RhoDeo 1205 Roots

Hello, we're still on that island with a huge place in the global music catalogue, Jamaica. A production hothouse and they say the Weed makes you slow and lazy-go figure. Without the ganja driven reggae music Jamaica would have remained a Caribbean backwater and dare i say would never have given us Bolt, the fastest man in the world.

Can't get enough of that dub music ? Well here's some more

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This is a mysterious release as the web turns up absolutely nothing on who's behind this but it seems it was released back in the day (1975 according to my copy) in the US as "kaya dub" (kaya) - no credit to Pat Francis according to comments at Roots-Archives.com it is de facto the repackeged renamed Jah Lloyd – Herbs Of Dub album.

PAT FRANCIS was a fine singer and DJ who recorded under various aliases - Jah Lloyd, Jah Lion and Jah Ali - which reflected his Rastafarian beliefs. The original vinyl version of Colombia Colly, the album he cut as Jah Lion in 1976 for the producer Lee Perry, changes hands for pounds 70 and is a steady seller on CD, while his 1970s Jah Lloyd dub collections (Herb Dub, Final Judgement) are sought after by aficionados the world over.

Born in 1947 in St Catherine, Jamaica, Francis had a rather unhappy childhood. His mother died when he was eight and he was subsequently brought up by his farming father in Point Hill, St Catherine. Leaving school in 1959, the teenager ended up in the Trench Town area of Kingston. Influenced by the boogie sound of the pianist Theophilius Beckford and the ska rhythms of the Maytals, Francis formed a duo with Paul Aston Jennings. As the Meditators, they recorded "Darling Here I Stand" and "Look Who a Go Bust", two Studio One singles which made the local charts towards the end of the 1960s. Ever more involved in the burgeoning Jamaican music scene, Francis became the equivalent of a record plugger, promoting rock-steady 45s to local sound systems. Later, he also sold records in Lee Perry's shack. In 1970, having adopted the Rastafarian faith, he recorded "King of Kings", a song praising Emperor Haile Selassie as the descendant of King David.

By 1974, Francis launched the Teem label with his younger brother Vincent and recorded many self-produced sides at King Tubby's studio in Kingston. He also discovered the Mighty Diamonds vocal trio who went on to great success under the guidance of Ernest and Joseph Hookim at Channel One. As Jah Lloyd, Francis cut several takes on the Mighty Diamonds' "Shame and Pride", including "Killer Flour", a biting commentary on the "poison flour" scare which gripped Jamaica in early 1976. However, Francis's finest hour came in 1976 when he collaborated with Lee Perry on the excellent Colombia Colly, which was recorded at the Black Ark Studios and gained a worldwide release on Island Records. It was Perry who insisted on his ditching the name Jah Lloyd in favour of Jah Lion:

However, Francis found his attempts to establish his own identity away from the producer weren't helped by the fact that the only picture on the sleeve of Colombia Colly was one of a grinning Lee Perry. Switching to Virgin's Frontline label, Francis issued, as Jah Lloyd, the critically-acclaimed albums The Humble One and Black Moses before collaborating with Prince Jammy on Goldmine Dub, a collection picked up by the Greensleeves label for UK distribution. In the Eighties, ragga took over from the toasting DJs and the skills of Pat Francis were less in demand. He faded away in Kingston, with his wife and three children relocating to the United States.

Because he has seldom been photographed, some reference books claim Jah Lion to be a mythical artist, a figment of Lee Perry's feverish ganja- fuelled imagination. In fact, Patrick Lloyd Francis (Jah Lloyd, Jah Lion, Jah Ali), singer and musician: born St Catherine, Jamaica 29 August 1947; married (three children); shot and died Kingston, Jamaica 12 June 1999.

Maya Dread – Kaya Dub (flac 175mb)

01 Yard Man Dub 3:15
02 Meaning Dub 2:21
03 Another Lion Special 2:51
04 Conquering Dub Of Africa 3:22
05 Kaya Dub Song 3:16
06 Tribute To The King 2:55
07 Rattle Snake Echoe 2:55
08 Dub A Natty Dub 2:42
09 Tracking To Africa 2:35
10 Dread A Rikers Island 2:55

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Harry Mudie attended the St Jago High School. In the mid fifties, he launched his own sound system "Mudies Hi-Fi", before going to the UK to study electronics and photography. Back in Jamaica in the late 1950s, Mudie began producing, mainly Jamaican R&B records; His first production was "Babylon Gone" (1962) by rasta drummer Count Ossie and saxophonist Wilton Gaynair, released in the UK in 1962 on Blue Beat.He moved away from production in the 1960s, operating his Scaramouch Garden Amusement Center in Spanishtown, opened in 1962. He returned to production in the late 1960s, launching his Moodisc label and working with artists such as Winston Wright, Winston Shand, Lloyd Jones, Count Ossie and was the first producer to put I Roy on record. In the early 1970s, Mudie was the first to record the deejay Big Joe. He was the first producer to use string sections in reggae, starting with (John Holt's 1973 album Time is the Master. He also produced the Heptones on the classic "Love Without Feeling", DJ tunes by Count Sticky, Big Joe ("Set Your Face At Ease" on the "Rome" rhythm), and Jah Lloyd, and a number of "Drifter" cuts by Bongo Herman and others. During the mid-70s Mudie issued three classic dub albums mixed by King Tubby, instrumental sets by Gladstone Anderson and Ossie Scott, vocal albums by Dennis Walks and Bunny Maloney, for whom he produced the popular Jamaican lovers favourite "Baby I've Been Missing You", and two excellent various artists collections. During the 80s and 90s he concentrated on his back catalogue with re-presses and some excellent new compilations such as Reggae History Volume One and Reggae Bible, the latter being a whole album based on the "Drifter" rhythm. This prolific period produced over 100 singles and several 12-inch "discomix" singles as the decade closed.

Harry Mudie - In Dub Confrence Vol.1 (flac 181mb)

01 Full Dose Of Dub 3:14
02 Madhouse Dub 2:55
03 Dub For The Dread 3:05
04 Dub With A Difference 2:52
05 Caught You Dubbing 3:37
06 Roman Dub 2:57
07 Dub Conference 3:03
08 Heavy Duty Dub 3:02
09 Striptease Dub 3:14
10 String Dub In Rema 2:53

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Born Overton Brown, Jamaica, West Indies. Scientist burst onto the reggae scene in the early 80s with a reckless mixing style that seemed to outdo even King Tubby's wildest extravaganzas. He began his career as an engineer at Studio One in 1978, mixing the dub to Sugar Minott's "Oh Mr DC", among others. Shortly afterwards he became a prot‚g‚ of King Tubby, and swiftly gained a reputation with his fresh mixing style. In 1980 the UK-based record company Greensleeves began to release the productions of top Jamaican producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes. Lawes, finding success with new singing sensation Barrington Levy, used Tubby's studio for his voicing and final mix-downs and offered Greensleeves a couple of dub albums mixed by Tubby's sensational young engineer. Scientist v Prince Jammy (1980), mostly consisting of dub mixes of Barrington Levy tracks, was presented as a "Big Showdown" between the two dubmasters, with the first track mixed by Scientist, the second by King Jammy (as he was later known), and so on. The combination of heavyweight Roots Radics rhythms pitted against one another (the cover depicted the two protagonists in a cartoon style, sitting at their mixing desks in a boxing ring surrounded by a crowd of dreads) made for exciting listening, and gave the dub idiom a much needed shot in the arm.

Greensleeves followed this with an album proclaiming Scientist to be the Heavyweight Dub Champion, a similar brew of Roots Radics/Barrington Levy rhythms. Dub albums mixed by Scientist soon began to appear with bewildering regularity from various sources. Greensleeves, in particular, continued to issue album after album which, despite their increasingly unlikely titles and garish covers, remain essential listening. Scientist moved from Tubby's four-track studio to Joseph "Joe Joe" Hookim's 16-track Channel One studio in 1982, where he also learned to record live. His popularity resurrected dub's fading fortunes for a few years, but the form had lost ground in the Jamaican dancehalls to the new breed of dancehall DJs and vocalists, and by the mid-80s few Jamaican producers felt it prudent to spend money on producing dub albums. He continued as resident engineer at Channel One until the mid-80s, when he moved to New York to continue his production career.

Scientist v. Prince Jammy - Big Showdown (flac 183mb)

01 Scientist – Round 1 3:44
02 Prince Jammy – Round 2 3:36
03 Scientist – Round 3 4:01
04 Prince Jammy – Round 4 4:08
05 Scientist – Round 5 4:17
06 Prince Jammy – Round 6 4:00
07 Scientist – Round 7 3:47
08 Prince Jammy – Round 8 3:21
09 Scientist – Round 9 4:34
10 Prince Jammy – Round 10 2:48

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