freeskafoundation

After moving to London from his native Trinidad in 1963, Joe Mansano quickly made his mark as one of the UK’s leading West Indian music salesmen. Within five years, his reputation had grown to such an extent that he was head-hunted by Trojan Records to manage one of their key record shops.

Joe’s Records shop in Brixton soon became the place to buy reggae music in the capital and with his finger firmly on the country’s musical pulse, allied to a keen ear for sound, his move into record production seemed a natural progression.

In the studio, Joe’s music-making skills equalled, if not surpassed his talents as a salesman and from late 1968 to 1970 his productions - issued on the Trojan’ Blue Cat, Duke and Joe subsidiaries - proved particularly popular among the country’s skinhead fans. Since then, his work has become highly regarded among aficionados of the UK boss reggae sound, with his releases from this time fetching significant sums on today’s collector’s market.

This 3CD box set comprises the entirety of Joe’s productions from this golden age of reggae, including his seminal 1969 ‘Brixton Cat’ album, and features numerous skinhead classics along with tracks that have remained unissued for well over half a century!

DISC ONE

1  Since I Met You, Baby - Joe’s All Stars

2  Reggae On The Shore - Joe’s All Stars

3  The Judge – Dice The Boss

4  But Officer - Dice The Boss

5  The Bullet - Rico & Joe’s All Stars

6  The Proud One – Rico & Joe’s All Stars

7  Friendly Persuasion – Rico & Joe’s All Stars

8  Sugar Serenade - Joe’s All Stars

9  Hey Jude - Joe’s All Stars

10  Brixton Cat - Dice The Boss

11  Snake Poison – Rico & Joe’s All Stars

12  Funky Reggae (Part 1) – Rico & Joe’s All Stars

13  Reco’s Torpedo - Rico & Joe’s All Stars

14  Honky - Rico & Joe’s All Stars

BONUS TRACKS

15  Return Of The Bullet - Rico & The Rhythm Aces 16 Read The News - Tito Simon

17  Z.Z. Beat - Rico & The Rhythm Aces

18  Life On Reggae Planet - Joe The Boss

19  Rhythm In - Rico & The Rhythm Aces

20  Friends And Lovers - Patti La Donne

21  The Accused - Joe The Boss & Rico

DISC TWO

1  Hot Line – Rico’s & Joe’s All Stars

2  Lash Them - Joe’s All Stars

3  Musical Feet - Pama Dice

4  Battle Cry Of Biafra - Pama Dice

5  Funky Reggae, Part 2 - Joe’s All Stars

6  Dracula, Prince Of Darkness- King Horror

7  Soul Of Joel - Ron & Joe’s All Stars

8  African Meeting - Girlie & Junior

9  Higher And Higher - Josh & Joe’s All Stars

10  Solitude - Joe’s All Stars

11  Gun The Man Down - Dice The Boss

12  The Thief - Joe The Boss

13  Your Boss D.J. - Dice The Boss

14  Behold - The Critics

15  Tea, Patty, Sex & Ganja - Sexy Frankie

16  Since I Met You, Baby (vocal) - Paula Dean

17  Jughead - Paula Dean

18  Teahouse From Emperor Rosko - Joe The Boss

19  She Caught The Train - Ray Martell

20  Tony B’s Theme - Joe’s All Stars

21  Skinhead Revolt – Joe The Boss

DISC THREE

1  Trial Of Pama Dice - Lloyd, Pama Dice & Girlie

2  Jughead Returns Version 1 - Nyah Shuffle

3  Son Of Al Capone - Joe The Boss

4  All My Enemies Beware - Joe The Boss

5  Small Change - Girlie

6  Mind Your Business - Girlie

7  People Are Running - Pamela Brown

8  Schooldays – The Critics

9  Don’t Play That Song - Delroy Williams

10  Appeal Of Pama Dice - Lloyd, Girlie & Joe

11  Young And Strong Version 2- The Boss All Stars

12  The Informer - Dice The Boss

13  Cool It - Dice The Boss

14  Tea House – The Opening

15  Brixton Fight – Pama Dice

16  Brixton Fight Part 2 – The Opening

17  Brixton Pum Pum Wrecker – Pama Dice

18  Bad Day At Black Rock – The Cimaron Kid

19  Fragile – The Cimarons

20  Take Good Care Of My Baby – Clive Williams

21  In Loving Memory – Dice, Rico & The Heat Wave

DWLD

Soul Jazz Records’ new Soul Jamaica brings together a wicked selection of reggae funk and soul tracks from the legendary Studio One stable, featuring a stellar line-up of artists including Jackie Mittoo, The Heptones, The Gladiators, Sim Smith, Peter Tosh and The Wailers, Cedric ‘Im’ Brooks and many more.

For a short period of time at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, nestled between the end of rocksteady and the arrival of roots reggae, Studio One released a small stream of superb soul and funk reggae tunes – covering everyone from Sly and The Family Stone, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Nina Simone, Gene Chandler, Tyrone Davis and more.

Most of the tracks featured on Soul Jamaica were only ever released on Studio One’s UK-subsidiary label Bamboo in small-run pressings and are now consequently extremely hard to find.

1-1 Alton Ellis - Tumbling Tears

1-2 Winston Francis - Turn Back The Hands Of Time 

1-3 Sound Dimension - Sing A Simple Song 

1-4 The Gladiators - Fling It Gimme 

1-5 Jackie Mittoo;JACKIE MITTOO - Soul Finger 

1-6 Winston Francis - Groovy Situation 

1-7 Calvin Marshall - La La 69 

1-8 Soul Defenders - Way Back Home 

1-9 The Heptones - Young, Gifted and Black 

1-10 Im and David - Up Fully 

1-11 Slim Smith - Keep That Light 

1-12 Sound Dimension - Give It Away 

1-13 Zoot Simms - Real Gone Loser 

1-14 Sound Dimension - Soul Bowl 

1-15 Peter Tosh - Can't You See 

1-16 Joy Roberts - Someday We'll Be Together 

1-17 The Freedom Singers - Give Peace A Chance 

DWLD

BIG BAMBOO SAMPLE, compiled by Clement Dodd in the early 1970s was intended as a sampler for the UK Bamboo label. 

This remixed and remastered version features some of  Studio One’s recent recordings, including the Soul Defenders first session. 

Contains the original album and two bonus tracks including the unreleased Africa Yama. From the Studio One archives. 

Tracklist:

01 – Rainy Night In Georgia - Lord Tanamo

02 – Get Ourselves Together - Winston & Jerry

03 – Choking Kind - Ken Parker

04 – Africa Yama - Sound Dimension

05 - Fat Dog - Roy Richards & The Invaders

06 – Heavy Beat (Take 2) - Im & David

07 – So Long Rastafari Calling - Im & Count Ossie with Mystic Revelation of Rastafari

08 – Suspicious Minds - The Heptones

09 – Selection Train - Selected Few

10 – Maga Dog - Larry Marshall & The Invaders

11 – My Whole World - Ken Parker

12 – Moving Away (Take 2) - Ken Boothe

13 – Mr. Fire Coal Man - Wailing Souls

14 – Sweet You Sour You - Freddie McKay

DWLD