Duke Reid´s Treasure Chest (Treasure Isle Rocksteady)

Duke Reid (born Arthur S. Reid ca. 1915, Jamaica, died in 1974) was one of the initial producers in Kingston who developed Jamaican music. He started in the early 1960s with ska productions, developed the rock steady style and took part in the early days of reggae music.

This is the original, 41-track, double CD collection, with all the classic rock steady hits by the great groups (Melodians, Paragons) and singers (Alton Ellis, Phyllis Dillon). Digitally re-mastered, "Duke Reid's Treasure Chest" is a collection that truly showcases the label's greatness, and captures the magic of Treasure Isle rock steady. Pure soul magic from start to finish.

"Duke Reid's Treasure Chest" provides quite a proficient overview of the formative years of reggae. It compiles tunes from the vaults of his Treasure Isle label, perhaps second only to Studio One in terms of success and influence.

Duke Reid´s Treasure Chest CD 1
Duke Reid´s Treasure Chest CD 2
(192 kbsp)

Force Of Music - Freedom Fighters Dub

Although the Royals' lineup had shifted on a number of occasions, in the mid-'70s a more dramatic cleft occurred, forcing Roy Cousins to take stock. While he mulled his next move, the singer/producer kept his group's name alive with the release of "Pick Up the Pieces", a stunning compilation of the Royals' best recent work, with a second set, "Ten Years After", following in 1978.

Thanks to DJ Lloyd Coxsone, who set the London scene shaking with dubs of "Ten Years After"'s songs, Cousins struck a deal with United Artists. The label, via their Ballistic imprint, released both "Pick Up the Pieces" and Ten Years After, as well as "Freedom Fighter Dub", whose ten versions were drawn evenly from both vocal albums. "Freedom Fighter" itself was credited to Force of Music, a moniker that encompassed just about every name musician then on the scene. The Royals never used one studio exclusively, and even the dub set was divvied up, with various tracks mixed down by Errol Thompson, Ernest Hoo Kim, and Scientist.

The echoing-in-the-ether of "Smoke Pipe Dub," the militant sound of "Pagan Front Dub," and the melody laced "Free Nambia Dub" each highlight the diversity of the approaches within. "Tribute to Lloyd Coxsone in Dub" is just exuberant, a fitting homage to the man who helped make it all happen; Cousins gratefully dedicated the album to him. The bulk of the vocal tracks were stunning versions of classic riddims, most arranged in roots reggae style, with only a few falling into rockers territory. The dubs invariably toughened them up, although "Promised Land"'s cheery atmosphere still shines through on "Fresh Cow Milk Dub," while the sweet melody of "Freedom Fighters" bubbles to the surface of "Free Namibia Dub" The vocal sets cemented the Royals' vocal reputation in stone, this dub set did the same for Cousins' productions.

Tracklist:                           

A1	Blood For Freedom Dub	2:46
A2	Free Namibia Dub	3:06
A3	Black Prince And Princess Dub	2:57
A4	Quake Heart Dub	3:03
A5	Pieces Of Dub	3:33
B1	Smoke Pipe Dub	2:54
B2	Pagan Front Dub	3:41
B3	Tribute To Lloyd Coxone Dub	3:47
B4	Fresh Cow Milk Dub	3:51
B5	Meet The People Dub	3:42

Force Of Music - Freedom Fighters Dub
(192 kbps, cover art included, track 10 is missing!)

King Stitt - Reggae Fire Beat (Jamaican Gold)

Born Winston Cooper, King Stitt was one of the early DJs on the reggae scene. Spotted by Count Machuki at a dance, Stitt was asked to try his hand at DJing because of his spectacular dance moves.

Born with facial disfigurement, Stitt used it as a gimmick, taking advantage of the islanders' love for Westerns and calling himself the Ugly, after Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". Initially, people went to his shows to find out if he really was ugly or not. After a time, he came into his own as a DJ without needing the gimmick, using ideas taken from radio DJs in Miami and New Orleans that came over the broadcasts to Jamaica.

He began working with Coxsone Dodd, and then moved on to Clancy Eccles, with whom he produced a number of works that met with success in both Jamaica and the U.K.- "Fire Corner," "Herbman Shuffle," and "Van Cleef" (because Lee Van Cleef was the "ugly one" in the movie). Now, he works at Coxsone's Studio One from time to time.

"Reggae Fire Beat" is a superb collection of tracks produced by Clancy Eccles in the first reggae era at the end of the sixties into the early seventies featuring the distinctive voice of one Winston Spark aka The Ugly One aka King Stitt.
Tracklist:

01 - King Alpha (The Beginning)
02 - Dance Beat 1
03 - Jump For Joy
04 - Soul Language
05 - Herbsman Shuffle
06 - Lick It Back
07 - Lee Van Cleef
08 - On The Street
09 - Vigorton Two
10 - Oh Yeah
11 - Fire Corner
12 - I For I
13 - In The City
14 - Rub A Dub
15 - Sounds Of The 70's
16 - Christmas Tree
17 - King Of Kings
18 - Queen Omega (The End)

King Stitt - Reggae Fire Beat (Jamaican Gold)
(320 kbps, front cover included)

Pete Seeger - The Rainbow Quest (1960)

Pete Seeger fills the first half of his 1960 studio album "The Rainbow Desig" with three medleys, playing and singing a chorus or so of 17 different songs in 15 minutes, as if just getting down the basics of the tunes to remember them and perhaps perform them more fully later. Toward the end of this set, he gets a bit more serious and organized, beginning with an original composition "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," a philosophical ballad with the chorus (gently sung), "When will you ever learn?" What he wants his listeners to learn, it becomes apparent, is to avoid war, particularly nuclear war, as he follows with a Japanese poem to that effect before ending the medley section of the album with a poem by early 20th century labor organizer and songwriter Joe Hill.

Seeger begins the album's second half with another lovely original, "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread," which expresses his desire to bind the world together. A trio of songs about the need for peace follows, all of them written by his half-sister Peggy Seeger and/or her husband, Ewan MacColl. The most affecting of these is "The Dove," which finds Seeger putting down his banjo temporarily and playing a melody on the flute. Another call to brotherhood ("To Everyone in All the World") is followed by a marching song from the Montgomery bus boycott ("We Are Moving on to Victory"), and the album concludes with the elegiac "When I'm Dead and Buried" (aka "Don't You Weep After Me"). Although the collection is something of a miscellany, it contains some excellent Seeger songs, typically mixing his love for old folk tunes with his commitment to progressive political causes such as nuclear disarmament and Civil Rights.

Pete Seeger - The Rainbow Quest (1960)
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Josh White - Blues And ... (1956)

Josh White went through so many different phases and sounds in his career, that he was virtually a musical chameleon, adapting easily to whatever audiences expected of him in any given decade. Still, the "big band"-style blues embodied on these 1956-vintage recordings may surprise those who only know White from his acoustic sides cut during the folk revival of the later 1950s and early 1960s. His voice - still an excellent instrument in its own right two decades into his recording career - and acoustic guitar mesh nicely with a sextet consisting of Jack Fallon (bass), Phil Seamen (drums), Bertie King (alto sax), Fred Hartz (tenor sax), Benny Green (baritone sax), and Kenny Baker (trumpet), on "Kansas City Blues."

White gets to show off his skill as a slide guitarist on stripped-down pieces such as "Careless Love" - a nearly six-minute long acoustic blues showcase - and his vocal range on the lusty "Oh Lula," and gives a fresh take on "St. Louis Blues," White's guitar and Seamen's drums interweaving rhythmic patterns around his exuberant vocals.

Tracklist:
- How Long Blues
- Careless Love
- Oh, Lula
- St. Louis Blues
- Kansas City Blues

- I Had To Stoop To Conquer You
- I Know How To Do It
- Dink's Blues
- Mint Julep
- Good Morning Blues

Josh White - Blues And... (1956)
(256 kbps, front & back cover included)