Harry J, Joe White & Sylvan Morris - Roosevelt Ave. Dub 1975 – 1978 (Dr. Buster Dynamite)

This album is a strictly vinyl release on the Dr. Buster Dynamite label pressed in the limited quantity of 500 copies. The Dr. Buster Dynamite label is associated with the famous Jamaican Gold CD label. The label that brought out some well documented releases from various Jamaican producers like Clancy Eccles, Bunny Lee, Lloyd Daley, Byron Lee, Alvin Ranglin and Derrick Harriott. From shuffle, ska, rock steady, soul  to reggae; Jamaican Gold documented all outings of Jamaican music. Almost  all releases came with a small but extensive history booklet  with detailed information about the tracks, the artists and the producers written by Jamaican music documentalist Aad Brakus, alias Dr. Buster (Dynamite). Early 2000 it became very quiet around the Jamaican Gold label. Huub Hermus one of the thriving forces behind the label had passed away, and since then no new Jamaican Gold releases came out. Many fans of the label were still waiting and hoping for more releases.  The label was the subject of many discussions on the various reggae message boards on the net.

September 2011, Dr. Buster Dynamite came back again. Strictly vinyl this time with 2 new releases; “Bunny Striker Lee presents a skanking rockers party” focusing on some nice 12 inches from the seventies, and the Harry Johnson, Joe White and Sylvan Morris album. This album presents some nice dub cuts from Harry Johnson’s studio. It brings together the best tracks from three very hard to find dub albums from the seventies; Joe White - Jah Jah dub (Roosevelt), Cultural Dub (Harry J) and Sylvan Morris – Morris on dub (Jay wax).  The sound quality from this 180 grams vinyl album is splendid! Most tracks come straight from master tape and are technically well cleaned and transferred. As a master sound engineer Sylvan Morris will be very satisfied! In all the tracks you can hear the sound quality of Harry J`s Studio and Sylvan Morris` approach. Technically and musically the balance in the music is great. The dubs may sound  a bit less raw than some of the other studio`s that marked the sound of Jamaican dub music in the seventies, but they are certainly not less attractive. You can hear the work of a top quality sound engineer.  What also makes this set attractive is that most versions are recognizable and well known riddims. The first track, Expression dub, is a haunting melodica delivery from Joe white over a chucking version of Perry`s “Curly locks” riddim. Another recognizable track is “breakdown dub”. A skanking dub with spooky sounding snipes of Sheila Hylton's voice are bringing you a version of her hit “breakfast in bed”. And if you occasionally don`t recognize a riddim, you can always fall back on the traditional extensive liner notes to find out which it is.

Actually this dub set is almost entirely a Joe White album, because his melodica work is present  in most of the tracks. Joe White is a multi-instrumentalist like Augustus Pablo and like Pablo mostly known for his melodica work.  In my opinion, compared to Pablo, his style is very different. He plays his melodica sharper, more swinging and less dreamy. The  track “skank indigo” that versions Harry J`s famous Liquidator riddim is a nice example of that.  Another outstanding track is “Black Impressions”  a melodica version of the Heptones hit “Book of rules”. Everything is working in that track; a heavy bass line, melodica, percussion, piano. Sometimes the riddim is empty (strictly drum & bass), then nicely timed back to full force. Super dub Jamaican Style! Then there is “Undermind dub” that almost has the feel of a Channel One dub, with lots of echoes and delays. For a dub album the music and the mixing are well varied in style and atmosphere which makes it a very enjoyable album from start to finish. 

After all the heavy dub work the album closes of with an original instrumental Joe White tune “Meditation of Sound”. Fully blown by Joe in the Far East style it certainly provides you with a moment for meditation. Could there be any better closure for this great album on which Joe White puts a mark on most of the tracks? But like the music it is all in balance; Harry Johnson (the producer), Joe White (the artist) and Sylvan Morris (the Engineer).  The great picture on the front of the sleeve shows it all!

In my opinion this is another outstanding release of Dr. Buster! High quality music, nicely documented with a extensive liner notes and interesting photo`s.

Flying D.

Reggae - “The first encounter”

When I was a little stereo :)

Often people ask me how I first encountered reggae Music and how I got so hooked on it. The strange thing is that I can`t recall my real “first encounter”. And in the same way I am not able to answer the question “what was your first reggae record? But what I do remember is how the music hit me and never let me go. First I want to go back to a moment that illustrates for me what reggae music can do with people.

It was at the end of the eighties. As a youngster I went with five friends on a summer holiday in Spain. The type of holiday which later on became subjects for compromising TV shows in Holland. Five youngsters in a small apartment in Salou. A small town full of youngsters with lots of beaches, beer and parties. To me it felt close to the heart of Babylon, and so I had absolutely no fit with my environment at the time. One afternoon I stayed behind in the apartment by myself to get some peace of mind. From the little balcony on the third floor I overlooked a small but busy shopping street. Constant noises from car horns, voices, and music. I was standing on the balcony listening to a reggae tape that I brought from home. While I was observing the people who strolled on the street below. When the tape started playing a re-mix of the “Throw me corn” riddim I couldn`t resist to turn up the volume of the ghetto blaster to the max. And then, down in the little street below, I saw it happened. The people in the street were hit by the music in a positive way. Some of them started to swing, others looked up at the balcony with a big smiles on their faces and put up their thumbs as a sign of appreciation. For me it was so cool to observe this from where I stood. The setting was not special at all,  but once more it became clear for me just how much of a positive influence, like no other, reggae music had on people.

The same happened to me when I had my “first encounter” with reggae music. The patterns of drum and bass hit me like no other music and they created this enormous boost of energy in my body. Energy that caused an urge to dance and made me feel completely free to express myself. Reggae music touched me deeply, and that feeling never left me. From that “first encounter” I started a thorough search for the roots of this music and culture behind it. It became a fascinating journey on which I discovered beautiful music, interesting people but above all, a lot about myself.

“What was your first record?” I can`t recall that one. My interest in reggae grew slowly. Actually at the time I was one of those persons who hardly bought any music at all. I was not interested in radio and music charts like most people at my age. It was somewhere in the early eighties that I became infected by the reggae fever. Just after the heyday of the roots, and just before the transformation to the digital dancehall. It started with tapes that I got from friends, with tracks of which it wasn`t important to me who the performing artists were. Later it appeared to be artists like Dillinger, Mighty Diamonds, Wailing Souls and Burning Spear. The first records in my recollection were Black Uhuru “Red”, Frankie Paul “Strictly reggae music” and very important Augustus Pablo “King Tubby`s meets the rockers uptown”. I bought this last album in a small second hand record shop without having a clue of what this album was about. Red, gold and green edge around the sleeve. That must be reggae! This album put me early in my reggae journey on the track of dub music. At first it started out with buying some records from time to time, but as I said before I do things thoroughly. Around the mid eighties my pattern of buying records became one of an avid record collector. From limited available reading sources I started to dig deeper and deeper into the history of reggae music. King Tubby and Lee Perry were my early heroes. The strange thing was that in those days the more popular English reggae bands such as Aswad and Steel Pulse completely passed me by. Even the albums of Bob Marley were not for me of interest in those days. I bought those much later! What hit me most was the raw Jamaican sound almost strictly built on drums and bass. From my point of view no other than the Jamaican musicians are able to play the riddims with such an unpredictable thrill. Let`s call it “the vibe”! And I love this vibe!

Those who know me personally know how “this vibe” changed my life in an unpredictable and exciting way. Meanwhile I am exposed to a huge amount of Jamaican music; live, on vinyl or through Sound Systems. I met lots of interesting and extraordinary friendly people from all over the world who all handed me a little piece of the puzzle. Adding to my eagerness to learn more about Jamaican music and the underlying culture, of which I am very grateful for. My taste in Jamaican music and my knowledge about the culture behind it has broadened from Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, Reggae, Dancehall to Ragga. It is still an amazing journey. And I hope a never ending one!

Flying D.