Roots Archives Forum

We all have the hopeless want lists....searching countless hours looking for those lost treasures. With how popular reggae is today, I really wish a lot of the music would find its way back to the masses.

There are a lot of factors that prohibit these treasures from being released, but what can we reggae lovers do to help accomplish this or move it forward.

Then again I would be broke very quickly trying to buy a lot of them once they were issued!!!!

LOL
Gee

I would love to see:

Mystic Eyes- Mysterious
Gladiators- Naturality
Viceroys- Brethren & Sistren, We Must Unite
Samuel Mickle
Delton Screechie
etc. etc. etc.

Be released so that more people can hear these great artists and albums. The lesser known acts often have some of the most well-loved and memorable tunes or vibes.

Here's Hoping

I doubt it applies to this site because RA isn't a commercial label, but contributing to a forum might help. That's partly why companies host them.

I'm not going back to check before saying this(!), but I think if you look at the Trojan site you'll find a Sticky at the top of the main page called "Releases I'd Like To See From Trojan" or something like that. It's an opportunity for the label owners to see what the people want.

That said, unfortunately it's people like us who tend to respond, so our requests generate quality material rather than quantity sales. Why should they issue unreleased Black Ark tracks to keep a few hundred people happy when "Reggae's Blandest Love Songs Volume 53" might instead reach thousands of Christmas stockings.

On the brighter side, although the music business is in a bit of a trough generally, there are plenty of people out there pushing original and repress material. Most things come to those who (a) can wait, (b) pay full price and (c) aren't tied to a particular format.

To give just one example, I went on the B&F forum three years ago asking if anyone had ever heard of a song I thought was called Skyjack that might be by Bongo Les & Herman. I'd been searching for it since 1978. It drew a complete blank from everyone, but a year or so later it was freely available on 7" and LP and CD.

We Must Unite by the Viceroys is on a french cd

Jason Allen wrote:Mystic Eyes- Mysterious

From recollection Jason that LP was a really poor press. Off center if I remember correctly?

We Must Unite is almost unattainable here in the US. Sankofa has little to no international distribution for most of their items.
I wish all of these LPs would be re-issued in a similar way to the recent Greensleeves and VP re-issues. Or, even better, in a re-mastered, well-annotated re-release like Blood and Fire.

The original pressing for Mystic Eyes does sound poor. The funny thing is the vocals are the main thing that gets affected. To my ears the instruments sound fine, the vocal tracks, however, seem distorted.