fear. Among the discs on my target list are: King Tubby (If DJ Was Your Trade), Johnny Clarke (Dreader Dread), Yabby You (King Tubby's Prophesy of Dub), Yabby You (Jesus Dread), Inner Circle (Heavyweight Dub/Killer Dub), King Tubby (Dub Gone Crazy 2), King Tubby (Dub Like Dirt), and Big Youth (Natty Universal Dread).

That burns through my 200 download allotment for the month and more. And a lot of the above selections were chosen pretty much at random vis-a-vis other Blood & Fire discs. I'm sure they're all very good, but I fear I'll miss some real gems that slip through the cracks.

i don't know about that inner circle being necessary. do you have the linval thompson yet? horace andy 'in the light'? keith hudson 'pick a dub'?

I've got Pick-A-Dub. Incidentally, Hudson's other two dub discs, Brand and especially Nuh Skin Up (both on Pressure Sounds, I think), are also great.

I don't have the Linval Thompson disc. Is it really good?

I don't have In The Light, but I do have Horace Andy's Good Vibes (a Blood & Fire release) and Dance Hall Style (a Wackies release), both of which I love. IsIn The Light also worthwhile?

Yeah, I was thinking of not getting the Inner Circle disc.

the first track of in the light is a dud but otherwise its a great collection and the second half is all dub versions. the linval, johnny clarke and gregory isaacs discs are all classics

the rest of the ones on your list are all good choices

Website and forum are back. No mention of label closing shop.

Weird. Three threads have appeared since the forum returned, expressing thanks that the forums are back but wondering what's happened (and what will happen) to the label.

For what it's worth, a "Mick Sleeper" on the Blood & Fire forums writes:

I've exchanged some e-mails with Steve Barrow, and have more details about the current state of B&F. He has asked me to keep them private, so I'll make a boxing analogy.

The champ has taken a pounding and is up against the ropes. He's not knocked out, but is seeing stars and mumbling a little. His coach is talking with his trainer to figure out how the champ can keep on fighting. So while it doesn't look good, the fight is not over yet!

More in the "for what it's worth" category, from an "Informerette" on another reggae discussion board that I found through this thread:

The power that be has lined up three potential suitors of salvation, Cooking Vinyl, V2 and Domino

Any of those would be good.

V2 a bit less so, I think, but yeah, those are promising...

From BOOMKAT (who apparently share a building with B&F):

Hello...
As some of you may already know, our neighbours and good friends at the Blood & Fire label have sadly closed for business. Below you'll find the VERY LAST available copies from their amazing archive. We have a dozen or so copies of each of these titles and that's it - when they're gone, they're well and truly gone. This is your very last chance to pick up some true BASS classics from one of the most respected and inspired dub labels of the last decade, we strongly urge you to do so while you can...

Sigh. Not good.

Not good at all. I downloaded a ton of Blood & Fire stuff from eMusic the last time the label's death was supposedly imminent. I guess I should dive back in and get the rest now.

that SUCKS.

Didn't one of Blood & Fire's founders already move on to begin a new label? I want to say it's called Hot Pot, but I'm not sure.

If so, what's the relationship, if any, between Hot Pot and Blood & Fire? And, if anyone has discs from the new label, how do they compare to the sound quality, song selection and packaging on Blood & Fire discs?

This is all too depressing. Thanks.

Yes, Steve Barrow started Hot Pot w/ Cooking Vinyl.

No relationship except Barrow's involvement.

Hot Pot stuff is very well put together. Quite like both the Glen Brown collections and the Ossie Hibbert dub records. Also heard really good things about the Patterson/Tubby dub record.

Since I'm racing against the clock, Alex, any thoughts on the following:

• Trinity – Shanty Town Determination: 1976 – 1978
• Ranking Joe – Zion High
• King Tubby – If Deejay Was Your Trade: The Dreads at King Tubby’s 1974 – 1977
• Ja-Man All Stars – In The Dub Zone
• The Abyssinians – Tree of Satta: Vol. I
• Dennis Brown Presents Prince Jammy – UMOJA/20th Century DEBwise

Aside from a few albums I’m not going to get, the above items – plus those I’ve acquired already – pretty much constitutes all the Blood & Fire discs that eMusic has listed as “Editor’s Picks,” so I’ve now got about 25 Blood & Fire discs. Many of them I downloaded based on your recommendations (and those of other contributors on this thread), and I’m thrilled with almost all of them. Thanks much.

still haven't heard if deejay was your trade :(

That's one I've been on-the-fence about. Not sure why. But that's why I'm anxious to hear people's reactions to it; maybe it will change my mind.

(Or yours; who knows.)

Okay of those six records If Deejay Was Your Trade is the only hands down classic of the bunch (and it is a total classic, great deejays, tough Bunny Lee riddims and fantastic Tubby and company mixes.) The Trinity and Ranking Joe albums are good (the former perhaps a little better), the two dub records I don't even own (although the Ja Man is supposed to be good) and Tree of Satta is def. well worthwhile if not quite as good as the similarly put together Congo's riddim set.

Thanks! That helps a lot, since I had the Deejay disc at the bottom of my priority list. I'll now move it to the top.

Supposedly the Willi Williams album is just meh.

You still feel this way? I like it a lot. His voice isn't anything compared to, say, Horace Andy or Cornell Campbell, but -- I guess contrary to a lot of people -- I like the cheesy lead guitar and Peter Frampton-like vocal treatment on the lead track, Messenger Man. Slave and Rocking Universally are pretty special, too.

nothing on their website or forum about that boomkat announcement

and what will become of the general echo?

"You still feel this way?"

I still haven't heard it actually.

http://www.bloodandfire.co.uk/db/viewtopic.php?t=23810

Way down Barrow mentions that the General Echo set will still be coming out on Equalizer.

:`(

nothing on their website about that Boomkat announcement

There's a thread devoted to that topic on the Blood & Fire message board. "Barrow" -- i.e., Steve Barrow, or a clever imposter -- addressed the Boomkat posting:

Vanguard says:
why doesnt someone from blood and fire tell us? after all this is their forum isnt it?...

Barrow

Well Vanguard, strictly speaking there is no-one at B&F. Bob Harding resigned in June and Dom and myself were paid our last wages in July.
The office in Manchester is closed, all the remaining stock is in storage, and the company has ceased trading, apart from the accountant collecting monies still owed to B&F, and paying it out again to those who the company owes.

This forum is still here, though I don't actually know who is paying for the bandwidth or whatever it needs to keep going.

I assume the website is being paid for by the accountant, but I don't actually know for sure. I've only been able to get back on here by re-registering. I'm assuming that the website will continue in some way or other.... As far as the company goes, it has been reported elsewhere that myself and the Simply Red people are talking to a couple of 'interested parties', but as all those people are now on holiday, not a lot is happening. We had a couple of meetings, both positive, but who knows.
If a deal can be struck to continue the label, it will carry on. If not, that's it for the label.

I'll post any further developments as soon as I know them....

Another Barrow post later in the thread:

Well, tingjunkie, all the remaining stock is, I'm told, currently in storage.

Like I said earlier, I'm hoping that this break will only be temporary, pending someone else running the 'office' side. If we get some understanding backers, I have at least 5 potential projects and that's just on the reissue side

Lord Dubious - I am so glad you liked the one-rhythm sets. I know that not everybody did, but they have been among our best sellers of recent years. The Congos one did just under 10,000 units between release last year and December 31st, which is more than respectable figures in these times. And we also sold just under 18,000 45s. off that set as well.

Anyway, I will keep the forum posted on any fresh developments, but as I said earlier on today, I am remaining optimistic. It's not over till the fat lady dubs it up.....

And finally, a third Barrow post:

hope to still do the U roy set. It was pretty much ready to go, U Roy and several producers had agreed to it all, I have all the 22 tracks or decent copies of same, had paid for the front cover artwork. Notes partially written. Bit of a disappointment but what can you do when debts mount up etc. At least there is now possiblity of B&F restructuring/and reappearing next year. That for me is better than doing compilations that cant come out because no money available to licence them.

At least its some concrete information to rely on.

wicked

http://www.boomkat.com/promotion.cfm?id=36

sylford walker 'deuteronomy' rules

^^^^ Cosign.

Finally bought Chantells' comp. S'amazing. For more Roy Francis stuff get the excellent We Are Getting Bad on Motion.

This one, yes? First song (the title track) is fantastic. Great vocal harmonies.

Can't see the link, but if the title track is "CHildren of Jah" then yes. The Lopez Walker tracks are the ones I am really digging. Who the hell is Lopez Walker??!

Here's some information on Walker. I downloaded the disc from eMusic, so my apologies if this is stuff you already know from the liner notes on the disc (the liner notes I saw online didn't appear to have much information about Walker, tho).

Wow thanks for the link. There isn't much in the liner notes (except that apparently he recorded one other single for Joe Gibbs.) BTW you can download PDFs of the booklets on the B&F website. Most of them are well worth it.

Yeah, it's very nice for the label to make those available (they're not nicely packaged like the liner notes in the physical disc; but they are in an easy-to-read, straightforward format). I wonder if stuff like that will still be available if the label continues to wither away. Maybe I should save that stuff now, while it's still available.

Probably not a bad idea. I've picking up the last couple of CDs I don't have whenever I see them cheap. I think I'm only looking for about a half-dozen now.

FWIW, I think all the B & F discs are available on eMusic, and they are cheap (I think under any eMusic plan tracks are, like, .33 cents apiece and might be even less).

I'd miss the packaging too much.

i like the mystery around lopez walker. also, the songs.

I'm all about the Darker Than Blue: Soul From Jamdown (1973 -- 1980) compilation these days, especially Ken Boothe's haunting version of Ain't No Sunshine.

lopez walker is sylford's mexican cousin?

I have an amen for Darker Than Blue. Wonderful album.

Also, Stone, the first song on this Prince Alla B & F disc, is fierce, and serves as the original track for an equally wicked dub by King Tubby (called Great Stone).

I actually think Darker Than Blue is kind of overrated (that version of "Ain't No Sunshine" is stellar though.) It's probably in the bottom 1/5 of the B&F stuff.

Prince Alla OTOH is awesome.

I actually think Darker Than Blue is kind of overrated

Heresy! BTW, Is It Because I'm Black -- another song on the compilation, also by Ken Boothe -- is equally great.

Well I'm not going to argue it's bad, but compared to the original material B&F discs it's a little slight.

a little slightly awesome!

i wish the chantells comp. had been the entire chantells album in addition to the other various tracks but i guess it would have been two discs.

why didn't blood & fire ever do any barry brown reissues? he's all over their tubby comps.

that teacher fi de class cd is awesome

haha there's a straight up disco (as in sat. nite fever, not extended version) track on it called "hot reggae music"

and rapping :----)

"why didn't blood & fire ever do any barry brown reissues? he's all over their tubby comps."

He is? The Lee ones?

It is sad that the Chantells' album isn't available somewhere.

Has anyone bought any of the recent Pressure Sounds reissues? The Bim Sherman, Rockstones and Revolutionaries comps all look quite nice.

haha there's a straight up disco (as in sat. nite fever, not extended version) track on it called "hot reggae music"

Yeah, the toaster is the same fellow that turns up on half of Sylford Walker's Lamb's Bread Int'l disc (also released by B & F). It's an . . . interesting song. It look interesting. (n.1)

________________________________
(n.1) Actually, I think it borrows "liberally" from Rapper's Delight, if I'm remembering it correctly.

Are you talking about Teacher Fi De Class or Darker Than Blue? Or both?

Hotter Reggae Music is the last song on Darker Than Blue (hope that answers your question, Alex).

Yeah I know (I never understand why frankly), but that's not the same track on the General Echo CD is it?

Yeah, it is an odd choice-of-song to end that disc.

two different songs. not talking about darker than blue, that just a welton irie track

hot reggae music is on the general echo cd and has a disco beat and echo sort of old school rappin

This thread reminds me of the 'Ladle of Filth' exchange a few years ago which I can't find for the life of me

FYI most of the remaining B&F catalog on sale at Ernie B's.

found a copy of 'deliver me from my enemies' at my local store, glad i picked it up. i think i might like it better than the jesus dread comp.

i'd never seen this one before but its quality stuff http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=28990

Is it? I've often looked at it. It's one of like B&F things I don't actually own.

i need to give it another listen but its way better than i expected as the other ja-man one 'junior byles and friends' didn't strike me at all

Hah that one I like (at least three or four total killers and the rest is good enough), but yeah it is slighter than most of their other comps.

yeah i bought that ja-man dub one on the cheap from ernieb's recently (along with Deliver Me From My Enemies). definitely worth what i paid for it, it's an above average dub comp though not crucial.

the nextmen sampling niney's 'blood & fire'
http://www.zshare.net/audio/2533586c815bd6/

so is this label gone now? i haven't noticed a new release from them for about two years. pressure sounds and trojan's new reissue program seem to have taken up some, though not all of the slack.

it'd be a shame as this will be remembered as one of the great reissue labels and one of the highlights of the cd era (which i guess is drawing to a close soon enough).

Steve Barrow (of Blood & Fire) popped into a message forum late last year to say that Blood & Fire had essentially shut down, e.g., no one was left at the offices, he and the company's other founders had left, the remaining stock was in storage, and so forth. I've heard nothing since to suggest that the label is again active. Indeed, over at eMusic, there's a new label that's recently appeared -- Lee's Records Jamaica -- which features some of the old Blood & Fire albums verbatim (same artist, title, cover art, track listing and track versions). See, e.g., Johnny Clarke's Dreader Dread and King Tubby's Dub Gone Crazy and Cornell Campbell's I Shall Not Remove. And on eMusic's 17 Dots website, the President of the company that distributes Lee's Records said that the new label and distribution system was necessary in light of "major issues with royalties collection from labels and distributors that shall rename nameless." Now that doesn't necessarily mean Blood & Fire, of course, but with all the foregoing added to the analysis, I have little hope that Blood & Fire will be back.

I don't think they are doing any new releases. Actually a lot of reggae reissue labels seem to have slowed down as of late (no new Auralux, Hot Pot, Motion, etc.) Pressure Sounds still going strong though.

(same artist, title, cover art, track listing and track versions)

seems quite dubious. maybe jamaican reissues are back to "normal" then? at least we don't have to deal as much with those horribly-mastered vinyl reissues on studio 1 and clocktower that i ate up in the '90s.

sad about b&f -- those yabby you reissues are in my top ten most days.

now that Trojan/Sanctuary have been swallowed up by Universal I suspect it'll be a while before we see anything like the excellent reissue campaign that Trojan were sorting out.
Trojan website is dead/broken .. always a sign of changes afoot.

Ernie B is having another great sale! B&F, Auralux, Pressure Sounds, etc. I bought the following last week:

Ja Man Allstars - In The Dub Zone
Culture - Harder Than The Rest
Scientist - World At War
Various - Massive B Big Tunez: March Out & Jah Love Rhythms
Lee Perry - Divine Madness Definitely
Burning Spear - Spear Burning
Peter Tosh - Talking Revolution
Keith Hudson - Nuh Skin Up (With Soul Syndicate)
Various - Street Sweeper Round Two

i noticed they have the strong set from Larry Marshall + King Tubby for under a buck fitty. that's a great deal.

Even better is the Lee Perry collection Born In The Sky for $2!

Yabby You has died.

this is a post someone made at a reggae forum i read:

Youth I-an (as he preferred to call himself and which name was purloined by Big Youth) is irreplaceable. He was there, with Ras Michael, Albert Griffiths and Familyman at the dawn of rasta reggae late 60s/early 70s. No bandwagon rasta he.

After Brother Joe split from the Sons of Negus in 1971, Vivian joined him as one of the Rightful Bros. A big mistake that was probably responsible for Vivian's low opinion of other musicians. Behind Vivian's back Bro. Joe took Cedric Myton (before he adopted his falsetto style) into the studio (Harry J) and tried to cover Vivian's songs: Carnal Mind and Conquering Lion (which Vivian called "72 Different Nations"). It was a disaster. Cedric couldn't handle it and the session was fruitless. But Youth I-an discovered the treachery and broke with that group.

Vivian was already quite sickly at that time. He was not a robust child, was abandoned by his parents at an early age and grew up bouncing it a yard. To survive, he joined a group of rastas who collected scrap metal and smelted it in a yard fire to create reprocessed aluminum ingots that they sold to fabricators. The fumes ravaged Vivian's lungs and he was repeatedly hospitalized, brushing death more than once. So it was a challenge for him to protect his work from the pirates down a yard. Which helps explain why it took another couple of years before he could record Conquering Lion for himself Horsemouth, Chinna and Familyman backed him up in a Dynamics session that produced what was then called "the Buckers rhythm", that was soon a big hit on Tubby's sound system. the session also yielded The Man Who Does the Work. Karl Pitterson was at the control.

Then he met a couple of guys from Mandeville: Bobby Melody and Alrick Forbes, who billed themselves as the Ralph Bros. They rejected the Youth at first, refusing to believe it was he behind the Buckers riddim. But, his credentials established, they joined forces at Tubby's studio to voice over the Buckers riddim as Conquering Lion. It's release on their Now label was like the zero milestone for rasta reggae.

After a violent confrontation over the rights with the Ralph Bros. over what was born again as a mega-hit in the small world of the west side sound systems, Errol Smith intervened and mediated a truce: the Ralphs kept the money received to date, but Vivian got control of the stampers. Vivian then reissued "Lion" on his own label and never collaborated with anyone ever again. Business is business.

Clearly, the Tubbs loved the Youth. The version sides of all those early Prophets singles bear witness to that love. Tubbs (first?) dub album was Prophecy of Dub almost all Y.Y. material.

Yabby's voice was not very musical and he recognized this himself; he often used other singers as proxies for his own frustrated ambitions (much as did Lee Perry), first trying to employ Pat Kelly, but later turning to such as Wayne Wade and Michael Prophet. Certain records such as If you won't Love Me (DSR 9187) reveal yabby's romantic side. I think he longed to be a Slim Smith. But he became his own original.

I confess, when I was first listening to him in the late 70s, I found his voice off-putting. For me, it was one of those experiences like getting into a very hot bath. Difficult at first, but once you settle in. Hank Holmes once said that if you don't like Yabby Yu, you don't really like reggae. That's how I feel about it now as well.

One of my all time favorites, this is terrible news.

Wiki is reporting it, too. What a terrible day this turned out to be. Damn.

Well I think the actual label thread deserves a revive on this note:

http://www.vprecords.com/vp-records-relaunches-uk-reggae-label-blood-and-fire-20-years-after-its-first-release/

:D

hell yeah. very excited if this, as i've read, means new blood & fire titles (not just re-releasing old titles with new material, which is good too).

hoping the resurrected blood & fire will reissue more full albums. i love the compilations and career retrospectives, but . . .

Funnily enough I tend to hope exactly the opposite! My favourites are always the comps, and there's usually a chance of either finding a proper copy of an LP if you're lucky, or if not someone boshing out a resissue on the back of the interest generated by a B&F set.

Yeah the full albums are generally very good, but the comps are for the most part (Heart of the Congos and maybe Social Living excepted) the stronger of the two.

man you really appreciate the sonic work B&F did when you have to listen to the "original" albums/tracks on the streaming services

Blood & Fire were fantastic. I'm slowly acquiring the vinyl versinos of all the CDs I bought back in the late 90s. Just picked up a NM copy of The Congos for $40, which seems like a steal the way new vinyl gets priced.

Heart Of The Congos is fucking classic. The label did god's work in the 90's (even though that waste of space Muck Hicknall was involved). Another fave I discovered through them was Horace Andy's tremendous In The Light album.

Recently found their wonderful 'X-Ray' compilation of dub stuff in a charity shop.
Other than that, I only have the Congos 2cd reissue and the Keith Hudson compilation (Pick A Dub), from their catalogue.
Of course, if I see anything else from hereon, then I will buy it of course.
But I aint holding my breath.

brotherlovesdub : if you want to offload your cds as you find the vinyls ….

(can't blame a fella for trying .. )

I've been slowly picking up the catalogue over the years - vinyl/cd, whatever I can find. The Yabby You and Congos records are sacred, with the In the Light and Chantells collection close behind.

Chantells might actually be my favorite. Another label also put out a Phase One comp that's worth looking for

(called "We Are Getting Bad")

I can't find the Termination Dub stuff in any other format/albums/comp. My cd is 1700 miles away, & I hardly use my ipod anymore cause no battery life. So that's one I really miss hearing.

Other ones that I love but can't find digital equivalents of most of the tracks (or the ones I do find are of such poorer audio quality that it just makes me sad to listen to them: most of the tracks on Dennis Brown "The Promised Land", most of the dubs on Horace Andy's "In the Light" (esp the last track which has a great proto-hiphop intro).