Pete S

I have a photo of me taken in summer 1975 wearing a shirt which must have 7 or 8 soul patches on, I stopped wearing them when this guy at the Bradmore said he'd beat me up if I ever wore a Wigan patch again without having gone there! So it was another 8 months before I wore another patch. I had a jumper with a Night Owl patch sewn on, think that was it for me, but others wore them though you saw less and less people wearing them as the 70's wore on.

The Black Magic badge could be bought from any shops stocking Selecta Disc imports Dave - if you look at this old picture of me at school, the guy crouching down has a Black Magic patch on his school blazer! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151037654896929&set=a.52737226928.63848.710006928&type=3&theater

Only got them out the garage this afternoon Dave, not even typed them up yet, I don't like this sort of music so they definitely have to go!

I have about 50 of these, will 54 to be precise, they appear to range from 1981 to 1987, I have no use for them at all but I know there is at least one very rare record in there: Mystic Roots - Nation Wide - Water Mount, this has sold for over £300 in the past and is unplayed condition. A few others include: Raiders Showcase (Sister Candy, General T, Colonel Flux) Horace Martin on Negus Roots Cornell Campbell on Earthquake Wayne Smith on Greensleeves Johnny Clarke on Art & Craft Johnny Osbourne on Greensleeves Moja & Rappa Robert on Ethnic Beshera on Home Spun (early Shaka roots once sold for $250) Junior Delgado on Arts & Craft Little John on Music Hawk Rita Marley "One Draw" original Tuff Gong Robert Emanuel & Ranking Simeon on Black Roots anyway you get the picture. I would be happy to trade these for 45's or obviously I'll sell them, either as a lot of individually. If anyone wants me to make a list, please shout up and I will. Also if anyone knows people into this sort of reggae then if you could pass this email on, I would be very grateful. cheers Pete pete.smith@freeuk.com

Oh but it does! And I'll prove it after me dinners gone down LOL

It's impossible to do a top 5 like this, I could do a top 20 just of Alton Ellis tracks, I think if I was going to make any top anything I'd have to do it as separate categories, reggae's been through quite a lot of changes in it's 50 year history.

Maybe because I heard the second version first, it's perfect as it is without that guitar. I remember paying God knows how much for a UK copy, finding it had the guitar on it and I sold it within 2 weeks LOL got myself a carver cut of the other version.

Tone the guitar is what ruins the track, for me anyway....if you can't hear the difference between this take below and the one I put up previously then there's something up! This Really Really Love You version is very poor in comparison with the other version. Different strokes etc... :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLFv78tge5M

Are we talking about the same record here, the UK TI one has a really intrusive electric guitar all over it - you mean you prefer that one? Really?

THis is one my favourites also and I think one of the most beautiful records ever made HOWEVER the original Jamaican single and the one that came out on UK Treasure Isle is just 'great', the version on the Techniques Greatest Hits cd and a couple of other Treasure Isle reissues, which don't have that guitar to the front, is 'unbelievable'. The difference is like chalk and cheese. The second version is below. Beautiful.

That describes the issues, but don't know if demos are plain white or just have the not for sale on the label

It is, late 70's reissue.

Little known fact, The Montanas were from Wolverhampton. They had a minor US hit and then recorded a few things for the American market. This never got a UK release. It's ok. Not a patch on the other two versions though.

IT's not really an alternate version of Slow Fizz, it's a completely different song with the same backing track.

I honestly don't remember it coming out as a lookalike - I'm going to stick my neck out and say that it DEFINITELY didn't come out as a lookalike. You have an original Jock.

Yes it was, really good lookalike too.

Jeanette Williams - All of a sudden is the only one I can think of which has a lookalike label, but it's much duller than the original. Carl Carlton - Competition was booted but that's on a plain red label with the word Backbeat in a line at the top. There amy be more but I can't think of any. I always remember being amazed that no-one ever pressed Something's Got A Hold On Me which remains to this day one of the few big records of the 70's never to be bootlegged or reissued.

Dunno, Ady or Tony will know, it's called Do The See Saw (though actually it might be Boomerang not Boogaloo, though they both sound the same) This link may work https://www.acerecords.co.uk/songfiles/cdtop_350_02_0.m3u

Recently discovered to have been nicked from an unissued Motown backing track for the Contours..

Yet another show dominated by The Wailers, both group and solo, do they think there can't be a reggae program that's not reliant on Bob & co?

A few more absolutely 5 star tunes Alton Ellis - Rock steady - treasure isle The Heptones - A change is gonna come - Studio One (Not the Sam Cooke song) Winston Francis - The break - Duke Flowers & Alvin - Your cheating heart - Coxsone Phyllis Dillon - Perfidia - Treasure Isle not forgetting really popular but brilliant stuff like Guns of Navarone, Al Capone, Double Barrel...oh man I could do a top 500 of this stuff easily

Theres a few tracks supposedly holding that honour, Nanny Goat, Say What You Say etc, I think Nanny Goat predates the original Long Shot. I really like that first version of Long Shot.

I can't tell you how difficult this is, last week someone ask me if I'd do them every reggae / ska track I'd got and when I compiled everything, there were 47 discs (mainly dvd containing mp3's) and between 10 and 15000 tracks, thats just me and I only have a fraction, how did they manage to record so much stuff on that little island? I'll do a little list later if I can Tim

Don't think I could do it, so many equal favourites, would probably include Austin Faithful - I Am Losing You and Derrick Harriott - The Loser though.