Das Duo gehört seit 1977 zu den gefragtesten Rhythm Sections des UK, das Legenden wie Bunny Lee, Fat Man, Sugar Minott, Gregory Isaacs und General Levy produziert (und u.a. Janet Jackson geremixt hat). Sämtliche Tracks wurden von den Originalinterpreten neu eingesungen oder enthalten teils sogar die Original-70er-Vocals. Das Konzept bewährte sich bereits mit Mafia & Fluxys Albumreihe "Reggae Heights", in der Protagonisten wie Johnny Clarke, Barry Brown, Gregory Isaacs und John Holt Klassiker zu modernen Mafia & Fluxy Rhythmen neu interpretierten.
Studio One’s list of singers launched at the famous label reads like a roll call of Jamaican music. Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne and more. This album features classic and rare tracks that span the breadth of the legendary Studio One catalogue: Ska, Roots, Rocksteady, Lovers and more from the 1960s and 70s. Sleeve-notes are by Chris Salewicz, the acclaimed writer who has written books on Joe Strummer, Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones and many others.
It was in Benin City, in the heart of Nigeria, that a new hybrid of intoxicating highlife music known as Edo Funk was born. It first emerged in the late 1970s when a group of musicians began to experiment with different ways of integrating elements from their native Edo culture and fusing them with new sound effects coming from West Africa´s night-clubs. Unlike the rather polished 1980´s Nigerian disco productions coming out of the international metropolis of Lagos Edo Funk was raw and reduced to its bare minimum.
Someone was needed to channel this energy into a distinctive sound and Sir Victor Uwaifo appeared like a mad professor with his Joromi studio. Uwaifo took the skeletal structure of Edo music and relentless began fusing them with synthesizers, electric guitars and 80´s effect racks which resulted in some of the most outstanding Edo recordings ever made. An explosive spiced up brew with an odd psychedelic note known as Edo Funk.
That‘s the sound you‘ll be discovering in the first volume of the Edo Funk Explosion series which focusses on the genre’s greatest originators; Osayomore Joseph, Akaba Man, and Sir Victor Uwaifo:
Osayomore Joseph was one of the first musicians to bring the sound of the flute into the horn-dominated world of highlife, and his skills as a performer made him a fixture on the Lagos scene. When he returned to settle in Benin City in the mid 1970s – at the invitation of the royal family – he devoted himself to the modernisation and electrification of Edo music, using funk and Afro-beat as the building blocks for songs that weren’t afraid to call out government corruption or confront the dark legacy of Nigeria’s colonial past.
This collection of Jamaican doo wop from the late 1950s through to the early 1960s represents a period in which sound systems had begun to dominate the island, and were starting to step up their rivalry by beginning to record and release their own platters rather than rely on imported records to gain the competitive edge.
With the uniquely Jamaican ska explosion yet to completely catch hold, these tracks are largely imitative of the doo wop and R&B sound that had been reaching the island from American shores & radiowaves, albeit peppered with hints of what was to come ~ some of the future stars of ska, rocksteady and reggae are starting to cut their teeth on these tracks, providing a great view into the fledgling record industry on the island.
Der legendäre Soundman & Produzent Lloyd Coxsone war in den 1960ern einer der ersten DJs in den Westend Clubs, der eine Generation britischer Popstars wie The Beatles & The Rolling Stones erstmals mit jamaikanischer Musik konfrontierte. Sein Sound dominierte die 1970er mit Bob Marley & Dennis Brown als seine größten Verbündeten. Er gründete Tribes Man Records und veröffentlichte mit King Of The Dub Rock 1+2 Reggae-Klassiker, die neben Eigenproduktionen auch Riddims des Produzenten Gussie Clarke und Heavyweight-Dubs von Mixmaster Scientist enthielten.Auf Vol. 3 kooperiert Lloyd mit dem Label Jahsolid Rock Music, dessen legendäre Alben von Brinsley Forde, Apple Gabriel und Earl 16 regelmäßig in den Playlists von Sir Coxsone waren, und bringt exklusive Dub-Mixe & Vocal-Tracks der genannten Künstler sowie brandneue Stücke von Mutabaruka, Chezidek, Micah Shemaiah, Var, Ras Teo. Die Ausgabe komplettiert die Trilogie und verspricht dank ihrer Qualität ein moderner Klassiker unserer Zeit zu werden