Scientist in Dub Vol 1

album:  Scientist in Dub Volume 1

artist:  Scientist / Roots Radics

label: Jah Guidance

year: 1981

This, my friends, is a killer album.

Murder in the first degree.

I'm surprised the demons from up in the cloud let me keep it posted.  

I had the original pressing of this record in my record collection once upon a time.  When I sold the bulk of my records back in Miami back in the early 2000's it was one of the records I sold.  I got a very nice bid on it which was nice.  But...

For the most part when I sold my records I was relieved to get rid of them.  Try moving some day with 7000 LPs.  It's a pain.  So I felt no small sense of relief when I sold them off.  But...

One day a friend of mine asked me if I regretted selling any of them and I had to confess the only record that I actually regretted selling was my original copy of Scientist in Dub Volume 1.

"Regrets, I've had a few..." Frank Sinatra

Yes, I regretted selling it.  For years I mourned its loss.  And then one day I was wandering around Amoeba records in Hollywood and I found the repressing.  A brand new reissue copy of the record sealed in plastic.  My pupils dilated.  I picked it up and held it in my hands.  It was like holding the ghost of a long lost friend.  I held it and looked at it and bought it without hesitation.

It had the same cover as the original.

It had the same music as the original.

It was as near a copy of the original as the manufacturers could make but...

I still miss the original.

That's life my friends.

 

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Barrington Levy - Poor man style

 

When Dance hall was lovely.

album: Poorman Style

artist: Barrington Levy

musicians: Roots Radics

producer: Linval Thompson

mixed by Scientist

studio:Channel One

label: Clocktower/Abraham

How did Dancehall become Yellowman?

That is a question that has haunted me for 40 years.

Dancehall, the dancehall that I fell in love with, was so good. Those wicked Roots Radics rythms.  Producers like Linval Thompson and Junjo Lawes.  Artist like the Wailing Souls, Barrington Levy, Linval Thompson himself. The ever present Scientist mixing.  Channel One Studio.  Good music.  When Yellowman came out... It was like loss of Eden..

And I didn't even get the apple.

She Is The Best Girl

I get a tickle every time I see the "Abraham" logo.  A lot of people give Abraham a lot of grief.  Call him a bootleg label.  Say all sorts of ill things but I just want to say "Thank You Mr. Abraham."  Back in the 80s and 90s I purchased so much vinyl on that label.  So many great Channel One albums that I would have otherwise never found.  I'm glad to see he's still putting out material on CD.  Cheers.

edit Feb 9, 2023.  Can someone please tell me why, of all my posts, does this post get so many views?  I'm very curious.  

I Love I Love Her

Barrington Levy

Scientist - Seducer Dub Wise

 

album: Seducer Dub Wise

artist: Scientist mixing Roots Radics 

label: Channel One

Monster dub album.  Deep mystery.  Frankie Paul selections A+++ 

side one:

                               Scientist

side two:

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Johnny Osbourne - Give a Little Love

artist: Johnny Osbourne with the Roots Radics

label: Greensleeves 12 inch sngle

side A: Give a Little Love

side B: Give a Little Dub / Dub a Little Love

Give a Little Love

Johnny Osbourne

Give a Little Dub

Dub a Little Love

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Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires

artist: Roots Radics mixed by Scientist

album: Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires

label: Jah Guidence

year: 1981

side one:

Scientist

side two:

Roots Radics

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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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Bunny Wailer - Borderation (12 inch single)

Yes...  just what I like.   A nice fat riddim.  The musicians are credited as "Solomonic Players" but, to me, it sounds like the Roots Radics.  I'm partial to the version side.  At least this morning I am.

FYI there's a great article on Bunny Wailer HERE

artist: Bunny Wailer and Solomonic Players

label: Solomonic

format: 12" single

songs: Borderation b/w Badder Ridim 

year: 1983

all over creation

Solomonic Players

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Gregory Isaacs BBC Session

This one is a must.

Gregory Isaacs teamed up with the Roots Radics for much of the early 80's to make some of the best music ever recorded in any genre, IMHO.  In October of 1981 they dropped by the BBC and made magic. 

------------------------------------------------

Gregory Isaacs and The Roots Radics

BBC Session 1981

BBC Studios, London, UK, 26th October 1981

Tracks

01 Confirm Reservation

02 Sad To Know You're Leaving
03 Front Door
04 Substitute

 

musicians:

Gregory Isaacs (Vocals)

Dwight Pinkney (Lead Guitar)
Style Scott (Drums)
Erroll Carter (Bass)
Eric Lamont (Rhythm Guitar)
Anthony Johnson (Keyboards)

  

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