Canadian reggae murder! Black Society

Hello There,

One of the good things with social media is that you easily get to know new people with the same passion as yourself, in my case, roots nuggets!

So today I came to chat with a nice fellow who reminded me of this one tune.
As carnival time is coming, I thought it's a good reason to share one of the more obscure yet fantastic production for the great Oswald Creary's Half Moon label.

Here you will find a little more about this canadian label (one of the 3 greats with Summer Records and later King Culture) : http://reggaelicious.pbworks.com/w/page/8799800/Half%20Moon

So, tonight feature is a beautiful tune by Bongo Ossie & The Moon Lights aka Super 8 Corporation and titled Black Society.

This is actually a very rare piece of wax and I had the chance to grab a copy a few years earlier, in near mint condition, from a guy in Florida who had bought a dead stock of 3 or 4 copies.

The tune is dark and roots as it gets. Nice skank from rythmn guitar, plenty of echoes on solo guitar which sounds like twinkling star (sounds a little bit like some Bullwackies productions...), plaintive singing, elusive but nice bass line and something like a ghost sounding organ. Roooooots!
The lyrics go like this :

A thousand miles in Babylon
I heard a voice crying loud
Take these chains from my heart
And set black people free
Long long time since I am here
I should have learned by now
You took me away and you put me in jail
From Black Society
I don't know I don't know
What you want from me
You take me away and you put me in jail
From Black Society

As a bonus (this tune you may find on the excellent Half Moon comp that Honest Jons and PK put together some years ago : http://honestjons.com/shop/artist/Half_Moon/release/Glory_Dominion_Majesty_Power) here you get the superb dub with much more echo to drive you insane.

 Share Super 8 Corporation - Black Society.zip - 13 MB

This is one of the my very very favorite tunes of all times, I hope you dig it too!

I'll try to post some more before hitting London next WE, in the meantime enjoy what's left of summer for those of you in Northern Emisphere,

Peace

Ben

Christmas in summer!

Hi people,

Boosted by summer vibes and carnival time coming its way, here is another roots missile for your enjoyment!

And yes, it's not appropriate for this time of the year, but well, on my blog it's christmas every time for music lovers ;-)

So this nice and quite rare 7'' comes from the US again.
Don't know of other records on this Hot Stuff label (except the 12'' of this same song). Backing band is the Roots Radics and after some research, Scoobey Doo (LOL) also known as Michael Powell, is the lead singer of Determination, a US reggae band from the early 80's Have a look here : http://www.discogs.com/artist/1913803-Determination-4).
He sings on A3 of Determination showcase vol. 1 (also a rare and enjoyable piece).

The lyrics are about christmas period in the ghetto, the singing is plaintive all the way, very nice organ gimmick, the riddim is tough like early 80's can be with mixing sharp as a razor.

Christmas is a time for everyone
Brothers and sisters let's all have some fun
Like dicing to downtown
in a one unseated mini bus
smoking a sensi spliff
down to variety show (?)

Christmas time, christmas time
And...
with all the pretty girls that look pon me
while me sit aside like santa claus
...
giving little presents to the likkle boys and girls
in dis ya christmas time

If anyone as the whole lyrics, please share!

Share Scoobey-Doo aka Michael Powell - Christmas time - Hot Stuff 7'.zip - 15 MB

There are lots of christmas related tunes in reggae, even "christmas" LP's, but this one is the very best in my humble opinion and stands alone as a great reggae tune in its own right.

As a plus, you get the wicked Christmas dub on b side!

As always, comments are welcome, so enjoy and pass the word!

Greetings,

Ben

Going home

Hello people,

Long time since my last post, sorry for that.

Summer is here and I spend lots of time in my garden, taking care of all greens and fruits...fresh vegetables is such a blessing!

But I have not forgotten you all and here is a proof with this super nice rare 10'' that should have been reissued long ago.

The artist, Tony Clark (or Clarke) has not done any other song it seems and no information is to be found on the internet.

Ultrasonic was a NY based label and noticeable output from them also includes Cornell Campbell's "African Woman" 7'' which I will share later on.

The label says "Produced by Lizzy and Val, made in Jamaica, distributed by Ultrasonic Recs & Tapes, Bklyn, NY"

Tonight feature presents in the form of a dark piece of roots with beautiful horns arrangements, sharp guitar line and piano ornaments and repatriation topic lyrics.

It goes like this :

I'm going away, I'm going home

No matter what the people say

I man will never go a stray

I give thanks and prais to the most high, Selassie I

So long rastaman so long

I a I leave Babylon

We got to be free from captivity

oh natty natty

Keep Jah light shining

Cause soon we'll be go away

Far far away to Zion

Oh let Jah Jah know now...

It comes in all its 10'' glory with extended haunting dub.

This is a very enjoyable roots piece and collectors choice indeed.

Share Tony Clark - Going home - Ultrasonic 10'.mp3 - 15 MB

Click on the blue link below the label image to DL and enjoy this pretty piece of reggae.

See you soon I hope,

Peace and more peace to this troubled earth,

Ben