The Roots Radics

I ask myself how could we have gone so long without ever having a "Roots Radics" label?  How is that even possible?  

That changes now.  

Ahora.

song: Bit by Bit
artist: The Morwells
label: Mor-Well-Esq
year: 1975





It all goes back to the Morwells,

and Kingston Jamaica..

The Morwells were a reggae band originally formed in 1973 by friends Maurice "Blacka" Wellington and Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont.  Later Errol "Flabba" Holt was brought in to make it a trio.

Blacka, Flabba and Bingy Bunny

During the mid to late 1970's The Morwells released a string of singles on their own "Mor-Well-Esq" label with Bingy Bunny usually singing lead vocals.  Their first album "Presenting the Morwells" was released in 1975 along with its companion dub album "Dub Me."  They have both been reissued, by the way, and are considered cult classics.

Between the years 1975 to 1978 the Morwells released a total of four vocal albums: "Presenting the Morwells", "Crab Race",  "Cool Runnings" and "Kingston 12 Toughie."  During this time Bingy Bunny and Flabba Holt were also working in the Kingston recording studios as session musicians.  Bingy on guitar and Flabba on bass.  The Jamaican studios of the late 1970's were a bee hive of musical creativity.  Bingy and Flabba joined forces with Lincoln "Style" Scott on drums, Dwight Pinkney on lead guitar and Gladstone Anderson on keyboards and began laying down tracks for some of the great Jamaican artist of the day: Prince Far I, Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer, The Wailing Souls, Barrington Levy and more.

Prince Far I called them "The Arabs" but it was Gregory Isaacs who gave them the name the world would come to know them by: "The Roots Radics."

The rest is musical history. 

artist: Prince Far I and the Arabs
song: Plant Up
album: Cry Tuff Dub Encounters Chapter 3
label: Pressure Sounds



prince far i and the arabs

artist: Gregory Isaacs and the Roots Radics

song: Confirmed Reservation

album: BBC session 1981

gregory isaacs and the roots radics

The Roots Radics

The Roots Radics Band

bass - Earl "Flabba" Holt
rhythm guitar - Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont
drums: Lincoln "Style" Scott
lead guitar: Noel "Sowell" Bailey, Dwight Pinkney
keyboards: Gladstone "Gladdy" Anderson, Wycliffe "Steely" Johnson
percussion: Barnabus, Scully
saxophone: Headly Bennett

artist: The Roots Radics
song: Country Gal Dub
album: King Tubby Meets Roots Radics: Dangerous Dub
label: Copesetic



the roots radics

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