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By S I R R E A L

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The Revolutionaries - Drum Sound

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The Revolutionaries
Drum Sound - More Gems From The Channel One Dub Room 1974 to 1980
PS55 / 2007 / Pressure Sounds [Download here]

1. Kunta Kinte Version One (Previously unreleased)
2. Hotter Fire Version
3. A Who Say Version Two
4. Rootes Dub
5. Pride & Ambition Version
6. Dunkirk
7. War Version
8. Thinking Version
9. Jah Creation Version
10. Ride On Marcus Version
11. Swell Headed
12. Catonine Version
13. Girl A Love You Version
14. Tivoli Skank
15. Plantation Heights Version
16. Back Weh Version

“I really started looking at music. Started to experiment on the drums. To see if we could make the drum dance by itself…” Sly Dunbar

This king size dub album is a lion of a record roaring with dub plates, rarities and obscure gems. Dominated by the drums of Sly Dunbar it represents a golden period when Channel One held the key to much of what was to follow in reggae music. The sound of Channel One, which achieved worldwide prominence in the mid-seventies reggae boom, wielded an unparalleled influence throughout the world. Its origins were based on Ernest and Jo Jo Hookim’s lifelong love of music and their fascination with the way it was made. They were true visionaries and it is impossible to overstate the influence that the brothers’ custom built studio wielded on the development of Jamaican music. The Channel One drum sound was totally unique and Sly Dunbar, along with engineers Ernest Hookim and Barnabas, would spend days perfecting it. As its fame grew all kinds of people, including Sting and The Clash, came to the studio to try and capture some of the magic that was created down on Maxfield Avenue.

The magical sound became familiar through hundreds of reggae recordings and many of the best tunes were released on the Hookim’s Well Charge and Disco Mix labels and on the Channel One label itself. This is where the material on ‘Drum Sound’ is sourced from: seventeen killer tracks that showcase the very best of Channel One.

This is probably the strongest dub album yet to be issued on Pressure Sounds packed full of music that no Sound System was and is complete with out including a King Tubby’s cut to Junior Byles’ timeless ‘Fade Away’ and the iconic ‘Kunta Kinte’. Never before released ‘Kunta Kinte’ could only be heard on a dub plate, notably on Jah Shaka’s legendary Sound System, which still plays Kunta Kinte dubs to this day.

Beautifully mastered and carefully restored with all of Pressure Sounds’ customary attention to detail the album is available on double vinyl and compact disc in the usual eye catching packaging replete with a wealth of images and information. There will also be an extra special limited edition seven inch release to coincide with the album starring two further dub cuts of Kunta Kinte’ not available on the album… or anywhere else.

Big thanx to: Disco Devil

By S I R R E A L

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The history of music via a map of the London Underground

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The history of music via a map of the London Underground - click on the underground map - (Courtesy of Mix Master Morris)

By S I R R E A L

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James Brown - Cold Sweat [1967]

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No posts for a week - due to an exploding HD - so in the meantime here's some superb stuff from The Boss!

James Brown - Cold Sweat [download here]

Here's Pee Wee Ellis' version of how Cold Sweat came about and was recorded...
"After one of the shows, one night somewhere, James called me into the dressing room and grunted a bass line of a rhythmic thing (demonstrates), which turned out to be "Cold Sweat." I was very much influenced by Miles Davis and had been listening to "So What" six or seven years earlier and that crept into the making of "Cold Sweat." You could call it subliminal, but the horn line is based on Miles Davis' "So What." I wrote that on the bus between New York and Cincinnati. The next day we pulled up in front of King Records studio, got off the bus, got in the studio, set up, and I went over the rhythm with the band. By the time we got the groove going, James showed up, added a few touches--changed the guitar part, which made it real funky--had the drummer do something different. He was a genius at it. Between the two of us, we put it together one afternoon. He put the lyrics on it. The band set up in a semicircle in the studio with one microphone. It was recorded live in the studio. One take. It was like a performance. We didn't do overdubbing."

1. Cold Sweat
2. Nature Boy
3. Come Rain or Come Shine
4. I Loves You, Porgy
5. Back Stabbin'
6. Fever
7. Mona Lisa
8. I Wanna Be Around
9. Good Rockin' Tonight
10. Stagger Lee
11. Kansas City

Big thanx again to: A small selection of whatever fills my head!