A four-tracker nodding to the Revolutionaries’ late-seventies instrumental EPs out of Maxfield Avenue.
A double whammy of knockout dubs.
First, a head-turning brace for all darker-than-blue massive. A down-to-the-bone version of Pam Hall’s haunted Lovers take on The Stylistics’ Children of the Night; and the startling dub of Junior Moore’s lovely cover of The Isley Brothers’ Voyage to Atlantis. In both the scraps of singing are deadly.
Then two evilous dubs of classic Hopeton Lewis roots, saturated in classic Channel One hard-grooving intensity. Like the opener, never released before now.

Visions Of John Clarke was a little thrown together for its original release in 1979. Still, its sleeve carried a ringing endorsement from Bullwackies himself — ‘President of the John Clarke Fan Club’.
Visions attracted the early interest of no less than Studio 1 boss Coxsone Dodd, whose bid for distribution-rights was thwarted when the Brooklyn label Makossa quickly put in for a full licence. Out soon afterwards, the new version - entitled Rootsy Reggae - duplicated five tracks, but with markedly different mixes, fresh edits, and sometimes new instrumentation. This CD presents both albums complete with the original track order.
The singer — not to be confused with Johnny Clark — had been running with the Wackies operation for the past six years, ever since moving from Jamaica to New York. He’d cut memorable sevens with co-founder Munchie Jackson for the Tafari label — like In Search of The Human Race and Recession — and with Lloyd Barnes for such Bullwackies imprints as Versatile and Wackies. Several are collected by these two albums, with another layer of modification: for example, on Wasn’t It You Lloyd Barnes and Prince Douglas give a new treatment — and adding guitar — to the Jumbo Caribbean Disco twelve; on Pollution they remove the horns from the Wackies seven (though generally Baba Leslie is in full effect here).
The tracklisting rounds out with a Johnny Osbourne cover; several New Breed jams, featuring the likes of Jah Scotty, Clive Hunt, Harold Sylvester, Jah Hitler, Jerry Johnson, the Love Joys, even Mickey Mouse apparently; and on a handful of done-over rhythms Clarke takes the mic from brethren like Joe Auxumite, K.C. White and Wayne Jarrett.

‘Double-sided murder Wackie’s from 1978. Originally released on the Jumbo Caribbean Disco label from Brooklyn. Big Leg Mary is on the same rhythm as Wayne Jarrett’s killer Come Let’s Go. Wasn’t It You is a different cut from the earlier one on the Senrab label, but equally lethal. Both sides fully smoked-out dubwise trademark Wackie’s style, and essential.’

Roots anthem, produced by Tubby for Bunny Lee.

No surprise that JC does the absolute business over this scorching do-over of Winston Riley’s Nothing Is Impossible rhythm (as nailed originally by the Interns / Viceroys).

A Keith Hudson production with a strong whiff of Studio One to its bumping rhythm. JC typically bosses this song about requited love, which gives no clue where the golden snake comes in.
That’s none other than Clive Chin from Randy’s, toasting on the flip.

Originally out in 1982 on the London label Arts & Crafts, heralding a stint in the city for the great singer, and opening a collaboration with producer Stafford ‘Mafia Tone’ Douglas. All self-penned songs, over Roots Radics rhythms.

Clement ‘Minkie’ Moore at Harry J’s in 1980, revisiting the tough Wickedness rhythm — also favoured by Yabby You and Alric Forbes — this time to sing. Babs Gonzales died in 1980 but his genius flourishes in the insouciant exchange between a scatting, I-Do-My-Thing Minkie and some fat, newly-added trombone.

Clifton Gibbs was in the Selected Few, who cut the all-time-classic Selection Train for the Studio One imprint Money Disc. Under his own name, he recorded Brimstone & Fire, another deadly 45 for Coxsone, originally out on Bongo Man. (Chase down the old Heartbeat CD entitled Soul Defenders At Studio One for more of the Clifton Gibbs story.)
From the precious handful of his complete recordings, here’s another scorcher. Emergency roots reasoning, over a chunky rhythm, with expressive backing vocals in Selected Few style. Sounds like Soul Defenders in the house, with some tasty trombone interjections by Vin Morgan, maybe. Vivid shades of Tubby in the expert, stern dub.
Crucial bunny.

Ten vivid, dynamic dubs from Randy’s legendary Studio 17, in North Parade, with Karl Pitterson taking over from Errol Thompson, alongside Clive Chin… stripping, tweaking and burnishing these superbly limber rhythms by Skin Flesh & Bones, the Wailers Band and Now Generation.
Pure, expert instrumental reggae — no bells, no whistles — to run alongside vocal cuts by Ta-Teasha Love, Tony Tuff, Carlos Malcolm and co.
Originally released on Impact! in 1975, in a pressing of barely two hundred copies.

Previously a super-scarce JA blank. Hail the almighty Don D’s scorching solo — flashing a split-second premonition of Rico on Message To You, Rudy.