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viewing 1 To 8 of 8 items
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2LP
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MOLL 016LP
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Limited restock, last copies... Double LP version. Includes download code. Originally released on CD in 2009. Now available on vinyl for the first time. The sixteenth release on the Moll-Selekta label shares its title with a wonderful film, a heartwarming homage to the golden age of rocksteady. Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae documents the recordings being made for this very album at the Tuff Gong studios, Kingston, Jamaica in April 2008, telling the story of the original vocalists and musicians involved. Included are excerpts from an all-star reunion concert staged in Kingston alongside older archive material. Never before in the history of Jamaica, which already occupies a unique place on the world map of song, has such an illustrious collection of singers and players been assembled. The album showcases 15 rocksteady classics in sparkling, deeply inspired new versions, recorded in the studio which also played host to album sessions of a certain Bob Marley. Under the musical direction of Ernest Ranglin, a guitarist of considerable renown not only on the reggae circuit, and mixed by legendary engineer Errol Brown -- employ at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle studio in the sixties -- and freshly arranged by Lynn Taitt, each of the new versions was recorded using authentic instruments to capture the true rocksteady style. In the context of Jamaican musical history, rocksteady enjoyed a relatively brief, two to three year spell in the limelight, taking over from the faster-paced, predominantly instrumental ska sound of the early part of the decade and laying the foundation for reggae to come with an emphasis on bass, more intricate melodies, and bringing singers and vocal trios to the fore. Between 1966-1968, an unprecedented, and unrepeated, proliferation of marvelous songs moved many fans to call this the golden age. Hopeton Lewis, one of the creators of rocksteady, the great DJ U-Roy, an international pioneer of toasting, Stranger Cole, Derrick Morgan, and Leroy Sibbles are just a few of the legendary figures taking part, some having met to play together for the first time in forty years. This wonderful musical style from Jamaica and the great personalities behind it would certainly be deserving of similar belated recognition. A historical work in every respect. Features: Leroy Sibbles, Hopeton Lewis, Judy Mowatt, U-Roy, Ken Boothe, Derrick Morgan, Dawn Penn, Stranger Cole, Gladstone Anderson, Marcia Griffith, and Lynn Taitt. Includes a 16-page booklet containing extensive liner notes by the American music journalist Chuck Foster.
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CD
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MOLL 016CD
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Originally released on CD in 2009. Now available on vinyl for the first time. The sixteenth release on the Moll-Selekta label shares its title with a wonderful film, a heartwarming homage to the golden age of rocksteady. Rocksteady: The Roots Of Reggae documents the recordings being made for this very album at the Tuff Gong studios, Kingston, Jamaica in April 2008, telling the story of the original vocalists and musicians involved. Included are excerpts from an all-star reunion concert staged in Kingston alongside older archive material. Never before in the history of Jamaica, which already occupies a unique place on the world map of song, has such an illustrious collection of singers and players been assembled. The album showcases 15 rocksteady classics in sparkling, deeply inspired new versions, recorded in the studio which also played host to album sessions of a certain Bob Marley. Under the musical direction of Ernest Ranglin, a guitarist of considerable renown not only on the reggae circuit, and mixed by legendary engineer Errol Brown -- employ at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle studio in the sixties -- and freshly arranged by Lynn Taitt, each of the new versions was recorded using authentic instruments to capture the true rocksteady style. In the context of Jamaican musical history, rocksteady enjoyed a relatively brief, two to three year spell in the limelight, taking over from the faster-paced, predominantly instrumental ska sound of the early part of the decade and laying the foundation for reggae to come with an emphasis on bass, more intricate melodies, and bringing singers and vocal trios to the fore. Between 1966-1968, an unprecedented, and unrepeated, proliferation of marvelous songs moved many fans to call this the golden age. Hopeton Lewis, one of the creators of rocksteady, the great DJ U-Roy, an international pioneer of toasting, Stranger Cole, Derrick Morgan, and Leroy Sibbles are just a few of the legendary figures taking part, some having met to play together for the first time in forty years. This wonderful musical style from Jamaica and the great personalities behind it would certainly be deserving of similar belated recognition. A historical work in every respect. Features: Leroy Sibbles, Hopeton Lewis, Judy Mowatt, U-Roy, Ken Boothe, Derrick Morgan, Dawn Penn, Stranger Cole, Gladstone Anderson, Marcia Griffith, and Lynn Taitt. Includes a 16-page booklet containing extensive liner notes by the American music journalist Chuck Foster. CD version comes in a digipack.
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CD
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MOLL 015CD
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The Moll-Selekta label presents a compilation of vintage tracks from legendary Jamaican producer Bunny "Striker" Lee (b. Edward O'Sullivan Lee). Along with Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (Studio One), he is probably the Jamaican producer with the largest reservoir of songs. In the rocksteady and roots reggae years, from 1967 up until the late 1970s, he produced one hit after another. With his productions shooting into the charts with clockwork regularity, his colleagues and competitors nicknamed him "Striker." The Mighty Striker Shoots At Hits celebrates the boomtime of roots reggae from 1973-1979 in its many guises. Roots ballads by Jackie Edwards and Honey Boy meet up with the considerably tougher roots rockers Barry Brown and Johnny Clarke. Some are originals, others are cover versions but each and every one is a hit. Jackie Edwards, the man with the silken soul voice, wrote hits for the Spencer Davis Group in the 1960s. Johnny Clarke enriches this collection with a track heavily influenced by Hopeton Lewis' rocksteady classic "Rocka Shocka." Horace Andy was a product of the Studio One talent school, and the original 12" version of "I Don't Want To Be Left Outside," also known as "Zion Gate," has spawned numerous dancehall covers. Barry Brown also has a fair few Studio One hits to his name. His combative protest songs earned him the title of "the Bob Dylan of reggae." These two tracks are testimony to his Rastafarian beliefs and spiritual influence, inseparable from the social critique in his lyrics. Hortense Ellis is one of reggae's great female vocalists. The cover version of her brother's (Alton Ellis) classic hit "I'm Still In Love" is rhythmically similar and lyrically close to the original. Delroy Wilson was a star in the Studio One firmament, and one of the finest reggae singers ever to set foot in a Jamaican studio. Leroy Smart's first recording sessions were in the early 1970s with Jimmy Radway and Bunny Lee, and later with Joseph Hookim at Channel One. His hits raised him to the level of cult status and his live appearances were the source of animated controversy. The hard working Don of reggae still divides opinion today, but "Love In My Heart" should calm the most agitated of souls. Other artists include: Cornell Campbell, Roy Shirley, Ras Murray and Ronnie Davis.
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2CD
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MOLL 014CD
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The Roots Lover 1978 - 1983 is the first collection of Sugar Minott's best maxi-singles with extended versions (plus two additional intros). Lincoln "Sugar" Minott played a major role in the story of Jamaican music as a singer, songwriter, producer, label man and sound system instigator. His singing voice was as sweet as honey (hence the nickname) and graced both roots and lover's rock compositions in equal measure. Born Lincoln Barrington Minott in 1956 in West Kingston, Jamaica, his career actually began as part of the vocal trio African Brothers in 1970. After departing with the group in 1976, Sugar signed a solo contract with Studio One, and Sugar set about writing his own lyrics over the classic riddims of Jamaica's most famous label, as well as penning his own songs. Sugar's way of working on covers laid down the foundations for the later coming dancehall movement, and his debut album Live Loving can lay claim to being the very first dancehall album, with Roots Radics or the Revolutionaries, top class musicians in their own right, accompanying Sugar on many of his songs. His uniquely sweet, almost hushed vocal style became his trademark. Bob Marley loved it and declared Sugar to be one of his favourite singers in Jamaica. Three albums (Live Loving, Showcase, More Sugar) and a number of singles later, he set up his own Black Roots Production and Youth Promotion Company labels in 1978, along with the Youth Promotion Soundsystem, which was a springboard for ghetto kids to get to work in the studio. In 1980 he moved to London, where the UK was under the spell of lover's rock, which Minott took full advantage of whilst masking the fact that he was equally at home in Jamaican roots. Sugar would later go back to his roots in Jamaica scoring a hit with the ganja hymn "Herbsman Hustling" -- one of the founding elements of rootical dancehall. In 1988 he turned increasingly political and his African Soldier album (1988) is dedicated to the freedom fighters in South Africa opposing Apartheid. Throughout much of the rest of his career, he drew attention to Africa's rich history, its culture and perception of Ethiopia as the promised land of Zion. Venturing away from conventional reggae into crossover territory in the '90s, he started to address themes of love and cultural awareness, showing himself to be a singer who moved easily between the poles of roots reality and the poetry of love. Here is the ultimate roots reggae collection, chock full of unearthed extended versions to round off a portrait of Sugar Minott which confirms him as the greatest Jamaican protagonist of roots and lover's rock, captured at the most important moments of his musical story. Limited stock.
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CD
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MOLL 004CD
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Moll-Selekta's fourth release showcases recordings by Ansel Collins, Jamaica's busiest and most famous keyboardist besides Jackie Mittoo. Laid down in 1979 with the legendary studio band The Revolutionaries at Channel One studios, whose members included the world-famous riddim twins Sly & Robbie, Jamaican Gold presents timeless roots and lover's reggae, dubs, numerous instrumentals, guest vocalists Tony Tuff and Roland Burrell as well as DJs Mr. Mystic and Jah Thomas. Growing up in the formative '60s, when this small Caribbean island offered the pop world the gifts of ska, rocksteady and the beginnings of reggae, Collins started out as a singer, then drummer before discovering keyboards. As a studio musician he participated in countless recordings with leading reggae producers like Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at Studio One, Bunny Lee, Leslie Kong, Phil Pratt and Prince Buster. This release offers an insight into Ansel Collins' vast creative range at the peak of his powers.
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2LP
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MOLL 013LP
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Warehouse find, last copies. Many reggae aficionados see the concentrated phase of rock steady between 1967-1969 as the Caribbean's most productive era of all time. Never before had such sweet melodies, inspiring rhythms and beautiful love lyrics come together. Numerous soul hits by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions, The Supremes all got the bass-driven, Jamaican style treatment. The Bunny Lee Rock Steady Years collects some of the most essential and rarest songs of that era -- in a better sound quality than ever before. It showcases a wealth of soulful singers, ranging from top acts like Slim Smith (also lead-singer in the Techniques and Uniques) or Alton Ellis to the rather unknown Cynthia Richards or Webber Sisters. All songs were produced by Bunny Lee, one of the greatest Jamaican producers, who had one rock steady hit after another -- finally earning him the nickname "Striker". This compilation is a valuable slice of history for reggae and soul fans alike, for lovers of great voices, for those who do not confuse "cool" with cold and appreciate a good love song when it comes from the heart. Features The Sensations, The Uniques, Glen Adams, Owen Gray, Dawn Penn, Ken Parker, Slim Smith, Winston Samuels, Errol Dunkley, Pat Kelly, Alton Ellis, Alva Lewis, Cynthia Richards, Webber Sisters, and Lester Sterling with King Cannon.
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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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