The Story Of Trojan Records - 5CD Box Set

Trojan is a name that personified reggae in the UK during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s and since its heyday back then and the advent of CD’s it has had its name somewhat sullied as various companies have held the rights to its immense catalogue and flooded the market with lots of brash and fairly tawdry releases. Over the last twelve months or so present owners Universal Music have gone along way in putting the some gloss and pride back in to this one of the most important reggae labels ever with their limited edition 7” vinyl series, of obscure and previously unreleased material, re-issued classic albums on CD in their original guise and brought out an improved ‘Trojan Presents’ 2CD albums series. Now, on August 29th, they about to release a 123 track, 5CD box set ‘The Story Of Trojan Records’.

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The ‘Studio One Story’ From Soul Jazz

Soul Jazz Records’ have just re-released their feature-length documentary/CD/Book titled the ‘Studio One Story’. This DVD/CD/Book and DVD/2LP/Book combination was first released in 2003 but now for the first time you can if you so wish purchase the DVD on its own.

The film took one and a half years to make and was shot entirely on location in Jamaica, two years before the death of the legendary Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd. The producer gave unprecedented personal access to the makers allowing them to tell the unique story of the iconic label’s rise from its early sound system days in the 1950s through to its dominance of the reggae markets in the late 1970s, which saw it described by Chris Blackwell as both the Motown of Jamaica and ‘The University of Reggae’.
The running time is around 4hrs and includes interviews with Horace Andy, Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Sugar Minott, Denis Alcapone, The Ethiopians, Sylvan Morris, Johnny Moore, Lone Ranger, King Stitt and many others. The DVD also includes rare footage of The Skatalites, Jackie Mittoo, Count Ossie and Marcia Griffiths among others.

This DVD offers a rare insight into how Dodd and the many artists and musicians at Studio One literally shaped the rise of Reggae music, making it compulsive viewing for anyone with an interest in Reggae.

The DVD retails for £9.99 while the DVD/CD/Book and DVD/2LP/Book are both priced at £17.99. For more information and to order your copy visit Soul Jazz Records

Tenor Saw - Ring The Alarm

Born in the Payne Avenue district of West Kingston, Jamaica on February 11th 1966, Clive Bright would go on to become one of the most influential singers of the early digital reggae when in 1985 he joined up with producer Winston Riley and had his most successful hit single "Ring the Alarm", voiced over the Stalag riddim. This tune even now still brings the house down and has been sampled and had influence on many artists including the megastar Beyonce Knowles who based a performance around Tenor Saw's "Ring The Alarm" which was incorporated in to her The Beyonce Experience shows in 2007. The song had millions of views on youtube and was seen as a highly influential artist in today's media being influenced a genre which is different to her own.

It all started however for Tenor Saw the year with his first single, "Roll Call" recorded for George Phang's Powerhouse label, on the Queen Majesty riddim. From here he moved on, with his friend Nitty Gritty, to work with Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion sound system and label and scored huge hits in Jamaica with "Lots of Sign", "Pumpkin Belly", "Run Come Call Me", and "Fever". This then led to “Ring the Alarm” and its success led him to work with Prince Jammy, recording "Pumpkin Belly" on Jammy's (then) new and popular Sleng Teng riddim. The hits kept coming in 1986 with the Mad Mad riddim tune “Golden Hen" on the Uptempo label with producer Keith ‘Gorgan’ Wignall, plus Minott issued Tenor Saw's debut album, “Fever” that year, which by then was almost something of a ‘best of’.

However by the time of the albums release, Tenor Saw had relocated to Miami, joining the Skengdon crew, where he recorded "Dancehall Feeling" and "Bad Boys". He also recorded "No Work On a Sunday" for Donovan Germain, before moving to New York, where he worked with Freddie McGregor on "Victory Train" plus he made his last ever recording, "Chill Out Chill Out", a duet with General Doggie, because in the August of 1988 while in Houston, Texas he was found dead on the road side, apparently killed by a speeding car in a hit and run, he was just 22 years of age. No one has ever faced charges about that night and conspiracy stories abounded and led to Nitty Gritty recording "Who Killed Tenor Saw?". He was highly regarded with King Kong recording a tribute and Supercat's singing "Nuff man a Dead" about the death of Tenor Saw and other superstars of the time.

Tales From Dis Yuh Underground Download

It’s been airing at United Reggae since 4^th July and celebrates some of Gibsy’s favourite underground reggae/dub works over the past couple of years and it is now available to you to download for free!

Please it would be nice if you do take a slice of this to hear your comments whether they be good, bad or even indifferent!

SpringlineJamaica Mixtape Tracklist



1. Planet Exile Willie Steen (UK) 2010
2. Crombie Rock Yabass & Oldwah (UK) 2010
3. I'm Free Iditafari Family (Germany) 2010
4. The System Sammy Gold & David Pablo (U.S) 2011
5. Speaking Toys Battle Anti Bypass (FR) 2010
6. Zion Gate Yabass & The Manor (UK) 2011
7. OutaSpace Dub Willyman 2010
8. Tyrant David Pablo & Steve Steppa (U.S) 2010
9. 4 Horseman demo Yabass (UK) 2009
10. Sweet Jamaica The Manor / SpringlineRecords (UK,FR) 2011
11. Ghetto Dub The Manor / SpringlineRecords - overmix by Gibsy (UK,FR) 2011
12. Lo Fi Test Dub Alchemist (U.S) 2010