Burning Sounds 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Byron Lee was an important part of Jamaican music from his first appearance in the 60s and onwards. Amongst his bustling back catalogue is this cheery classic from 1980, which keeps the heart and soul of ska alive, with an emphasis on the soul. The rhythms are reliably skanking throughout, whether stopping by the melancholic 'Shoobe Doobe Doo' or the chirpy 'Bend Down Low'. This is ska in its truest sense, with an infectious energy which speaks universally to young and old, hip and square. You can also hear the strong US RnB roots of the music in Lee's songwriting, and it tugs at the heart strings in just the same way. Grab an immaculate album of honest, earnest songwriting magic with all the irrepressible joy of Jamaica coursing through its veins.

Review: Recorded at Channel One Recording Studio in Kingston Jamaica and featuring the one and only Sly and Robbie, Innocent Lover was a 1979 classic from Trevor Hartley. Phil Pratt took care of the production and Tommy McCook and Ansel Collins also line-up on what is a super smooth selection of reggae rollers. The production is earthy and organic, with subtle effects fleshing out rach instrumental as Hartley's buttery vocals ring out up top, mostly musing on themes of love, romance and heartbreak.

Review: Classic dub here from Jimmy London that now gets reissued on some sweet heavyweight vinyl for loud deployment of beefy sound systems. London recorded it back in 1980 for the Burning Sounds label with a seriously talented cast of assistants taking up lead guitar, rhythm guitar, drums, bass, sax, trombone and much more. They all make for a colourful exploration of reggae sounds that are as impactful now as they ever were. Jimmy's effortlessly sweet and soulful volts are the icing on each of these alluring reggae rhythm cakes.

Review: Honey-voiced mic man Anthony Johnson's classic eighties dancehall album Reggae Feelings was recorded at Channel One with The Roots Radics. It was produced by Delroy Wright and Toyan, and mixed and voiced at King Tubbys, so the credits alone tell you of its quality. These are heavy rhythms with raw drums, hints of digital synthesis and some great mic work that ranges from wordless ad libs to yearning pleads. It still sounds fresh today, with plenty of sci-fi production motifs over the organic drums.

Review: Dub innovator, celebrated smoker of the herb and much-loved nutter Lee Scratch Perry has been gone a while now but his musical legacy will never fade. Partly, of course, because he made so damn much of it during a prolific career, most of it at his own iconic Black Arc studios. Not so much of it was solo work but Heaven is, and is also the final album he wrote before passing in late 2021. His contribution to Jamaican music knows no bounds and took the form of him being producer, arranger, writer and artist. His unique take on the island's signature sound is present and correct here.

Review: The last album the mighty Lee Scratch Perry recorded before he died was Heaven, freshly released on Burning Sounds and leaving us with a lasting memory of his indelible influence on modern music. To accompany the full-length, the label have picked the versions of two album tracks and given them an airing on a standalone 12", cut nice and loud for the dance. 'Shining Dub' takes up the A side, and 'Shut Up Dub' takes the flip, and both dive deep into the echo chamber style Perry himself helped pioneer so many decades prior.

Review: Sax player Prince Lincoln Thompson and his Royal Rasses - Keith Perkins (aka Cap) and Clinton Hall (aka Johnny Kool) - joined forces for this one in 1979. It's a definitive roots and reggae album with perfectly horizontal sound and deep cut grooves into which you can sink over and over again. The lyrics touch on standard reggae fair - love, jah, pain - and are effortlessly smooth and seductive over the organic, jumbled rhythms, The reissue has extensive sleeve notes and comes on yellow vinyl with engineering and mixing at Harry J. Studio.

Review: Prince Lincoln Thompson was a Jamaican singer and songwriter, and was for a time the leader of the reggae group The Royal Rasses. Several albums in the 1970s and 1980s came among his greats, blending roots reggae, soul and even jazz influences. Thompson's 1980 LP Natural Wild was a hit enough, but it's its shadow self in the form of God Sent Dub that really captures our interest. At first, this dub version of the former LP was only issued that same year, as a limited edition run of 300 copies on a blank label with no credits. Inevitably, this lent it "rare collectors item" credo and resale shark-worthy venerability, but that of course wouldn't have been possible if it didn't also house a quality, unique take on dub. Made up of remixes only of songs from Natural Wild, Thompson is unafraid of swung tempos beyond the usual straight plod, 'My Generation Dub' being a case in point. Otherwise, the producer flaunts his delay mastery on select instruments only, and cuts like 'Spaceship Dub' obvously recall the cosmic visions of international artists contemporary to Thompson, such as Tradition.

Review: After Prince Lincoln Thompson and the Royal Rasses Band recorded the Experience album in 1979, they did the honourable thing and followed up with its dub counterpart, Harder Na Rass. Originally released on Warrior Records in the UK, it's everything you want from a roots-adjacent dub album, mixed by none other than Prince Jammy in the mighty King Tubby's studio. The sound is outstanding, with the percussion especially cutting through the mix and the musicality remaining intact despite the focus on dubwise versioning. Dub devotees take heed, this album has got everything you want, freshly remastered and cut nice and loud.

Review: Burning Sounds pay tribute to some of reggae's most crucial DJs with this new album The Magnificent 7. It is packed with artists inspired by the fundamental elements of Rastafarianism and they all speak loudly of the virtues of "living upright in those dread times." Jah Walton - later known as Joseph Cotton - kicks off with the positive vibrations of 'The Seed You Sow' before Big Youth gets deeper and darker. A brace of I-Roy jams roll on fat bass lines and King Sighta also appears twice with his natty vocals and percussive rhythms amongst a bunch of other superb sounds from the likes of Natty Love and Sister Sheron.