When Jah Shall Come

Pressure Sounds

Reggae Roots Dub

CD PSCD 106

£13.00 In stock

Tracklist

1 Tommy's Vibes Tommy McCook

2 No Babylon Shall Escape In This Time * Johnny Clarke

3 Ethiopian Rock Jah Smile

4 Jamaican Fruit Of African Roots * Lennox Brown

5 Every Knee Shall Bow * Ronnie Davis

6 King Tubby's vs Arrows Dubplate * Cornell Campbell

7 One Room Shack Al Campbell

8 War Zone John Forbes

9 Look How Long Nyabinghi Calling You * Linval Thompson

10 Life Of My Own * The Raver

11 Bell Road Rock * The Aggrovators

12 Keep On Running Cornell Campbell

13 The Right To Live U-Roy

14 Wicked A Go Feel It Al Campbell

15 Joe Frazier * Tommy McCook

16 No Man Is An Island * Johnny Clarke

17 Go Jah Jah Pickney * Linval Thompson

18 Better Collie * Johnny Clarke

19 It's Time For Love ** Owen Gray

20 The Arabian Sound Of Reggae Bobby Ellis

21 Bunny Lee & King Tubby's Dubplate Special * Cornell Campbell

Bunny Lee recorded a massive volume of remarkably consistent music in the 70s. This compilation brings together rare and unreleased cuts that put the listener bang in the middle of a typical recording session, complete with false starts and studio banter.

Linval Thompson is represented by two unreleased tunes, and is also heard in the runup to 'Tommy's Vibration'. Once the 'flying cymbal' sound had taken off, Bunny often recorded a 'flyers' and a straight version of the same rhythm: 'Tommy's Vibration' is a classic but little known Tommy McCook instrumental on the flyers cut of Linval's 'Jah Jah A The Conqueror'. 'Ethiopian Rock' is a total scorcher, the only recorded tune by the deejay Jah Smile, before Bunny persuaded him to turn to singing and changed his name to Barry Brown.

In a healthy spirit of competition, Bunny often tried out different singers on tunes that he thought would hit, hence Ronnie Davis's soulful take on Johnny Clarke's 'Every Knee Shall Bow', Johnny's version of Horace Andy's 'Better Collie', and Johnny and Horace sharing vocals on 'No Man Is An Island', all unreleased until now. 'No Babylon Shall Escape In This Time' has Johnny Clarke and 'Bongo' Herman Davis recorded over the original version side of Johnny's 'None Shall Escape The Judgement'. 'Life Of My Own' is a beautifully constructed lament by a singer who neither Bunny nor various expert ears have managed to identify: at Bunny's suggestion he is credited as 'The Raver'. 'War Zone' and 'Keep On Running' are examples of Tubby's mixes that have had further effects dubbed on elsewhere; sound systems and foreign record labels occasionally did this to manufacture their own specials from existing mixes. 'Jamaican Fruit Of African Roots' has recently been the subject of the fascinating documentary 'Shella Record: A Reggae Mystery'; the Lennox Brown cut here has only just been discovered. Also included are two stinging dubplates by Cornell Campbell: the first is aimed straight to the head of Arrows sound system, while the second, recorded in the early 80s, sums up the vital partnership of two of Jamaica's musical giants:

* previously unreleased ** CD bonus track