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Browse by Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)


Artist: WACKIES
Title: African Roots Act 1
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 001CD
"Originally released on the Five Arts Label in 1977, then re-issued on Wackies in 1980, this album provides a register of producer Clive Hunt's work with a who's who of Jamaican music -- including done-over tracks from his time at Channel One (Ernest Wilson's return to 'Undying Love'), with Joe Gibbs (Trinity's 'Three Meals A Day'), Sonia Pottinger (Marcia Griffiths' 'Mark My Words'), and Geoffrey Chung (Pablo Moses' 'We Should Be In Angola'); and not least with Bullwackies, on a couple of one-away rhythms. Enough Upsetter in the mix too. Another essential dub set from the Bronx. Wackies' lineage is classical -- rooted in Studio One and Black Ark -- but cut with the acid urbanity of New York City. Its sound is characterized by pervasive echo and deep bass: the atmosphere is luminous and unique. Lloyd Barnes, Clive Hunt, Noel Delahaye and Douglas Levy were the key engineers; Jerry Harris, Tony Allen, Owen Stewart, the Sylvester brothers and Jerry Johnson played on almost all the albums; reggae legends like Jackie Mittoo and Roland Alphonso were studio regulars. Several local artists made their names here, and a roll-call of great Jamaican singers -- including Horace Andy, Leroy Sibbles, Sugar Minott, Max Romeo and Stranger Cole -- recorded some of their best sides at Wackies. Yet this great music has struggled to move beyond cult status: many of the recordings are still obscure, and most are very hard to find. Now the Rhythm & Sound reissue programme will provide further pointers."


Artist: WACKIES
Title: African Roots Act 1
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 001LP
Vinyl LP version.


Artist: ROMEO, MAX
Title: Birth of Reggae Music
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 003EP
This majestic rhythm was brought from Channel One to Wackies by Sugar Minott. First to voice it was Jah Batta -- his bathetic version makes a comic interlude in Chris Coy's 1983 film about the label, when he mimes the lyrics to his companion, strolling in the park -- originally released on Junior Delahaye's Sun Force label, the production credited to Batta, aka Tony Omeally. (The flip was the Jezzreel cut here, reworking The Upsetter's classic "Fever" b-line. Even this you need.) Max Romeo's myth-making is more in tune with the genius of the rhythm. The song appeared originally on his 1885 album One Horse Race. And it's up there with "Melt Away" as the best side he made away from the Black Ark; and surely the best of his twelve years away from Jamaica, from 1978-1990.


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: International Herb
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 10"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 028EP
Released in 2002. "Since its release on 10" in 1983, this Prince Douglas Levy co-production has been a regular on All-time Top Wackies lists. Imperious, prodigal music-making melodic, organic and improvisatory with deep and fluent dubbing, and top-grade Sugar in full flow on the herb superb."


Artist: BULLWACKIES ALL STARS
Title: Dub Unlimited
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 036CD
Magnificent dub album out originally on the Senrab label in 1976 -- another great reissue in the string of classic Wackies albums that have been re-released by Berlin dub-techno duo Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, as part of their reissue series of the complete Wackie's catalog. This record captures the time when Lloyd Barnes sparred at the desk with Prince Douglas and Jah Upton, in the first months of the White Plains Road headquarters. The selection commemorates a series of brilliant sevens and twelves on labels like City Line and Wackies, and sister labels like Upton, Versatile, and Munchie Jackson's Earth imprint. Core rhythm tracks from Jamaica -- Treasure Isle mostly, mixed by Tubby -- had been worked over at the Sounds Unlimited studio on E 24th Street in Manhattan. Baba Leslie's dry and crisp instrumental "Black Horns," is placed over Wayne Jarrett's "African Woman" mantra -- and is spun into the opening track, entitled "Black Heart Dub." The Love Joys are like genies in the stunning twin mixes of disco reggae. The track "Dub Unlimited" uses bits of John Clarke's "Pollution" (Unlimited Dub's singjay version of the Ali-Frazier "Thriller In Manilla"); "Bullwackies Revenge" is a version of the Chin Chow rhythm, a tribute to the restaurant next door; the Chosen Brothers' "Talk To The Father" is represented, as well as Andrew McCalla's "Home By The Sea." This is the smoothest dub album you'll ever run across.


Artist: BULLWACKIES ALL STARS
Title: Dub Unlimited
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 036LP
LP version.


Artist: RECKLESS BREED
Title: Reckless Roots Rockers
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 037CD
Jah Upton joins Lloyd Barnes and Prince Douglas at the desk for another must-have Bullwackies dub set, originally released in 1977. The music is drawn from tapes recorded at King Tubby's with the Soul Syndicate band, in 1974-75 (before Wackies' move to New York). Certain tracks were also voiced in JA -- like Don Carlos' deadly "Prepare Jah Man," available here and nowhere else, over a hallmark rhythm re-run on Wayne Jarrett's Bubble Up album. Other highlights include dubs of Wackies' deep "Black Harmony" rhythm, Joe Morgan's "Basement Session," the Love Joys' "I Belong To You" (a Barry White homage issued on Versatile 7"), a Chosen Brothers and two great John Clarke tracks (including a version of "In Search Of The Human Race" which eclipses the Tafari single); also a dedication to the Chinese restaurant next door on White Plains Road.


Artist: RECKLESS BREED
Title: Reckless Roots Rockers
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 037LP
LP version. Jah Upton joins Lloyd Barnes and Prince Douglas at the desk for another must-have Bullwackies dub set, originally released in 1977. The music is drawn from tapes recorded at King Tubby's with the Soul Syndicate band, in 1974-75 (before Wackies' move to New York). Certain tracks were also voiced in JA -- like Don Carlos' deadly "Prepare Jah Man," available here and nowhere else, over a hallmark rhythm re-run on Wayne Jarrett's Bubble Up album.


Artist: ROOTS UNDERGROUND
Title: Tribesman Assault
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 038CD
"Originally issued around 1977, this dub album collects Wackies recordings made in JA -- studios like Randys, Black Ark, Treasure Isle -- and in NYC before the White Plains Road studio was established, where finally they were overdubbed and mixed. Included are the rhythm tracks of the African Jamaicans' 'Girl Of My Dreams' and Tyrone Evans' 'Dread Like Me'; also versions of 'Ballistic Affair' and The Righteous Flames' 'I Wasn't Born To Be Lonely'. KC White and the Lovejoys contribute the only vocal. The band is basically the Reckless Breed, with the funkdafied drumming of Jah Scotty -- just off the Kingston plane --- especially outstanding. As featured in a rare sleeve photograph, Bullwackies, Jah Upton and Prince Douglas work the mixing desk. Rougher yet, tougher yet."


Artist: ROOTS UNDERGROUND
Title: Tribesman Assault
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 038LP
LP version.


Artist: VA
Title: Reggae Goodies: Vol. 1 & 2
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 039/40CD
"Both volumes of Reggae Goodies came out around 1977 on Bullwackies' City Line imprint (which celebrated the NY subway track ending at White Plains Road, and Wackies' headquarters). They are based on a compilation of 7" A-sides which had appeared over the previous few years also on labels like Versatile, Rawse and Senrab. The original sleeve-note of Volume 1 reflected that 'today, reggae music is reaching its peak and this album is a perfect example of the roots of its success. This is an exceptionally well put together album with various artists at their best.' No one could argue -- with spectacular contributions like Don Carlos' 'Black Harmony Killer,' Wayne Jarrett's 'African Woman' (to Baba Leslie's 'Black Horns' rhythm), Joe Morgan's 'Basement Session,' and the first time out for Stranger Cole's intense 'Capture Land,' later redone by Wackies and also Half Moon affiliates TAMU. Volume 2 derives more from Wackies' Sounds Unlimited Studios in New York, and aims rather for the lovers in the dance. Ad hoc lineups like Wanachi (with Jah Jah's Call also appearing on Creation Dub) and the Chosen Brothers -- here it may be Lloyd Barnes with Wayne Jarrett on one track, and Leroy Sibbles on another -- appear alongside regulars like 'Jah Junior' Delahaye, K.C. White, and those 'three attractive young beauties' The Love Joys -- with a different mix of their version of The Abyssinians' 'Sweet Feelings' than turns up on their debut album. Reggae Goodies, it's more than just an album. It's an experience which can only be shared by you. Get your copy now... there'll never be another of its kind."


Artist: VA
Title: Reggae Goodies Vol. 1
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 039LP
Released in 2005. "Both volumes of Reggae Goodies came out around 1977 on Bullwackies' City Line imprint (which celebrated the NY subway track ending at White Plains Road, and Wackies' headquarters). They are based on a compilation of 7" A-sides which had appeared over the previous few years also on labels like Versatile, Rawse and Senrab. The original sleeve-note of Volume 1 reflected that 'today, reggae music is reaching its peak and this album is a perfect example of the roots of its success. This is an exceptionally well put together album with various artists at their best.' No one could argue -- with spectacular contributions like Don Carlos' 'Black Harmony' killer, Wayne Jarrett's 'African Woman' (to Baba Leslie's 'Black Horns' rhythm), Joe Morgan's 'Basement Session,' and the first time out for Stranger Cole's intense 'Capture Land,' later redone by Wackies and also Half Moon affiliates TAMU. Reggae Goodies: it's more than just an album, it's an experience which can only be shared by you. Get your copy now... there'll never be another of its kind."


Artist: VA
Title: Reggae Goodies Vol. 2
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 040LP
Released in 2005. "Volume 2 derives more from Wackies' Sounds Unlimited Studios in New York, and aims rather for the Lovers in the dance. Ad hoc lineups like Wanachi (with Jah Jah's Call also appearing on Creation Dub) and the Chosen Brothers -- here it may be Lloyd Barnes with Wayne Jarrett on one track, and Leroy Sibbles on another - appear alongside regulars like 'Jah Junior' Delahaye, K.C. White, and those 'three attractive young beauties' The Love Joys -- with a different mix of their version of The Abyssinians' 'Sweet Feelings' than turns up on their debut album. Reggae Goodies: it's more than just an album, it's an experience which can only be shared by you. Get your copy now... there'll never be another of its kind."


Artist: WACKIES
Title: Creation Dub
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 041CD
"Pretty much since its original release in 1977, Creation Dub has been as wanted amongst reggae bounty hunters as its Wild West cover typography suggests --every track a killer, a key Bullwackies dub album. The record inaugurated Wackies' fruitful London connection: the second-pressing sleeve carries a nostalgic distribution credit for the long-gone Maroons Tunes shop, run by Rae Cheddie for Honest Jons. The core musicians here are Allah, Clive Hunt and Jerry Harris, with outstanding contributions from hornsman Sel Wheeler and Roy Robertson on bass, and John Clarke on the single vocal track. Included are dubs of rhythms voiced for Wackies by the Chosen Brothers, Joe Auxumite and K.C.White, alongside versions of Mammy Blue, Bo Kirkland's soul classic 'I Want To Get Next To You', and a superb reprise of Sel Wheeler's 12" cover of Jo Jo Bennett's 'Leaving Rome'."


Artist: WACKIES
Title: Creation Dub
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 041LP
LP version.


Artist: CLARKE, JOHN
Title: Visions of John Clarke
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 078LP
LP version, reissued for the first time. Visions Of John Clarke was a little thrown together for its original release in 1979. Still, its sleeve carried a ringing endorsement from Bullwackies himself "President of the John Clarke Fan Club" -- and the album attracted the interest of Studio 1 boss Coxsone Dodd, whose bid for distribution-rights was thwarted when the Brooklyn label Makossa quickly put in for a full license. The singer -- not to be confused with Johnny Clark -- had been running with the Wackies operation for the past six years, ever since moving from Jamaica to New York. He'd cut memorable sevens with co-founder Munchie Jackson for the Tafari label -- like "In Search of The Human Race and Recession" -- and also worked with Lloyd Barnes for such Bullwackies imprints as Versatile and Wackies.


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Tribute to Bob Marley
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 088EP
New release. This reissue combines two 12"s. "Tribute To Bob Marley" was originally released on the Top Ranking International label in 1981, soon after the Wailer's death in May, and provided an outstanding cut on Horace Andy's exclusive album set issued the following year in London by Solid Groove. The flip side featured Jah Batta's DJ cut "Great Super Star," uncredited on the original label. This release includes a totally original mix of "Lingering Spirit," originally issued in 1983 on the Bullwackies label, coupled with Horace's compelling interpretation of "Love Hangover."


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: Dance Hall Showcase Vol. II
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: WACK 1002CD
Lincoln "Sugar" Minott is known as the godfather of dancehall. Not only playing a major role in the story of Jamaican music as a singer, songwriter, producer, label man and sound system instigator, his voice appeared on pretty much every major roots, reggae and dancehall record of the era. He was part of the Studio One renaissance of the late 1970s, and started his own Black Roots and Youth Promotion stables, nurturing young talent. These key four songs and their dubs -- slotting in lovers, bubblers and rockers, originally appeared in 1983 as a picture-sleeve 10" on the Black Roots imprint. "Everyone played 'Informer,' all the sounds," recalls Rae Cheddie, who remembers selling more than 500 copies straight from the Wackies office in Soho, London. "It was international -- a couple of boxes went to Japan, some to Mad Robbie at Fotofon." "Special dedication to all dancehall fans," it says on the label," and dancehall it is, with well-charged dub, great playing and Sugar brilliantly focused throughout. Including two bonus tracks from Jah Batta and Little John.


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: Dance Hall Showcase Vol. II
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 10"
Price: $12.00
Catalog #: WACK 1002EP
10" vinyl version. Four songs and their dubs -- slotting in lovers, bubblers and rockers, and well-charge dub, with great playing and Sugar Minott brilliantly focused throughout -- which originally appeared in 1983 as a picture-sleeved 10" on the singer's Black Roots imprint. "Everyone played 'Informer,' all the sounds," recalls Rae Cheddie, who remembers selling more than five hundred copies straight from the Wackies office in Soho, London. "It was international -- a couple of boxes went to Japan, some to Mad Robbie at Fotofon." "Special dedication to all dancehall fans," it says on the label.


Artist: MCTAGGART, LLOYD
Title: You're Back
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 100EP
"You're Back by Lloyd McTaggart is one of Wackies' earliest and most obscure 12"s. Recorded around the same time as the monumental 'Revolution' / 'The Time Is Now' by Leroy Sibbles / Stranger Cole, it features the Love Joys' backing vocals, lots of '70s synth percussion, the weirdest trumpet part and a wicked version as part two on the flipside."


Artist: BULLWACKIES ALL STARS
Title: Black World
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: WACK 1040CD
Black World originally came out in 1979, on the Wackies' imprint, Hardwax. (The original cover commemorated the first year of Honest Jon's new reggae shop Maroons Tunes, Bullwackies' UK distributor.) It's a tough album, with Leroy Sibbles guiding the selection as well as sharing bass duties -- there are versions of his classic composition "Guiding Star" and stylish Wackies heavyweight, "This World." "Tribute To Studio One" reworks Heptones' "Gonna Fight"/"Hail Don D." as modern steppers, with the kit-drums -- as throughout this album -- supplemented effectively by the latest electronic innovation from Japan. "Skylarking" puts in an appearance; and two full Joe Auxumite vocals from the solo album scheduled for release around this time, but abandoned when most of the tapes were lost. A dub version of Delroy Wilson's "Rain From The Skies" rounds out proceedings.


Artist: BULLWACKIES ALL STARS
Title: Black World
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: WACK 1040LP
LP version.


Artist: SIBBLES & NOEL DELAHAYE, LEROY
Title: This World & Pretty Looks
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 1050EP
"An exemplary performance even in the illustrious career of Leroy Sibbles, 'This World' dramatically matches techniques of big-city US soul music with classic dub. Curtis-style lyrics (delivered with gospel urgency) and jazzy, stylized horns counterpoint a sparse and reverbed rhythm, Wackies to the bone. This is sufferers' music at its most atmospheric, radical and expressive. The B-Side 'Pretty Looks' features an early Noel (Junior) Delahaye steppers tune and a DJ cut by Jah Scully, with sly-style double-drumming and sweet background vocals."


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Exclusively
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 107CD
Released in 2005. Appearing originally on the Solid Groove label out of Croydon in South London, Exclusively is sometimes misconstrued as the UK issue of Dance Hall Style. The tracks from both were recorded at the same sessions -- with Bullwackie joined at the controls by Junior Delahaye and Prince Douglas, and issued close together in 1982-83, Croydon first. Half of Exclusively non-exclusively versions four tracks from the Stateside release, and three are re-titled. Also "Eating Mess," which appeared on the first pressing of Dance Hall Style, though unlisted on the sleeve. The mixes are all different (and without dubs). Five further specials include the funky "Musical Episode," a superior Bob Marley tribute, and a version of "Rougher Yet." It's all vintage Wackies, and spun out of Horace's all-time greatest album -- unmissable.


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Exclusively
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 107LP
LP version.


Artist: BULLWACKIES ALL STARS
Title: Free For All
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 114CD
Out originally on the Aires label, in a plain, stencilled sleeve, this is a thrilling early-mid-'70s dub album based around three cuts of the dreader than dread Free For All rhythm. The music is made by Melvin "Munchie" Jackson and Lloyd Barnes, with productions begun in Jamaica and finished at the Sounds Unlimited studio in New York. Several surfaced at different stages as 7"s on Bullwackies' Aires imprint, and on the Tafari label which Munchie ran with his brother Maurice and Little Roy, in the Washington Gardens district of Kingston. The title track was recorded at Randy's, and came originally on The Heptones' Hepic label, featuring "Family Man" Barrett on keyboards, and on the DJ cut here, "Meditation Dub" -- sounds like Charlie Ace. There are dubs of Little Roy's "Tribal War" and "Black Bird"; Stranger Cole's "My Application," later re-voiced by The Heptones, turns up as "Dis-Ya-A-Dub"; and if things weren't smoke-filled enough, roots is the rhythm of K.C. White's "All For Free." Hard to imagine a heavier dub set reissued this year.


Artist: BULLWACKIES ALL STARS
Title: Free For All
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 114LP
LP version.


Artist: DELAHAYE, JUNIOR
Title: Showcase
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1382CD
"Showcase by Junior Delahaye is the fourth installment of Rhythm & Sound's Wackie's reissue programme. Originally released as LP in 1982 and reissued in its original sleeve artwork last year this album recasts Philadelphia-style sweet soul within the shimmering, bass-heavy textures of classic Wackie's dub. The music is spine-chilling: Junior's singing ranges expertly from sophisticated tenor to delicate falsetto, and his declarations of exalted love are at one with the mystical space of the Wackie's sound. Showcase includes interpretations of Billy Stewart's 'Sitting In The Park' and Fuzz's Sigma-recorded 1971 smash 'I Love You For All Seasons', alongside the Reggae evergreen 'Travelling Man'; together with three fabulous Delahaye originals. Like the 'Lovers Rock' release, the album features such Wackie's stalwarts as Jerry Harris, Jah T and Roland Alphonso -- Jamaican-born Junior Delahaye remains co-engineer; and of course Lloyd 'Bullwackie' Barnes is the producer."


Artist: DELAHAYE, JUNIOR
Title: Showcase
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1382LP
"Reggae by Junior Delahaye is the second installment of Rhythm & Sound's Bullwackies reissue programme (after the Love Joys' Lovers Rock). Originally released in 1982 this album recasts Philadelphia-style sweet soul within the shimmering, bass-heavy textures of classic Wackie's dub. The music is spine-chilling: Junior's singing ranges expertly from sophisticated tenor to delicate falsetto, and his declarations of exalted love are at one with the mystical space of the Wackies sound. Reggae includes interpretations of Billy Stewart's 'Sitting in the Park' and Fuzz's Sigma-recorded 1971 smash 'I Love You For All Seasons', alongside the reggae evergreen 'Travelling Man'; together with three fabulous Delahaye originals. Like the 'Lovers Rock' release, the album features such Wackies stalwarts as Jerry Harris, Jah T and Roland Alphonso; JA-born Junior Delahaye remains co-engineer; and of course Lloyd Bullwackie Barnes is the producer."


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Dance Hall Style
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1383CD
"Throughout the illustrious thirty-year recording career of Horace Andy, with its innumerable highs, his unmistakable falsetto has lit up just three albums of indisputable greatness -- Skylarking, for Coxsone at Studio One; In The Light, for Everton DaSilva's Hungry Town label, in Queens, New York; and -- with the biggest original impact, by far the most contemporary of the trio - Dance Hall Style, for Bullwackies in the Bronx. Recorded at the turn of the seventies, Dance Hall Style reworks songs first recorded by Bunny Lee ('Money Money') and Derek Harriott ('Lonely Woman') -- alongside a version of Lloyd Robinson's 'Cuss Cuss' -- and births classics like 'Spying Glass' (later covered by Massive Attack). The musicians include Wackies regulars like Owen Stewart and Oral Cooke from Itopia, Ras Menilik and Jah T.; also Horace's multi-instrumentalist spar Myrie Dread from the Hungry Town sessions. At the desk, Lloyd Barnes, Junior Delahaye and Douglas Levy coax unequalled vocal performances from Horace Andy, showcased in ineffable extended mixes."


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Dance Hall Style
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1383LP
LP version. "Throughout the illustrious thirty-year recording career of Horace Andy, with its innumerable highs, his unmistakable falsetto has lit up just three albums of indisputable greatness -- Skylarking, for Coxsone at Studio One; In The Light, for Everton DaSilva's Hungry Town label, in Queens, New York; and -- with the biggest original impact, by far the most contemporary of the trio - Dance Hall Style, for Bullwackies in the Bronx. Recorded at the turn of the seventies, Dance Hall Style reworks songs first recorded by Bunny Lee ('Money Money') and Derek Harriott ('Lonely Woman') -- alongside a version of Lloyd Robinson's 'Cuss Cuss' -- and births classics like 'Spying Glass' (later covered by Massive Attack). The musicians include Wackies regulars like Owen Stewart and Oral Cooke from Itopia, Ras Menilik and Jah T.; also Horace's multi-instrumentalist spar Myrie Dread from the Hungry Town sessions. At the desk, Lloyd Barnes, Junior Delahaye and Douglas Levy coax unequalled vocal performances from Horace Andy, showcased in ineffable extended mixes."


Artist: DELAHAYE, JUNIOR
Title: Movie Show
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 153EP
"This 12" came originally in 1981 in fine underground style with white or blue Wackies labels, with and without information stamped on. The A differs from the album cut; the dub is right up there with Bullwackies' 'Anybody's Best'."


Artist: ANDY, HORACE & JARRETT, WAYNE
Title: Showcase
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1716CD
"Horace Andy, Wayne Jarrett and Naggo Morris are all artists from the front rank of reggae whose work for the legendary Wackie's label without question includes their very best. These 1983 releases revived by Rhythm & Sound present the singers showcase-style, in mostly devotional mood. The music is classical and original -- full of awe, in a kind of dread development of the Bullwackies lovers rock sound -- with inimitable and glorious dubs throughout. Born in Jamaica in 1944, Wackie's founder Lloyd Barnes worked for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label before emigrating to New York in the early seventies. Here he founded the Wackie's House Of Music and behind this shop-front was the first significant reggae studio and label in the United States. Wackies' lineage is classical -- rooted in Studio One and Black Ark -- but cut with the acid urbanity of New York City. Its sound is characterized by pervasive echo and deep bass: the atmosphere is luminous and unique. Several local artists made their names here, and a roll-call of great Jamaican artists including e.g. Leroy Sibbles, Max Romeo or Jackie Mittoo besides the ones to be found on these releases -- recorded some of their best sides at Wackies. Collected for the first time on CD."


Artist: JARRETT, WAYNE
Title: Mini Showcase
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 10"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 1716EP
"Wayne Jarrett is an artist from the front rank of reggae whose work for the legendary Wackie's label without question includes his very best. This 1983 release revived by Rhythm & Sound present the singer showcase-style, in mostly devotional mood. Wackie's sound is characterized by pervasive echo and deep bass: the atmosphere is luminous and unique. Several local artists made their names here, and a roll-call of great Jamaican artists including e.g. Leroy Sibbles, Max Romeo or Jackie Mittoo."


Artist: WACKIES
Title: African Roots - Act 3
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1717CD
"Originally issued in 1983, African Roots Act 3 is basically the dub counterpart of Sugar Minott's Wicked Ago Feel It album (also out in Rhythm & Sound's Bullwackies reissue programme). Lloyd Barnes' key collaborators here are Sugar himself and stalwart Jackie Mittoo, with the core of his studio musicians drawn from the group Itopia. Subdued and hypnotic, musically more sparse than its predecessor, African Roots Act 3 offers the same trademark combination of Wackie's originals and classic Studio One rhythms, nodding again to The Heptones ('I Hold The Handle', 'Love Me Always'). Worth buying for the version of 'Real Rock' ('the rhythm most known with the song 'Armagideon Time' by Willie Williams or covered by The Clash) alone and a must have for the fans of Sugar Minott, the Wackies label in general and for all lovers of dub reggae."


Artist: WACKIES
Title: African Roots Act 3
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1717LP
LP version; available again.


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: Wicked Ago Feel It
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1718CD
"During the period of this 1984 recording, Sugar Minott was arguably the brightest star in reggae music world-wide. In the early 70ies he had single-handedly revived the fortunes of Studio One, before cutting a string of hits for Channel One. Meanwhile his Youth Promotion sound system and his own label Black Roots nurtured fresh new talent like Tenor Saw, Nitty Gritty and Junior Reid. After moving to London at the turn of the decade, his international smash 'Good Thing Going' brought Sugar a rash of lucrative major label offers, which he declined, preferring to link up with Bullwackies in New York. This album -- for the first time on CD here -- contains the full vocal versions of tracks included on the dub album African Roots Act 3. With the core of his band drawn from the Wackies group Itopia, Sugar Minott sings inimitably for lovers, bubblers and rootsmen all. He recasts Michael Jackson again; and -- alongside Studio One maestro Jackie Mittoo in the studio -- revisits his all-time favorite album, The Heptones On Top. For those who like their Sugar unrefined, raw and uncut."


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: Wicked Ago Feel It
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1718LP
LP version.


Artist: WACKIES
Title: Jamaica Super Dub Session
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1720CD
"The musicians on this classic early 80ies dub release are Itopia augmented by Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo. Also Annette Brissette on drums -- her solo album provides three outstanding cuts here, featuring Menelik in fine style on percussion. 12Inches by Barrington Spence and Lloyd Hemmings take dub honors from the Wackie's mixing desk -- also Sugar Minott, Leroy Sibbles' redemptive version of Lionel Richie's 'Truly', and the rhythms behind still-unissued vocal tracks by Milton Henry and -- best of all, the killing Super Dub cut -- The Shades. More resplendent dub from Bullwackies!"


Artist: WACKIES
Title: Jamaica Super Dub Session
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 1720LP
LP version; available again.


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Horace Andy Meets Naggo Morris
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 10"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 1722EP
"Horace Andy and Naggo Morris are all artists from the front rank of reggae whose work for the legendary Wackie's label without question includes their very best. The music is classical and original -- full of awe, in a kind of dread development of the Bullwackies lovers rock sound -- with inimitable and glorious dubs throughout. This 1983 release revived by Rhythm & Sound present the singer showcase-style, in mostly devotional mood. Wackie's sound is characterized by pervasive echo and deep bass: the atmosphere is luminous and unique. All tracks are heavy collectors items -- this vinyl and another forthcoming 10" called Jarrett, Wayne - Mini Showcase are separate reissued in their original 10" format."


Artist: AZUL
Title: Rockfort Rock
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 179EP
2003 release, available again. "Featuring the flute of arranger Clive Hunt (and Mickey Jarrett's Black Atlantic anti-Klan toast on the flip), for many aficionados this is the premier version of the foundation Studio One rhythm, without exception."


Artist: JARRETT, WAYNE
Title: Showcase Vol. 1
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 191CD
"Between stints in JA for legends like Glen Brown and Junjo Lawes, Wayne Jarrett travelled from his Connecticut base to record this album during the same weeks as the sessions for Horace Andy's Dance Hall Style. These are two of the great vocal reggae LPs of all time. With Clive Hunt in full effect, Showcase Vol. 1 follows the six-track dub-showcase format (and Wayne never sounded more like Horace!), including four unmissable Studio One versions -- Azul's deadly 'Rockfort Rock', Sleepy's 'Every Tongue Shall Tell' (with outrageous Isley fuzz), yet another Heptones via Leroy Sibbles, and a killer 'Drum Song'."


Artist: JARRETT, WAYNE
Title: Showcase Vol. 1
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 191LP
LP version.


Artist: SUPER T.
Title: West Bound D Train
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 10"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 1988EP
"Super T was an Jamaica policeman with a bad boy reputation to match Duke Reid. On this 1983 cut he runs Dennis Brown's lyrics over killer new music -- it's the D train we're on -- from Itopia. This is Wackies resplendent, steeply spiritualized, with dense percussion and masterful mixing -- and comes backed with an irresistible deejay version from Batta and Skatee, inna Michigan & Smiley style and fashion."


Artist: COLE/LEROY HEPTONES, STRANGER
Title: Revolution
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 210EP
"An all time killer classic from Wackies. This 12" features 3 cuts of Lee Perry's immortal Tight Spot Rhythm featuring searing vocals by Leroy Sibbles and the great Stranger Cole, together with an instrumental version by the Bullwackies All Stars."


Artist: CLARKE, JOHN
Title: Rootsy Reggae/Visions of John Clarke
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2333/78CD
Visions Of John Clarke was a little thrown together for its original release in 1979. Still, its sleeve carried a ringing endorsement from Bullwackies himself "President of the John Clarke Fan Club" -- and the album attracted the interest of Studio 1 boss Coxsone Dodd, whose bid for distribution-rights was thwarted when the Brooklyn label Makossa quickly put in for a full license. Released soon afterwards, the new version -- entitled Rootsy Reggae -- duplicated five tracks from the previous version, but with markedly different mixes, fresh edits, and some additional new instrumentation. This CD presents both albums complete with the original track order. The singer -- not to be confused with Johnny Clark -- had been running with the Wackies operation for the past six years, ever since moving from Jamaica to New York. He'd cut memorable sevens with co-founder Munchie Jackson for the Tafari label -- like "In Search of The Human Race and Recession" -- and also worked with Lloyd Barnes for such Bullwackies imprints as Versatile and Wackies. Several are included within these two albums, with another layer of modification: for example, on "Wasn't It You" Lloyd Barnes and Prince Douglas lend new treatment to the old track with drier dub. They also added guitar to the "Jumbo Caribbean Disco" 12", while on "Pollution" they removed the horns from the Wackies 7" (though generally Baba Leslie is in full effect here). The tracklisting rounds out with a Johnny Osbourne cover; several New Breed jams, featuring the likes of Jah Scotty, Clive Hunt, Harold Sylvester, Jah Hitler, Jerry Johnson, the Love Joys, even Mickey Mouse makes an appearance. On a handful of remapped rhythms, Clarke takes the mic from brethren like Joe Auxumite, K.C. White and Wayne Jarrett.


Artist: CLARKE, JOHN
Title: Rootsy Reggae
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2333LP
LP version. Visions Of John Clarke was a little thrown together for its original release in 1979. Still, its sleeve carried a ringing endorsement from Bullwackies himself "President of the John Clarke Fan Club" -- and the album attracted the interest of Studio 1 boss Coxsone Dodd, whose bid for distribution-rights was thwarted when the Brooklyn label Makossa quickly put in for a full license. Released soon afterwards, the new version -- entitled Rootsy Reggae -- duplicated five tracks from the previous version, but with markedly different mixes, fresh edits, and some additional new instrumentation.


Artist: LOVE JOYS
Title: Lovers Rock Reggae Style
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2383CD
Available again, 2002 release. "Rhythm & Sound/Basic Channel inaugurates its Wackie's reissue series with Lovers Rock by the Love Joys aka cousins Sonia Abel and Claudette Brown, originally from Brixton, England. This women's roots album is a milestone in reggae, a refreshing departure in a tradition dominated by men. With the classic Wackie's sound magnificent behind them -- 'Lovers Rock', showcase style, in extended versions -- the duo beautifully and skilfully meshes social critique and affairs of the heart, from a woman's point of view. Lovers Rock is one of the best and rarest albums on the legendary Wackie's label produced by Lloyd 'Bullwackie' Barnes in 1982. Musicians include: Jah T, Clive Hunt, Rolando Alphonso."


Artist: LOVE JOYS
Title: Lovers Rock Reggae Style
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2383LP
LP version, available again.


Artist: VA
Title: Jah Son Invasion
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2384CD
"Around 1980, London-based Bullwackies fan Ed Brennan circulated amongst his friends a homemade cassette of his own favorite Wackies productions. In turn, Lloyd Barnes made his own selection from this Pirate's Choice -- adding several debut cuts, but retaining Ed's title and much of his artwork (omitting the barcode which he had snipped from a can of drink!). Like the Coxsone re-appropriation, this makes for a superlative compilation. Lloyd Barnes trumps Ed Brennan throughout, kicking off with a killer one-off rhythm from the vaults, featuring Bobby Sarkie of The Immortals, before teaming Joy Card's 'Black Girl' (originally on 12") with a previously unreleased singjay version by Barrington Spence. Other highlights include Clive Hunt's reading of Wayne Jarrett's 'Darling Your Eyes', Joe 'No Equal Rights In A Babylon' Auxumite's interpretation of 'New Sensation' (by Wackies songwriting regular Andrew McCalla), and Sugar Minott singing beautifully over an exclusive horns mix of his 'Sometime Girl' 12". From over 150 singles and 20 albums these 10 extracts are showing you the quality and range of Jah Reggae music', as the cover puts it. Another master-class from Bullwackies country."


Artist: VA
Title: Jah Son Invasion
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2384LP
LP version.


Artist: JAH BATTA
Title: Argument
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2395CD
"Tony O'Meally aka Jah Batta is the Bullwackies acolyte featured recently with Rhythm & Sound on the Burial Mix single 'Music Hit You'. On this album from 1983 his buoyant deejaying follows Lone Ranger's massive revival of U-Roy's legacy. Upful dancehall vibes address topics such as vegetarianism, skin color, school, good old-fashioned rocking the mic. One toast laments Batta's girlfriend running off with Sugar Minott. And the album is a must even for its rhythms alone: basically top-notch Youth Promotion material from Channel One in JA, overdubbed and remixed at White Plains Road in the Bronx, with contributions from Sly & Robbie, and Bagga and Jackie Mittoo from Brentford Road, alongside Wackies regulars. Version excursions include Sugar originals like Informer and Jezzreel's 'Stop Playing Tricks', Bob Marley's 'Too Much Trouble', and deadly do-overs of Studio One cornerstones like 'Throw Me Corn' and 'Real Rock'. Do it, Jah! Flash it!"


Artist: JAH BATTA
Title: Argument
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2395LP
LP version.


Artist: HENRY, MILTON
Title: Who Do You Think I Am?
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2450CD
Milton Henry's handful of classic sides -- like his version of "Gypsy Woman," or "Cornbread and Butter" or "This World" and "Follow Fashion" over the Upsetter's fever rhythm (under the artist name King Medious) -- made him a natural Wackies' recruit when he relocated from Jamaica to New York City in the late '70s. Soon after, he was fully involved in the day-to-day business of the operation, supervising sales and promotion, making deliveries, even holding spare keys to the studio for whenever Bullwackies himself was away. He appears in this activist role on the front-sleeve photograph, just up White Plains Road from the Bronx HQ: by its title, though, and first and last songs, this album also hints heavily at the past musical accomplishments of its mystery hero. The record was released first in London, in 1984, during the first months of Wackies Dean Street office, in north Soho. The band is basically Itopia. Sly Dunbar gets a credit -- though neither he nor Robbie Shakespeare ever set foot in the studio: as if in acknowledgment for this rhythm, is "No Dreams." Jackie Mittoo and Bagga are 'pon the corner, from Studio One; Jerry Johnson and Neville Anderson are on brass; also Sugar and Max Romeo; and Sonia from the Love Joys performs a duet. "No Dreams" is the true story of Milton sleeping in the attic above the studio when the rough drum and bass track came onto the desk, waking him, pulling him to the mic; "Them A Devil" is aimed at certain producers passing off the singer's property as their own; "Good Old Days" was written for a poor Junior Byles, remembering times shared.


Artist: HENRY, MILTON
Title: Who Do You Think I Am?
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 2450LP
LP version.


Artist: ITOPIA
Title: Creation
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $11.00
Catalog #: WACK 272EP
Combining two 7"s -- by the studio's in-house band at this time -- originally released on the Wackie's label in 1981. "Creation" is an inimitable twist on tough, traditionalist roots -- sick synth-work takes the horns line, and later, jazzily bubbles under the mix, which has the bottom-end of a stegosaurus. The dub is cataclysmic and spectacular. "Message From Jah" is more affable and soulful, the bass-playing funkier, with another ace version.


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Serious Thing
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 280EP
New release. "The Bullwackies cut of Horace Andy's 'Serious Thing' eclipses on all sides the classic Bunny Lee version of five or so years earlier -- Horace like an angel over a stepping roots arrangement, with the horns on side A imparting extra gravitas, and the majestic Wackies production extra effects on the flip. Originally released in 1981, in the company of Youthman, Sometime Girl, Rockfort Rock -- the horns versions in the UK on the Infradig label, the guitar versions (side AA of this reissue) in the US on a white label stamped with the Wackies insignia -- another Lloyd Barnes killer, dead seriously."


Artist: PRINCE DOUGLAS
Title: Dub Roots
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 295CD
"Engineer Douglas Levy was part of the original Wackies set up from 1974-75, alongside Lloyd Barnes and Jah Upton. For a while he would have his own label -- Hamma -- within the Bullwackies group; but besides Sugar Minott's International Herb, this 1980 dub album is his finest work. Wackies' fans have been clamouring for its reissue ever since Rhythm & Sound began making the catalogue available again. Many of the rhythms are derived from a tape given to the studio by Sly and Robbie, containing their versions of recent Joe Gibbs hits. And there are brilliant treatments of Tribesman Dub -- the rhythm for Tyrone Evans' 'Black Like Me' -- and Wayne Jarrett's definitive interpretation of 'Every Tongue Shall Tell.' Elsewhere Jah Batta takes deejay duties -- likewise Prince Douglas himself. (And there are lovely skewed graphics by team regular Leslie Moore, self-styled 'LAM International'). But the deadliest cut of all reworks another gift, Steel Pulse's 'Handsworth Revolution,' which arrived in a parcel of records from England the same weekend as the session: 'March Down Babylon Dub,' with Bullwackie himself at the microphone in his Chosen Brothers guise, as steely and apocalyptic as Douglas Levy's fabulous production."


Artist: PRINCE DOUGLAS
Title: Dub Roots
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 295LP
"Engineer Douglas Levy was part of the original Wackies set up from 1974-75, alongside Lloyd Barnes and Jah Upton. For a while he would have his own label -- Hamma -- within the Bullwackies group; but besides Sugar Minott's International Herb, this 1980 dub album is his finest work. Wackies' fans have been clamouring for its reissue ever since Rhythm & Sound began making the catalogue available again. Many of the rhythms are derived from a tape given to the studio by Sly and Robbie, containing their versions of recent Joe Gibbs hits. And there are brilliant treatments of Tribesman Dub -- the rhythm for Tyrone Evans' Black Like Me -- and Wayne Jarrett's definitive interpretation of 'Every Tongue Shall Tell.' Elsewhere Jah Batta takes deejay duties -- likewise Prince Douglas himself. (And there are lovely skewed graphics by team regular Leslie Moore, self-styled 'LAM International'). But the deadliest cut of all reworks another gift, Steel Pulse's 'Handsworth Revolution,' which arrived in a parcel of records from England the same weekend as the session: 'March Down Babylon Dub,' with Bullwackie himself at the microphone in his Chosen Brothers guise, as steely and apocalyptic as Douglas Levy's fabulous production."


Artist: WACKIES
Title: Natures Dub
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 306CD
Available again. "As there haven't been any information with the original album release from 1982, the short and basic info is as follows: 'The Reckless Breed in Jamaica, the New Breed in New York! Scotty and crew rock rootical Jezzreel rhythm tracks like 'Roman Soldiers', with fine sing-jaying from Jah Batta; also Clive Hunt's inimitable take on the 'Rockfort Rock' rhythm; and a steppers version of Junior Delgado's Upsetter classic 'Sons Of Slaves'. 'Natures Dub' -- this sound a rockers.rockers.rockers.me say a rockers.rockers. Essential dub music!"


Artist: WACKIES
Title: Natures Dub
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 306LP
LP version; available again.


Artist: LOVE JOYS
Title: Reggae Vibes
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 3239CD
"Reggae Vibes was the Love Joys' first album, initially released in 1981 on the Florida-based Top Ranking label (when it was also entitled Jah Light on the inside labels). It features 10 tunes produced and recorded at Wackies NY, ranging from Lovers Rock Reggae Style and uptempo dance vibes to roots and reality. Tracks include: 'Stranger' and 'All I Can Say' (which also appear on Lovers Rock Reggae Style in different mixes); 'Studio Man', a tribute to Bullwackie himself; 'Jah Light', in Bullwackie's words, 'shining a favorite of mine and very inspirational in all of the crew at Wackies, with Jah Scotty always ready to drum up some steady beats along with Roy Bassie from the Wackies Rhythm Force'; Watch Them, 'a revolutionary cry from Sonia Abel -- a very special writer that can stretch far into her imagination -- just vibing in the studio '; Love Is Not A Game, 'typical lovers rock sharing roots feeling in a dance style, Love Joys Stylee'; How Long, 'another love song, sweet sounding vocals makes life feel real special'. A must for all Wackies fans."


Artist: LOVE JOYS
Title: Reggae Vibes
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 3239LP
LP version.


Artist: CLIVE FIELD MARSHALL
Title: Poor House Rockers
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 334CD
"On its original release in 1981, Clive Field Marshall's Poor House Rockers album sold out so quickly that Wackies was unable to supply his customary distributors outside New York; and it has been high on Wackies-collectors' lists ever since. The rhythms nod again to The Heptones at Studio One and Bob Marley. Others are voiced elsewhere in the Wackies catalogue by Barrington Spence, Junior Delahaye and the Love Joys; some had appeared on the 'Presenting Prince Douglas' set the previous year. Clive himself is compelling, witty and ebullient in the dancehall style pioneered by Lone Ranger, ranging over subjects including Jamaican tourism and landlordism, Carter and Reagan, banks and bulldogs, and -- outstandingly, on Delahaye's ineffable but unissued 'Acting So Strange' -- the in-thing beaver hat and sheepskin coat."


Artist: CLIVE FIELD MARSHALL
Title: Poor House Rockers
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 334LP
Originally reissued in 2002. "On its original release in 1981, this album sold out so quickly that Wackies was unable to supply his customary distributors outside New York; and it has been high on Wackies-collectors' lists ever since. The rhythms nod again to The Heptones at Studio One, and Bob Marley; others are voiced elsewhere in the Wackies catalogue by Barrington Spence, Junior Delahaye and the Love Joys; some had appeared on the Presenting Prince Douglas set the previous year. Clive himself is compelling, witty and ebullient in the dancehall style pioneered by Lone Ranger, ranging over subjects including JA tourism and landlordism, Carter and Reagan, banks and bulldogs, and -- outstandingly, on Delahaye's ineffable but unissued Acting So Strange -- the in-thing beaver hat and sheepskin coat."


Artist: CLIFTON, RAS
Title: Queen Of The Universe
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 3482EP
"Ras Clifton's delirious hymn to Black womanhood is backed by the original Wackies crew -- Allah, Clive Hunt, the Sylvester Brothers. 'Look Over Yonder' originally appeared in 1975, as a 7" on the Wisdom-Rock label which Wackies created for Clifton: this 1982 reworking is more spacious and contemplative. Both sides are deep, charged reggae with musical inspiration to spare over extended mixes -- and Lloyd Barnes at the desk steals the show."


Artist: CARD, JOY
Title: Boy I Love You
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 3483EP
Released in 2005. "Out originally in 1982 around the same time as Jamaica Super Dub (and in England as a three-track 7" including Superstatic Magic Mystery), this single released two of a handful of tracks cut with the Itopia band at Wackies by Joy Card -- between her leaving home in Canada and enrollment in the US Army. Jah Son Invasion includes short and singjay versions of 'Black Girl,' which as this discomix was a big hit at the time in London, and played on the radio by the likes of Rodigan and Greg Edwards. Both sides are tough, edgy and dubby lovers' rock -- Joy Card is confident and winning, Lloyd Barnes busy and thrilling throughout."


Artist: MEDITATIONS, THE
Title: I Love Jah
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 510CD
"This is the first ever release of a masterful The Meditations album recorded by Bullwackies in the heady months of 1982. The lineage of The Meditations -- Ansel Cridland, Winston Watson, Danny Clarke -- elaborates Wackie's' classical project perfectly: from their introduction by Stranger Cole (who would himself record for Wackie's) to Dobby Dobson back in 1975, and their hits for him under the supervision of ace Studio One engineer Sylvan Morris through revered Lee Perry productions. This album evokes and deepens the atmosphere of those Black Ark sides -- but cuts the group's militant rasta reputation with ecstatic soulful sensibilities. The tracks comprise six originals -- brand new, prime Bullwackies music -- though the title cut recasts 'I Shall Be Released' via interpretations for Studio One's Coxsone Dodd and Lee 'Scratch' Perry by The Heptones (another all-time-great Jamaican vocal trio with an unreleased Wackie's album recorded during this period). The luxuriant sublimity of the mature Wackie's sound -- dubwise from start to finish, with the drums of Jah Scotty and big-city-blues guitar of Barry Vincent outstanding -- sets off some of the finest trio harmonizing you will hear."


Artist: MEDITATIONS, THE
Title: I Love Jah
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 510LP
LP version.


Artist: ANDY, HORACE
Title: Money Money
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 5252EP
"On this classic 12Inch Horace Andy revisits a Bunny Lee favorite -- twin rhythm to the famous 'Cuss Cuss' -- in the opening track 'Money Money' of his wonderful 'Dance Hall Style' album for Bullwackies. This is the rougher extended mix, not available on the album: more snare, more reverb and effects, extra raw. Al Moodie's toast of the 'Money' rhythm on the B-side is carnivalesque JA travelogue, from Bull Bay to Rockfort to Harbour View, guaranteed to put a glide in your stride."


Artist: MINOTT & HORACE ANDY, SUGAR
Title: Wicked Ah Go Feel It
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 589EP
"From Sugar an essential, down-to-the-bone version of the foundation Real Rock rhythm. Featuring Jackie Mittoo and Bagga Stewart from Willie Wiliams' classic 'Armagideon Time' cut, alongside Wackies' Itopia Crew. Musical Episode sets Horace in the same intense and spare dubwise mood, loaded with bass, rolling congas and spaced-out synth. 'In the Bronx, straight up White Plains Road, as far as you can go, past Tad's and Brad's and Moodies - as far uptown as you can go is City Line. This is Bullwackies Country. 'Born in Jamaica in 1944, Lloyd Barnes recorded for Prince Buster and worked for Duke Reid at Treasure Isle, before emigrating with Munchie Jackson to New York in the early seventies. Here they operated a small sound system -- with Jah Upton -- and in 1977 Lloyd Barnes founded the Wackies House Of Music, at 4731 White Plains Road. Behind this shopfront was the first significant Reggae studio and label in the United States, with numerous releases on City Line and Bullwackies, and subsidiaries including 'Aires', 'Senrab' ('Barnes' backwards), 'Senta' (after his mother), and 'Rawse'. Wackies' lineage is classical -- rooted in Studio One and Black Ark -- but cut with the acid urbanity of New York City. Its sound is characterized by pervasive echo and deep bass: The atmosphere is luminous and unique."


Artist: JAH BATTA
Title: Informer
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $12.00
Catalog #: WACK 615EP
Two different dubwise versions of Sugar Minott's massive "Informer" rhythm -- both chock-full of living dancehall vibes and Channel One-style deadliness. Little John was 12 years-old when he voiced this tune in 1983, straight to the head of all dancecrashers. Batta's cut is a different mix, bowing to U-Roy at the start, before switching to a more contemporary delivery. Sugar is in attendance throughout, almost as if the pair were taking turns at the mic, before the dub takes over.


Artist: WACKIES
Title: African Roots - Act 2
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 617CD
"Another Rhythm & Sound presentation from Bullwackies' golden year of 1982, this album offers fully-worked dubwise versions of tracks voiced elsewhere by such Wackies' luminaries as Max Romeo, Barrington Spence and Junior Delahaye. Only the treatment of Horace Andy's 'Lonely Woman' -- from the original release of 'Dancehall Showcase' -- contains traces of a song. Alongside producer Lloyd Barnes aka Bullwackies himself of course, Junior Delahaye's contribution is crucial -- on keyboards, drums and drum machine, and at the mixing desk. Likewise Leroy Sibbles, on bass guitar, bringing to the session three classic Heptones Studio One rhythms: 'Fight It To The Top', 'Love Won't Come Easy' and 'Sea Of Love'. Vintage Wackies dub: all killers, no fillers!"


Artist: WACKIES
Title: African Roots Act 2
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 617LP
LP version; available again.


Artist: LOVE JOYS
Title: Gimme Back
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 707EP
"'Gimme Back' is a classic Bullwackies production, catching the Love Joys in full flight. The song is forlorn and imploring, the singing magnificent, over soulful organ, rocking horns and a crisp Delahaye drum programme, with a fine, deep dub. 'It Ain't Easy' features veteran Blues Buster Philip James alongside Sonia Abel at the microphone. 'Stranger Get Up' is the slower, keyboard cut: moody and essential. Yet another exclusive, 'Roots Vibes' -- which comes with a version -- is from the sessions which produced the Reggae Vibes album (also recently reissued by Rhythm & Sound)."


Artist: DELAHAYE, JUNIOR
Title: Working Hard For The Rent Man
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 709EP
"Recorded in the late seventies, originally released in 1983, the A is irresistible, bubbling sufferers'. As fluently as seventies Curtis it combines rapture and engagement, soul and sophistication -- with scatting, jazzy stylings by Roland Alphonso and guitarist Barry Vincent, and a drum-machine still fresh as a crisp biscuit. 'Mystic Revelation' in all its glory appears likewise in both the original tape and the 1983 12" versions."


Artist: JEZZREEL
Title: All Depends On You/I Put My Trust
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 710EP
"All Depends On You" is an intimate, spare do-over of the Spiderman rhythm which Yellowman and Fathead were smashing at the time with Operation Eradication: eight-and-a-half-minutes of yearning and pleading, generously dosed with the vocal stylings of the original Night Nurse himself. "I Put My Trust" swaps religion for amorous devotion: musically, it is more characteristically Wackies, reverberating but crisp as a biscuit, stepping but spaced-out. Neither track appears on the LP, Great Jah Jah.


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: Jamming In The Street
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 717EP
"Out originally on Black Roots in 1983, this is warm, natural music-making from Sugar's Informer sessions, overflowing with dancehall vibes. The rhythm follows Channel One's refinement of vintage Studio One, and features deejay John Wayne from Youth Promotion days, with a masterful Wackies dub."


Artist: JEZZREEL
Title: Great Jah Jah
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 790CD
Taking its name from Jezreel, the Biblical city founded by the tribe of Issachar, where God is said to have cursed Ahab for his greed, this singing duo's debut 1980 Wackies album is steeped in rasta spirituality. Clive Davis and Christopher Harvey step forward from the backing line -- on innumerable Sugar Minott sessions for example -- and into the company of the great JA vocal combos of the late seventies: as at home with Viceroys-style harmonies as with traditional Impressions- and doowop-derived flourishes; as comfortable riding Channel One-style steppers as with more laid-back, lover's grooves. Dug in behind them is drummer Jah Scotty's New Breed Band -- also known as the Reckless Breed -- falling between the Sylvester Brothers and Itopia as Wackies in-house crew. Included in the lineup this time are two of Lloyd Barnes' sons, Bob and Shaan. Appearing as Reggae Jerry, guitarist Jerry Harris is in top form, and as Jerry Hitster he contributes some startling keyboards (alongside Sylvesters' old-boy Roy Robertson), not least in the opening bars. Most of the rhythms are one-offs, though "Roman Soldiers" is the militant first outing of "Nature's Dub", and "Living In The Ghetto" is "Kicking Scott" from the same album. (On top, the sleeve features vintage reggae typesetting by Leslie A. Moore, LAM Graphics Int.) This is a showcase reissue, with all tracks extending into inventive dubs. Arrangements are by Lloyd Barnes and Jah Hamma, aka Prince Douglas, who also work the mixing desk.


Artist: JEZZREEL
Title: Great Jah Jah
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: LP
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK 790LP
LP version.


Artist: MINOTT, SUGAR
Title: Hi Hello
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: 12"
Price: $10.00
Catalog #: WACK 956EP
"Sugar mugs flirtatiously over an upful dubwise cut of Barrington Levy's 'Here I Come', with an old-school NYC rap by Bullwackie's adolescent son Dion. And it was the flipside which turned out pockets the first time around, in 1983: a blazing horns version of 'Billie Jean', and another spotlighting the brilliant percussionist Hasan Bakr."


Artist: VA
Title: Wackies Sampler Vol. 1
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK S01CD
"After 18 projects in Rhythm & Sound's Wackies reissue program here is an overview of the releases so far. Wackies Sampler Vol.1 features one outstanding tune from each release. This compilation is as essential as it gets for any reggae listener, ranging from dub and roots to dancehall inna '80s style, with less known artists alongside some of the biggest names in reggae music. The tunes taken from 12"s here appear for the first time on CD within this reissue program." Artists include: Love Joys, Junior Delahaye, Naggo Morris, Wayne Jarrett, Meditations, Stranger Cole, Augustus Pablo, African Roots Act 2, Sugar Minott, Horace Andy, Natures Dub, Jamaica Super Dub Session, Clive Field Marshall, Leroy Sibbles.


Artist: VA
Title: Wackies Sampler Vol. 2
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $15.50
Catalog #: WACK S02CD
"After eighteen more projects in Rhythm & Sound's Wackies reissue program, here is the overview of the releases following Wackies Sampler Vol. 1. Wackies Sampler Vol. 2 features one outstanding tune from each release. This compilation is as essential as it gets for any reggae listener, ranging from dub and roots to dancehall inna '80s style, with less reggae music. The tunes taken from 12" here appear for the first time on CD within this reissue program."


Artist: VA
Title: Wackies Sampler Vol. 3
Label: WACKIE'S (GERMANY)
Format: CD
Price: $17.00
Catalog #: WACK S03CD
This is volume three of the Wackies Sampler series, highlighting the best riddims from Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound's 18 releases in their reissue program of the best of Lloyd Barnes' Black Ark studio production. Wackies Sampler Vol. 3 features one outstanding tune from each release. This compilation is as essential as it gets for any reggae listener, ranging from dub and roots to dancehall inna '80s style, with lesser-known artists alongside some of the biggest names in reggae music, including the prime vocalists of the era. These tunes are taken from 12"s and appear here for the first time on CD within this reissue program. Artists include: Prince Douglas, Horace Andy, Lloyd McTaggart, Joy Card, Bullwackies All Stars, John Clarke, Horace Andy, Jezzreel, Jah Carlos, Milton Henry, Max Romeo, Little John, Sugar Minott, Itopia, and Joe Auxumite.

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