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LP
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BSR 876LP
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"One Love by Mike Brooks was originally issued in 1983. Most of the tracks on that album were voiced at King Tubby's and over rhythms again recorded at Channel One, where the Roots Radics had replaced the Revolutionaries as the Hookims' house band. 'Sensie Man,' sung in defense of his fellow ganja smokers from around the island, was the lead single. 'Lovers Street' was a big seller too whilst 'Grooving' was an adaptation of the Wailers' 'Keep On Moving' that according to Brooks, even won approval from Bob Marley himself, who'd recorded the original for Lee Perry. Mike's old friend from Arrows, deejay Crutches, also cut a version of that track for Teams, but it was the singer's own version, delivered in his best falsetto, that got most airplay. Love Is Lovely was another standout with its joyous message and dazzling interplay between organ, sax and drums. Channel One's new set of musicians had made quite a difference, and their slower, heavier rhythms were more suited to the times."
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LP
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BSR 878LP
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"Singer and producer Mike Brooks along with Jah Lloyd created their Teams label kin 1969. This vinyl re-issue is of 1976 Burning Sounds release What A Gathering -- a compilation of tracks recorded at Channel One, produced by Jah Lloyd and named after Mike's biggest hit."
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CD
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MOLL 011CD
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The Earth Is The Fullness is the second release by prolific reggae producer Mike Brooks on Moll-Selekta, following the predecessor Mike Brooks And Friends: Just The Vibes 1976-1983. This eleventh release by Moll-Selekta is the ultimate roots-reggae album in Mike Brooks' long-lasting career. From roots to R&B, The Earth Is The Fullness collects many previously unreleased singles that portray the ways in which reggae was changing both musically and in the social context of the '70s and '80s, as recorded in the legendary Channel One studio. This album contains some of Brooks' best and most important songs, amongst them the title track recorded in 1972 in the early days of the Black Ark studio as mixed by Lee Perry. In addition to founding the Teems label with Jah Lloyd in 1969, as a producer he worked with the famous session group The Revolutionaries and produced The Mighty Diamonds' successful song "Shame And Pride." The artists he recorded at Joe Gibbs' studio and at Treasure Isle, include Bim Sherman, Blacka Morwell, Earl "Chinna" Smith, The Soul Syndicate, Hortense Ellis, Pat Kelly, Bobby Melody and Gladstone Anderson. Despite the fact that he was never a household name in reggae history, his falsetto is one of Jamaica's best, though he only sang on a handful of records in thirty years. The Earth Is The Fullness contains a wealth of politically-conscious rasta tunes and poetically subtle social comment, opening with the powerful "Jah Is My Light," with Errol "Flabba" Holt and Mike Brooks at the controls. Amongst its other highlights two other songs deserve special mention: the two long versions of "Who Have Eyes to See," produced by Prince Far I, the famous "voice of thunder," and the Phil Pratt-produced "No Brother Man." The circling loop of these rhythms have a meditative quality which seeps into the senses, perhaps the quintessence of reggae songs. It symbolizes what good reggae music is all about -- no beginning and no end, a continuous flow, the rhythm and pulse of life.
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LP
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MOLL 011LP
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LP version, gatefold sleeve.
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