• Yabby You & The Prophets – The Yabby You Sound (Dubs & Versions)

Yabby You & The Prophets – The Yabby You Sound (Dubs & Versions)

Pressure Sounds

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Essential LP full of eternal greats, dub style, from the legendary Vivian 'Yabby You' Jackson and The Prophets. Collected here in a mighty double disc pack of classic, and lesser-known dubs & versions, giving full attention to the players of instruments, the studio technicians, the dub masters, and letting these seminal roots cuts unfold and stun us musically once again - 
Check the extensive background info from via Pressure Sounds, and feel the vibes:
"In the early 1970s the island of Jamaica, and in particular its reggae musicians, developed a love affair with small Japanese motor bikes. Honda bikes were eulogised in Big Youth’s ‘S90 Skank’ and Dillinger’s ‘CB200’, whilst their rival was lauded on Shorty The President’s ‘Yamaha Skank’, to name the most obvious examples.The plot of the film ‘Rockers’ revolved around how transformative a motorbike could be, providing a livelihood whilst projecting an image of success in the ghetto.
Vivian ‘Yabby You’ Jackson had been fiercely independent as a singer and producer, and the success of his early self-pressed productions, mostly on the Prophets or Vivian Jackson labels, had given him a sense of hard earned autonomy. A motorbike was one of the fruits of his labours, acquired as a way of zipping around the capital’s roads to deliver records and organise recording sessions. His wife Jean could often be see hanging on to the back. Twelve years after his death, she remembers various exploits on the pot-holed roads of Kingston.

Jean Vencella Williams: ‘His first motorbike was a Honda 50 and then a 100, a Yamaha. I remember the Yamaha, it was a dark blue colour, it must have been from the mid 70s til the early 80s. I used to ride around on the back and we ride all over, like we go to the country cos his mother lived in Clarendon.And he had a little carrier thing for boxes of records, so we go to Mandeville in Manchester, sometimes to Spanish Town fe sell records. Most of the time he sell them to the shops, like Randys, and the people them buy it from there. He had pressing plants like Byron Lee and later Tuff Gong, so when the records pressed we find out the time when we get back the records, which usually was at least a couple of days or about a week.And later when we living in Clarendon we come into Kingston to pick them up at the pressing plant.And when he book the studio he might book two or three days and we come in and usually stay til late.

‘He used to carry the records from the different pressing plants on the bike, but because of the rain and weather you know it not so good for the records, and also the sun beating down.Then Wayne Wade had an accident on the Yamaha, and he was hurt quite bad, and he had to go to the hospital for quite a while. Well Yabby didn’t ride it after that, cos it was getting dangerous with so many cars coming in. So he gave up the Yamaha and bought a Toyota Carina, and that car was very good to him.Then the Carina become a little shaky, so he got a Toyota Corolla which he drove until his death.’

This album presents a sample of the best of those ‘Dubs and Versions’ that Yabby was ferrying around town, whether rarities, B-sides or tracks culled from albums that showcase the breadth of Yabby’s productions between 1975 and 1982."

What a wicked piece!
Served up nice and proper, in usual Pressure Sounds fashion, this one comes with extensive notes on each of the dubs, and their background - collected on the sleeve notes. Come get your piece and load up on the history.

Musicians:
Drums: Carlton ‘Santa’ Davis, Anthony ‘Benbow’ Creary, Lowell ‘Sly’ Dunbar
Bass: Clinton Fearon, Robbie Shakespeare
Guitar: Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, Albert Griffiths
Keyboards: Earl ‘Wire’ Lindo, Bernard ‘Touter’ Harvey, Ansel Collins
Trumpet: Bobby Ellis
Trombone: Vin ‘Don Drummond Jr’ Gordon
Saxophone and Flute: Tommy McCook
Percussion: Vivian ‘Yabby You’ Jackson, Noel ‘Scully’ Simms

Recorded at Dynamic Sounds, Black Ark, Harry J and Channel One studios
Mixed at King Tubby’s Studio by King Tubby, Prince Jammy, Scientist and Professor, and at Channel One Studio by Barnabas and Bunny Tom Tom
Side A
Side B
Side C
Side D

 

Tribal War Dub


Lord Of Lords Dub


Vengeance In Dub


Heads A Roll Dub


Death To All Racist


Aggression Dub


Man Of The Living Dub


Yabby U Sound