Roots Archives Forum

jumbo wrote: up until Tuff gong stopped pressing, their regular back catalog included represses of the BMW Island album collection, 6 or so 45s and and these 12 inches:

-redemption song band version / zion express
-Punky reggae party /jamming
- I know
- One Love / Some much trouble
-Trench town
_Buffalo soldier

Redemption song/Zion express... is there a longer version of Zion Train on it? I would love a 7 minutes version with dub. Same goes for So much trouble. But that's just the 4 minute album version on the B-side to the One Love 7" and 12", right?

Gabranth wrote:Redemption song/Zion express... is there a longer version of Zion Train on it?

No, "Zion Express" is the same lenght, but it is a different mix, only available on the JA releases (just like with several other songs, most notably "Rastaman Live Up" and "Blackman Redemption").

Same goes for So much trouble. But that's just the 4 minute album version on the B-side to the One Love 7" and 12", right?

Yes, it's the regular version, and "One Love" is the Julian Mendelsohn remix, so this is an example of the Tuff Gong pressings of "posthumously released tracks" I mentioned above.

-

Btw, looking at my Tuff Gong copy of "One Love", it says "DISCO 45" on the label, even though it is a 7"...?

I'm gonna check out that different mix of Zion Train, if I find it on the internet. Blackman redemption and Rastaman live up original mixes are wicked imho.

The "disco"-question just got even weirder. Disco 45? I never understood why a 7"single is called a 45, since a lot of 12"singles run on 45rpm too.

I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who contributed to this topic, all this information has been really useful and it was exactly what I was looking for. I'm glad the information can be found for any new record collectors such as myself.

So to wrap things up with a brief conclusion: Any Tuff Gong JA pressing that has "Marcus Garvey Dr." as the address is the biggest indication that the record is not the original and another indication is "either of the phone numbers ”92-39380-4” or ”923-3980-4”, and ”the little Tuff Gong logo at the top of the record” is the other indication.

The same goes for LP's as well, an example can be seen here (https://www.discogs.com/Bob-Marley-The- ... se/1290640) if you look at the images of the label, someone tried to pass this of as the original from 1979 but you can clearly tell from the label is says "Marcus Garvey Drive" which is where Tuff Gong relocated after the death of Bob Marley.

99thfloor wrote: either of the phone numbers ”92-39380-4” or ”923-3980-4”, and ”the little Tuff Gong logo at the top of the record”

Tuff Roots wrote:So to wrap things up with a brief conclusion: Any Tuff Gong JA pressing that has "Marcus Garvey Dr." as the address is the biggest indication that the record is not the original and another indication is "either of the phone numbers ”92-39380-4” or ”923-3980-4”, and ”the little Tuff Gong logo at the top of the record” is the other indication.

About the phone numbers and "little Tuff Gong logo", that is just how my copies are, I do not know for sure what period they indicate (I wonder if one of the phone number variations is a mistake, because they have the same digits, just shuffled around, but both variations are as common).

To confuse matters, I also have a modern pressing of "Burnin And Lootin"/"Rastaman Chant" that has a "127 King Street" adress, this one: http://www.discogs.com/Bob-Marley-The-W ... se/2898615
The address is obviously not correct as being a current one, since it is the original Tuff Gong address, so I don't know if this is a pirate pressing or they just reused the look of an old label. I got this, along with many of the other "new" Tuff Gong re-pressings I have, from the **Reggae Fever** webshop.

99thfloor wrote:About the phone numbers and "little Tuff Gong logo", that is just how my copies are, I do not know for sure what period they indicate (I wonder if one of the phone number variations is a mistake, because they have the same digits, just shuffled around, but both variations are as common).

Well you're definitely right about the Tuff Gong logo symbol as that is very common with the red and green label pressings. Can be seen on a 7" here: https://www.discogs.com/Bob-Marley-The- ... se/6744892 with the Tuff Gong logo and the Marcus Garvery address.

However as for the number I'm not that confident either but I do have a copy of "Ride Natty Ride" (photo added) because it has the address of 56 hope road and a number of "92-77919" and "92-77103" which I believe was the original Tuff Gong number for 56 hope road as this number is the same one from the original redemption song pressing with the 56 hope road address on it as well: https://www.discogs.com/Bob-Marley-The- ... se/2972582 so we may have solved the puzzle. And **notice there is no Tuff Gong logo** on these records.

And as for the Burning and Lootin copy it looks like a possible pirate copy to me although i cannot be certain, how is the pressing quality?

Yes that's the original Ride Natty Ride press.

Burning single is a bootleg...

Jah Live re - we new address....

The represses generally had a silver sleeve with them - as eBay Disco, originals the classic black sleeves...though of course sleeves do get swapped around

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bob-Marley-Tu ... SwepJXXEEc

99thfloor wrote: I got this, along with many of the other "new" Tuff Gong re-pressings I have, from the **Reggae Fever** webshop.

If your looking for a reggae record shop with mostly originals then there's a fairly new record shop called **Lion Vibes** down in Brixton (London) where I normally go for all my collector copies. Most of their stuff is in Near Mint condition and I just got myself a copy of 'The Wailers - Catch a Fire' UK original with the Zippo sleeve in near mint! The place is called http://www.lionvibes.com/index.php if you wanna take a look.

Lick It Back wrote: The represses generally had a silver sleeve with them - as eBay Disco, originals the classic black sleeves...though of course sleeves do get swapped around

Thanks for the heads up! Funny enough I got the original copy of Redemption song 12" but with the Punky Reggae Party sleeve just to confuse the whole sleeve mixing topic. But yeah I have a few of the Tuff Gong Disco sleeves and I did not know they were normally put with represses so cheers!

Lick It Back wrote:The represses generally had a silver sleeve with them...

Yes, all the 12" represses I have are in those sleeves.

Tuff Roots wrote:If your looking for a reggae record shop with mostly originals...

I mostly buy used records in physical stores nowadays, where I can inspect and play them, but thanks for the suggestion. **Reggae Fever** has originals as well, but I bought these repressings because they were comparatively cheap, and in the hope that, being unplayed, they would be better sounding than some of beat up originals - which in most cases they weren't.

Yes Gabranth - I'd like to pick up those Blackman redemption and Rastaman live up original mixes on your recommend. Can they be identified easily? Do they have a different label or address? (Or do all 7 or 12s of those tunes use the same original mix?) Hopefully they're available but if not will look around or wait.

Also, 7" singles were named as 45s soon after they came out around the 1950s. There were no 12" singles yet, just albums, EPs and 45s. Some say the first 12" 45 speed were disco music in generic sleeves that just had Disco on the front, so when JA started to press them for reggae they just called them as Disco singles.

Gabranth wrote:I'm gonna check out that different mix of Zion Train, if I find it on the internet. Blackman redemption and Rastaman live up original mixes are wicked imho.

The "disco"-question just got even weirder. Disco 45? I never understood why a 7"single is called a 45, since a lot of 12"singles run on 45rpm too.