1974-1980 reviews on current reggae releases...

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC: MARCH 1976:
[cover=2128,2486][cover=4936,2486]
Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus: "Rastafari" (Grounation 505)

None A Jah Jah Children / Birds In The Treetop / Truth And Right / On Broadway /
Glory Dawn / Mr Brown / Sufferation / It Is No Secret / Give Love: -

* * * *

Enveloped by a most attractive sleeve (the picture is of Haile Sellassie as a child by the way), this second LP release from author of "Nyah-binghi" is better, more prefessional, entertainment than the first, and is spiritually just as convincing.
The Trojan LP was merely an example of the chanting, drum beating music that is traditionally associated with rasta communes.
This is electric reggae born of spiritual inspiration and conceptfrom Ras M aided by musicians of skill, experience, and inspiration, including Peter "Wailer" Tosh, and Geoffrey Chung. Recorded at Dynamic studios, an unbeatable recording house, and produced by Tommy Cowen who is coming into his own quickly on that indefinable level of musical creativity.
A stimulating album for the rich effortless textures of music woven by rhythm experts, moody musicians.An album pervaded by a wholesome, spiritual feeling, a feeling of togethernees led by singer Ras Michael.
His voice isn`t likely to become a model of influence and inspiration but it serves its purpose well.

"On Broadway" (changed from "In Zion" on the JA copy) is the Drifters` song with new lyrics. It`s the most complete number, a flowing refreshing sound where horns, lead guitar, and synthesiser paint beautiful layers of melodic music, and Tosh`s inimitable wah wah guitar appears mysteriously near the closure of the tune.
"Glory Dawn" and "It Is No Secret" are hymn-like numbers while "Birds In The Treetop" borrows from a traditional JA folk song, "Mr Brown" is ironic and witty ("how could a black man name Mr Brown..."), while "Truth And Right" and "Sufferation" are close in theme and texture to "None A Jah Jah Children".
A very good album from an artist rising in esteem and popularity.
Carl Gayle
Black Music Mag March 1976.

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MAG MARCH 1976:

POLL WINNERS 1975:

REGGAE:

MALE ARTIST:
1, Bob Marley (4).
2. Big Youth (-).
3. Johnny Nash (-).
4. I.Roy (-).
5. Carl Macolm (-).

FEMALE ARTIST:
1. Susan Cadogan (-).
2. Sharon Forrester (1).
3. Louisa Mark (-).
4. Ginger Williams (5).
5. Rita Marley (-).

GROUP:
1. Bob Marley & The Wailers (2).
2. Burning Spear (-).
3. Diamonds (-).
4. Skin Flesh And Bones (4).
5. Toots & The Maytals (1).

INTRUMENTALIST:
1. Augustus Pablo (5).
2. Family Man Barret (4).
3. Skin Flesh And Bones (1).
4. Bob Marley (-).
5. Upsetters (3).

ALBUM:
1. Bob Marley & The Wailers "Natty Dread".
2. Bob Marley & The Wailers "Live".
3. Big Youth "Dread Locks Dread".
4. King Tubby Meets The Upsetter.
5. Burning Spear "Marcus Garvey".

SINGLE:
1. Bob Marley & The Wailers "No Woman No Cry".
2. Johnny Nash "Tears On My Pillow".
3. Paul Davidson "Midnight Rider".
4. Susan Cadogan "Hurt So Good".
5. Bob Marley "Natty Dread".

PRODUCER:
1. Lee Perry (5).
2. Lloyd Charmers (1).
3. O. Hibbert (-).
4. Chris Blackwell (-).
5. Bob Marley (3).

ARRANGER:
1. Bob Marley (2).
2. Lee Perry (-).
3. Keith Hudson (-).
4. Jimmy Cliff (3).
5. Byron Lee (-).

SONGWRITER:
1. Bob Marley (1).
2. Burning Spear (Winston Rodney) (-).
3. Pluto Shervington (-).
4. Llyod Charmers (4).
5. Keith Hudson (-).

NEW STAR:
1. Louisa Mark.
2. Buring Spear.
3. Susan Cadogan.
4. Diamonds.
5. Keith Hudson.

( ) denotes last years placing.

REGGAE 1975 - CARL GAYLE`S TOP SIX:

SINGLES:
*Burning Spear - Slavery Days (Fox).
*Bunny Livingstone - Battering Down Sentence (Solomonic).
*Max Romeo - Three Blind Mice (Upsetter).
The Abysinnians - Tenayistillin Wandimae (Sound Tracs).
*Clifton Gibbs - Serious Time (Macca Records).
*Junior Byles - Know Where You Going (Top Studio Ja-Man).

ALBUMS:
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Natty Dread (Island).
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey (Island).
* Yabby U & The Prophets - Ramadam (Lucky).
* Burning Spear - Burning Spear (Studio One).
Max Romeo - Revelation Time (Sound Tracs).
*Joe Higgs - Life Of Contradiction (Micron)
* denotes import records.

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC: MARCH 1976:
[cover=1050,1207]
Max Romeo: "Revelation Time" (Sound Tracs 1000)

Revelation Time / No Peace / Tacko / Blood Of The Prophet / Blood Of The Prophet, Pt. II / Warning Warning / A Quarter Pound Of I`Cense / Three Bling Mice / Open The Iron Gate / Open The Iron Gate, Pt. II: -

* * * *

Max Romeo might be best known in Britain his pop chart "rude" hit "Wet Dream", but in Jamaica he`s just as renowned for his message music.
From time to time Max has been struck by his social conscience and thus inspired has made a few admirable records, the easiest to recall being "Publis Enemy Number One" and "Let The Power Fall" (a persuasive favourite in the last Jamaican general electios), and the best being the terrrific "Three Blind Mice", an original number produced by Lee Perry.
It tells of the blind terror that overcame everybody ehen police raided a party one Saturday night "...Baton sticks start flying, man start to bawl, some jump the fence ...").
Max`s vocal soars and screeches echoing the song`s emotiveness, while the slow rhythm propelled by thumping bass and bass drum is a most contagious sound.

Max alone contributes three songs, "Warning Warning", "I`Cense" (weed) and "Open The Iron Gate". Two songs of Prophecy and one which illuminates the disillusionment and vulnnerability of the down trodden youth...("Just a quarter pound of I`cense to help me blow my mind, this confusion is driving me crazy...").

The exceptional thing about this album is the strong sense of emotion, running through anger, revenge, and destruction, that pervade it. "Warning Warning" sums up these feelings totally in a prophecy of slaughter.
Meanwhile, spiritually inspired songs like "Blood Of The Prophet" and "Iron Gate" reek of blood, conflict, death and destruction. The former telling of an unholy murder and the ensuing wrath of Jah, the other seeking safety, for Jah children in His Kingdom, from the Armageddon.
The rhythms are one-paced and repetitive but they harmonise in mood with the whole dark tone and concept of the album.

An underated, well conceived and executed album that will appeal to you if you take the themes seriously and give the music time.

Carl Gayle.
Black Music Mag March 1976.

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC: APRIL 1976:
[cover=2111,2471]
I. Roy: "Truth And Rights" (Grounation 504)

Natty Down Deh / Dread In The West / Message From The Top / Touting I Self / No Turn Them Back / Every Mouth Must Be Fed / Medley Mood / Straight To The Heathen Head / Teapot / Double Warning: -

* * * *

Another step foward by deejay I. Roy, one of the big three. His material is always entertaining, he has an arsenal of witty rhymes and is the most literate deejay.
His jive talk is always catchy and usually cynical even when he uses black cultural themes like he does lightly here in "Natty Down Deh", which he uses the rhythm of George Dekker`s "Nosey Parker".It is a very entertaining piece.

"Dread In The West" is a stunning combination of Lee Perry`s "Three Blind Mice" and Roy`s pointed, off beat, social comments... "Come down from the hills and take a look in the ghetto, you can see the scenes are awful..." he says in "Every Mouth Must Be Fed" without trace of malice. Instead, he puts himself squarely on the side of the humble man in the street, a sort of cartoon character who accepts his fate saying "Massie me massa... what a trail!" Words of resignation. It`s another great number.
So are "Teapot", his biggest hit last year, and "Double Warning". With his clever combination of improvised humour, great rhythms and intelligent themes, this is the best deejay LP in a long time.

Carl Gayle -
Black Music Mag April 1976.

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC: JAN 1976:
[cover=122,125]
Bob Marley & The Wailers: "Live" (Island 9376)

Trench Town Rock / Burnin` And Lootin` / Them Belly Full / Lively Up Yourself /
No Woman No Cry / I Shot The Sheriff / Get Up Stand Up: -

* * * * *

"...One good thing about music, when it hit you feel no pain..."
The Trench town experience on record.
The LP sleeve actually looks hot. Excellent pictures of Bob and the rest, and a title set in red, gold and green that aptly conveys the mood of the Lyceum. Makes you wish you`d been there if you hadn`t.

Atmospheric rebel music beginning with "Trench Town Rock" and ending with "Get Up Stand Up" as it was on all the gigs.They`re all good numbers of course, rich in rhythmic texture and burning with the emotion of Bob`s, Rita`s and Judy`s voices.
Carlie`s drumming stands out. I just love those rolls of his, sounds like a cattle stampede. And Al`s guitar solos are sheer joy. "Organ D", Tyrone Downe, is a great little keyboard player, one who`s style is already extremely influential in Jamaica. And then there`s Family Man with his bass holding the rhythm together so confidently.

The audience responded very sensitively to Bob, he had `em under his spell with his concentration, his energy, and his all-out effort. "Lively Up Yourself" sounds better here than at the concert. "Burnin` And Lootin`" too.
"No Woman No Cry" is too long and "Get Up Stand Up" not long enough. That chanting that Bob does near the end, where the audience joins in, just happened out of the blue one night on the American tour.
It`s the sort of thing that makes you forget that there`s a world outside.

Carl Gayle -
Black Music Mag January 1976.

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MARCH 1975:

UK REGGAE CHARTS MARCH 1975:

SINGLES:
1. Crying Over You - Ken Boothe (Trojan 7944).
2. This Monday Morning Feeling - Tito Simon (Horse 57).
3. Sunshine - Pat Kelly (Black Wax 01).
4. Help Me Make It Through The Night - John Holt (Trojan 7909).
5. Blue Moon - Love Children (Harry J. 6708).
6. Kiss The Neck - Upsetter (Attack 8090).
7. Share The Good Times - Brent Dowe (Attack 8091).
8. How Glad I Am - Titals (Attack 8092).
9. Loving Girl - Carl Bert (DL 5061).
10. Funny Feeling - T. Stewart (EAG 004).
11. I`ve Lost My Love - Ronnie Davis (Attack 8088).
12. Dread Out De - Joy White (Attack 8093).
13. Samba Fa Ti - Love Children (Shanti 417).
14. Move Out Of Babylon - Johnny Clarke (Harry J. 5055).
15. 200 Years - Max Romeo (Tropical AL 039).
16. Curley Locks - Junior Byles (DIP 5035).
17. Black Pepper - Heavy Jeff (Harry J. 6698).
18. Lee Goofed - Love Children (Harry J. 6702).
19. Hurts So Bad - Susan Cadogan (DIP 5030).
20. Let Them Give You The Money - Jimmy London (Tropical 038).
21. Nosey Parker - George Dekker (Harry J. 6696).
22. Summertime - Pat Kelly (Faith 002).
23. Where Were You - Al Campbell (Faith 003).
24. Pirate Lover - Fay And Biiter Sweet (Rover 02).
25. Rasta dread Locks - The Heavenly Singers (Cactus 48).
26. Passing Strangers - Marvels (Trojan 7937).
27. Changing Partners - Barbara Jones (Attack 8077).
28. Better Man - Ethiopians (Cactus 37).
29. Some Folks - Ronnie Davis (Attack 8082).
30. Tales Of Pablo - Augustus Pablo (Tropical).

ALBUMS:
1. Club Reggae - Various Artists (Trojan 97).
2. In The Dark - Toots & The Maytals (Dragon 5004).
3. Everything I Own - Ken Boothe (Trojan 95).
4. 1000 Volts Of Holt - John Holt (Trojan 75).
5. Presented With Some Groovy - Winston Groovy (Trojan 88).
6. This Is Augustus Pablo - Augustus Pablo (Tropical 101).
7. Sit And Cry Over You - Errol Dunkley (Third World 101).
8. Many Moods Of I. Roy - I. Roy (Trojan 921).
9. Dynamic Junior English - Junior English (Cactus 102).
10. Look Before You Leap - Various Artists (Shelly 03).
11. Build It Up - Brent Dowe (Attack 1011).
12. Sweet Bitter Love - Marcia Griffiths (Trojan 94).
13. Darling Ooh - Errol Dunkley (Attack 1003).
14. Here I Am Baby - Al Brown (Trojan 99).
15. Rasta Revolution - Bob Marley & The Wailers (Trojan 89).
16. Rock The Boat - The Inner Circle (Trojan 83).
17. Reggae Fever - Byron Lee (Polydor 2460 229).
18. Reggae Strings Vol. 2 - Various Artists (Trojan 92).
19. Turntable Reggae - Various Artists (Big Shot 104).
20. It May Sound Silly - Gladstone Anderson (Ashanti 103).

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC MAY 1975:

UK REGGAE CHARTS MAY 1975:

SINGLES:
1. No Jestering - Carl Malcolm (Horse 74).
2. Step Forward Youth - Prince Jazzbo (Count Shelly).
3. Got To Have You Baby - Lord Tanamo (Tropical 7950).
4. South African Reggae - Cedric Brooks (Tropical 046).
5. Bad Da - Gregory Isaacs (Attack 8095).
6. Bongo Natty - Owen Gray (Horse 66).
7. House Of Dreadlocks - Big Youth (Attack 8096).
8. My Girl - True Experience (Ethnic 40).
9. Move Out Of Babylon - Johnny Clarke (Harry J. 6706).
10. Letter To Myself - Errol Dunkley (Fat Man 003).
11. My Happiness Depends On You - The Velvet Shadows (BB 013).
12. Sad Sweet Dreamer - Dennis Walks (Moodies 8235).
13. Bit By Bit - D. Wellington (Sir Jesus 01).
14. Jestering - Shorty And The President (Nationwide 001).
15. Let Locks Grow - Barrington Spence (Horse 70).
16. Dreader Locks - Lee And Junior (DIP 5060).
17. You Are Mine - The Unforgettable Soul Inflation (Ethnic 12).
18. Bang Your Belly - Derrick Morgan (Tropical 043).
19. Without You In My Life - Ronnie Davis (Eagle 005).
20. Key Card - The Upsetters (DIP 5073).
21. You Baby - John Holt (Trojan 7953).
22. King Tubbys Meets The Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo (Island 6226).
23. Duke Of Earl - Cornell Campbell (Horse 68).
24. Love Me With All Your Heart - The Gaylads (Third World 05).
25. So Glad You`re Mine - Bill And Pete (Quee4n Bee 03).
26. We Want Peace - Clint Richards (Jungle 8234).
27. Sunshine - Pat Kelly (Black Wax 1).
28. Sit Right Down And Cry - Errol Dunkley (Count Shelly 03).
29. Best Dressed Chicken - Ali Mantato (Sun And Star 003).
30. Something Strange - Norma T. Washington (Eagle 001).

ALBUMS:
1. Natty Dread - Bob Marley & The Wailers (Island 9281).
2. This Is Augustus Pablo - Augustus Pablo (Tropical 101).
3. Kung Fu Meets The Dragon - The Mighty Upsetter (DIP 6002).
4. In Person - Gregory Isaacs (Trojan 102).
5. Entering The Dragon - Keith Hudson (Magnet 007).
6. This Is Reggae Music - Various Artists ( Trojan 104).
7. Monday Morning Feeling - Tito Simon (Trojan 108).
8. Here I Am Baby - Al Brown (Trojan 99).
9. Peace And Love - Dadawah (Trojan 103).
10. Lonely Man - Freddie McKay (Dragon 5005).
11. Taste Of Honey - Honey Boy (Cactus 105).
12. Girl In The Morning - Lloyd Parks (Trojan 109).
13. Club Reggae - Various Artists (Trojan 97).
14. O.K. Fred - John Holt (Prince Buster 12/180).
15. Everything I Own - Ken Boothe (Trojan 95).
16. Ire Feeling - Rupie Edwards (Cactus 106).
17. Sit And Cry - Errol Dunkley (Third World 101).
18. Sweet Bitter Love - Marcia Griffiths (Trojan 94).
19. In The Dark - The Maytals (Dragon 5004).
20. Rock The Boat - The Inner Circle (Trojan 93).

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976:

REGGAE BUSINESS: PT.1 -
BM looks at Trojan Records to find out how an established classical music company got involved with the world of rasta-rockers:

`Black Music` nearly got sued for libel because of our June issue. Trojan Records. . . John Holt. . . Carl Gayle. All played a part. But the main characters in our dramatic little scenario were somewhat more abstract - poverty, ignorance and prejudice. In a way, the first act of our drama began when the island of Jamaica first became aware of the creative potential of its vibrant, compulsive music and its musicians first tried to make a living from a unique musical form now named reggae. -

Somebody once said that if you got a roomful of reggae recording artists and had a whip `round you wouldn`t get enough cash to buy one spliff.

Most reggae artists are hard up. Their`s is a life of creativity hopefully, but often unsuccessfully, steered in the direction of solvency. The average reggae performer (with the notable exception of a couple of superstars) never sees as much money as a Ford production worker (or even an NUJ journalist).

The reggae artist`s world is one of struggle, scuffle and. . .not infrequently. . .bitterness, bitterness at a music business which proclaims and capitalises on the wellspring of Jamaican musical creativity but leaves it`s articulators to eek out demoralising existances in the ghetto.

In such a bleak situation, the artist, understandably looks for a reason. A musicians is a proud man, proud of his talent and proud of the "prestige" it has brought him. So he turns to the record companies whose releases have brought him fame, and points an accusing finger.

Stories of record company rip-offs have tumbled from the mouths of dozens of reggae performers (indeed it would be hard to find many JA artist interviews in `Black Music` which haven`t brought up dispiriting tales of big business greed and unmerciless exploitation). Some of the stories are true.
Reggae artists are ripped off, cheated with unfair contracts, the outright purchase (for a tiny sum)of copyrights, and even fraud ("I know dem tunes sold 50,000 but they sent me statement saying it sold 1,000"). But in the tangled complexities of contracts, copyright and capitalist philosophies, there is a danger, a danger that myth takes over from reality, that prejudice takes over from truth.

Few artists possess the specialised training, or even the interest, to step into the head spinning world of "the business" with its vocabulary so obscure (mechanical rights, reversion rights, promotional budgets, split copyrights) and its ethos of "music is product" so alien to the environmental and spiritual lives of the jamaican musician.
So, isolating himself from the unacceptable face of capitalism, the artist has little opportunity in understanding what he is asked to sign or why he has not received the cheque which could pull him free of the enveloping embrace of poverty. but even though he shuts himself away from the complexities of a sophisticated music industry, the artist still passes judgement on it.
A proud man, he finds it easier to rationalise his failure to receive a substantial sum from his creativity in terms of exploitation and dishonesty rather than the bitter pill that his music simply didn`t sell enough.

In such a climate, every record company is suspect, every royalty statement is suspect and every rip-off story told him by his fellow musicians is passionately believed.They believe it, the audience believe it, and we, a journal acting as a mouthpiece for the artist and audience, have believed it too. But now is the time to question . . .

For those who care about JA music, Marcel Rodd`s Trojan Records was on the surface, an easy company to suspect.
Haven`t we heard artists at one time associted with Trojan claim they haven`t revceived a penny in royalties for sales of their records?
Haven`t we gnashed our teeth as astute marketing of their vast back catalogue seems consistantly designed to pass off old tracks as representative work by artists who`ve gone on to bigger things?
Isn`t the knowledge of a black music history of white-businessmen-ripping-off-black-creativity bound to inflame into animosity when we learn of a reggae label "takeover" by an "establishment" record company run by sixty-two-year-old white man who until a year ago had never heard of reggae?

John Holt was in Britain in April. BM`s Carl Gayle interviewed him. Carl came away from the interview sad . . . and angry. Here was a man, a big reggae star, who claimed (and looked) to be flat broke and who told of tales of Trojan failing to pay him royalties on any of those big, big hits and cursing the company who could send him a royalty statement which told him he owed Trojan money.
BM came within an inch of printing Holt`s story. It all seemed to fit. Trojan was such a convenient villain.

Investigative journalism (crusading journalism if you perfer) has always been an inherent part of `Black Music` (remember our campaign against the bootleggers of the Northern Soul scene?).
But, of course, the articles a magazine prints are only crusading examples of fearless integrity, if the facts presented are accurate in every way. If they aren`t, then it`s libel. And worst, it`s lies.

At the eleventh hour BM pulled the Holt interview out of the June issue. Holt`s story didn`t fit the facts. Trojan Records showed Carl and myself a statement sent by the old regime Trojan which showed how a vast advance appertaining to Holt`s albums had been paid to Holt`s producer Tony Ashfield.
They showed us that a power of attorney had been signed by Holt giving to Marcel Rodd and the new regime Trojan the right to try and extracate royalties from Ashfield on behalf of the singer. And they showed us a statement they had sent to Holt which indicated that though the singer still had to sell x thousand pounds worth of records before he would clear the Ashfield advance and begin to receive royalties he didn`t owe Trojan money.
So we withdrew the interview.

And now we present this feature.
It`s written for the artists who, if they are ever to escape the clutches of the real exploiters who smile in their faces and steal their money, must come to terms with the fact that the grey faced, grey suited businessman isn`t always the villian and that the spliff smoking producer (or just the public`s apathy towards the artists recorded artistry) may, just as easily, be to blame for a life of scuffle.
And it`s written too for you, the reggae fan, so that you can learn a little of the history of high powered economic wheeling and dealing which precipitated the relaunch of Trojan Records.

With its staff of pink faced accountants and pretty, streak-haired young PA`s of Trojan`s new owners, Saga Records, is an incongruous environment for reggae music.
But maybe the bristling, efficiency of an "establishment" company is the best thing to happen to the backyard music of Big Youth and Jah Woosh. If as it would seem, joint smoking rastas and Jah-praising employees have no place within the staid walls of Saga Records Ltd, the alternative razorsharp graduates and slick music biz veterans Saga/Trojan do employ may well be the knid of people needed to push reggae music to new levels of commercial acceptance.
For if you relucrantly accept that the musical philosophy of Selassie and Garvey can only reach the maximum number of believers from within the eye-gouging materialism of the capitalistic system, the well oiled Saga/Trojan business machine is a fine thing for JA music.
Perhaps, after all, `West Indian World` was right. Maybe Trojan is "the great hope for reggae music in Britain."


peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976:

REGGAE BUSINESS: PT.2 -
BM looks at Trojan Records to find out how an established classical music company got involved with the world of rasta-rockers:

SAGA RECORDS LTD stands in Kensal Road, London, W.10. You`ve probably never heard of it and when you get there you`ll know why.

It`s a long dispiriting stretch with seedy looking pubs and seedier looking grocers, betting shops and slum housing. At the end nearest to Ladbroke Grove stands Saga Records, a dirty sprawl of white concrete which still looks like the paint factory it once was.

Yet within operates one of the largest, most-efficient and certainly most self-contained independent record companies ever to emerge from the `major` dominated near-monopoly of the British record industry. The company`s history stretches back to 1954 when Marcel Rodd started Allied Records Ltd.

British born Rodd, already almost forty-one years old , had had a brilliantly successful business career (in printing and publishing) and had retired at the age of thirty-five, to enjoy his leisure in Los Angeles.
But the acute business acumen of Rodd was raised from its self-induced inactivity when some of his friends persuaded him there was a vast untapped market in Britain for children`s records. An agreement with a New York company gave Rodd trust funds to establish a London-based manufacturer to press and distribute their catalogue of nursery rhymes and bedtime stories.

Allied`s operations began disastrously, having built a sophisticated pressing plant in Kensal Road (in a different building from today), and wished to press large quantities of kiddy tunes, Rodd discovered that no British record shop was, at that time, allowed to stock records without the permission of the enfranchisers HMV and Decca.

In such a monopoly situation Rodd and his American backers seemed to be saddled with a hundred thousand pound white elephant. But Rodd was smart. He went back to the States and obtained the exclusive British rights of the vast catalogue of leisure Arts (who`s subsidiary, the Concert Hall Record Club, was leading an American music biz revolution in the manufacture off budget line classical music).

Allied Records presses rolled again and soon its warehouse was brimming with Schubert, Mozart and Bach. But still there were problems. Despite most of the recordings eminating from europe (many led by the prestigious conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra Walter Goehr), Allied were not permitted to use the real names of their famed symphonians, and various pseudonyms had to be concocted. Plus it was still impossible to distribute Allied albums in record shops.

So Rodd established a mail order business. With extensive advertising in the Radio Times and The Guardian the great listening public was offered the great serious works of the world at the astonishing knock-down price of thirteen and eleven pence an album.
It was a huge success. Millions of records were sold and by the late fifties Allied had grown into a hugely successful manufacturer and direct-to-consumer distributor.

Then, in 1960, it began to expand. In 1958 Saga Films Ltd had started a subsidiary company, Saga Records, which by 1960 had plunged into bankruptcy.
Allied bought Saga`s assets, including the whole of its large catalogue, for a hundred-and-twenty-five-thousand pounds.
The new catalogue (including the London Symphony Orchestra) increased profits and also diversified Allied`s product, with the emergende of `greatest hits from the shows` style MOR albums.

The new Saga was phenomenally successful (a cover of `My Fair Lady` costing £1,500 to record and selling a million copies) and with the final emergence in `61, of Rodd`s budget albums into record shops the industry was ready to acclaim a business empire which had effiiently cut out the middle man to establish a totally self-contained (from the manufacture of the plastic, through to the distribution to the retailer) business-empire. Then in 1973 Saga Records Ltd thought again of expansion.



peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC OCTOBER 1976:

REGGAE BUSINESS: PT.3 -
BM looks at Trojan Records to find out how an established classical music company got involved with the world of rasta-rockers:

Saga has been widely reported as having "taken over" Trojan. That is unture, and in fact the way in which a classical/MOR music concern came to unintentionally acquire possibly the largest catalogue of Jamaican music is a tale of financial intricacy more in keeping with the head-spinning pages of the Financial Times.

In March `75 Saga placed an advertisement in Music Week expressing a desire to buy a "going concern" record company. There was no response. But then Saga`s chief accountant Bill Ross brought to Rodd`s attention B&C Records Ltd.

B&C had been formed in 1968 and by the `70`s seemed to have a strong footing within the British music industry. B&C was basically a distribution company with an extensive catalogue of rock music with B&C acts like Nazareth and Steeleye Span, through the distribution of the successful Charisma rock catalogue.
It also distributed Trojan Records, a sister record manufacturing company who`s catalogue, although with its huge roster of Jamaican artists, seemed rather alien to Rodd and Ross, was interesting enough.

A year before Saga had pressed some £20,000 worth of records for B&C/Trojan and it had taken Ross six months to collect the money. This seemed to substantiate an industry rumour that B&C and Trojan were in financial difficulty, and possibly plump for a takeover.
So Ross telephoned B&C/Trojan and within an hour talks were underway. B&C/Trojan weren`t prepared to sell but an agreement emerged between Rodd and B&C/Trojan`s directors Lee Gopthal and Brian Gibbon where, for a 10 per cent interest in the company, Saga would loan B&C one-hundred-and-fifty thousand pounds to be secured on audited figures showing six-hundred-thousand pounds of net assets.
The debenture was drawn up by Saga`s solicitors. But meanwhile Bill Ross had spent a week in B&C/Trojan`s accounts departments and brought back the alarming news that the contract would have to be scrapped, as in his opinion, the company was "grossly in deficit". Saga, understandably, pulled hastily back.

Then strange things began to happen. B&C/Trojan came back to Saga to say that provided Saga could conclude a deal within forty-eight hours they would sell the whole of the company for any figure, "provided it was not less than twenty-five-thousand pounds".
As it was already clear to Saga that the staggering liabilities of B&C/Trojan didn`t make the company worth twenty-five-thousand pennies, Saga were obviously wary. But the discussions began again.

That`s when Saga pulled their master stroke. They proposed the formation of new subsidiary companies, B&C Recordings Ltd and Trojan Recordings Ltd (with the board of directors identical to B&C Records Ltd and Trojan Records Ltd) and that on formation the new companies should have transferred to them the assets of the parent companies (the stock, recording contracts and masters) but not the liabilities (the growing mountain of unpaid bills) and that the new subsidiaries should then be immediately sold to Saga.

It was agreed. On the 31st May 1975, Saga haned over a cheque for just under thirty-thousand pounds to B&C/Trojan. But then it goe heavy.
Instead of using the cash to try and refloat their floundering company B&C/Trojan merely extinguished their bank overdraft (an overdraft which, reportedly, had been personally guaranteed by various B&C/Trojan directors) then dismissed all their staff and applied to be put into voluntary liquidation.

Exactly what went on within the old B&C/Trojan company is still being unravelled by the official liquidator Lawrence Gerrard, and the refusal by independent accountants to audit their accounts for the last two years of trading raises questions which must be finally answered (and BM is carrying out a full investigation into the rise and fall of Trojan Records Ltd in a future issue).

On the suface it appeared that Saga had succeeded brilliantly in acquiring a catalogue which would fulfill their wish to "get into the rock market". But then Saga discovered that what they had bought wasn`t exactly what they thought they were buying.
They thought they were buying an extensive rock catalogue, but Nazareth`s and Steeleye Span`s B&C/Mooncrest contracts had run out and Charisma immeddiately withdrew their distribution agreement and signed a contract with Island Records.They thought they were obtaining the servicese of key B&C/Trojan staff to set the new company in motion.

Rodd describes the taking on of a few of the old staff as a "disastrous mistake" with Webster Schroeder commencing work for Trojan Recordings Ltd. as a general manager while in the very process of forming, with Junior Lincoln, a rival record company Vulcan Records (and never officially terminating his employment with Trojan, leaving Bill Ross still holding Schroeder`s insurance cards!) And Saga thought they were buying the goodwill which normally goes with the acquisition of business interests, and it soon became clear that there was precious little!



peace