Combining two sevens - by the studio’s in-house band at this time - originally released on the Wackie’s label in 1981. Creation is an inimitable twist on tough traditionalist roots - sick synth-work takes the horns line, and later jazzily bubbles under the mix, which has the bottom end of a stegosaurus. The dub is cataclysmic and spectacular. Message From Jah is more affable and soulful, the bass-playing funkier, with another ace version.
release date: Jun 27, 2008]]>text/html2008-02-29T00:00:00+01:00http://basicchannel.com<![CDATA[Sugar Minott: Dance Hall Showcase Vol. II (W-1002)]]>
http://www.basicchannel.com/item/W-1002
Four songs and their dubs - slotting in lovers, bubblers and rockers, and well-charge dub, with great playing and Sugar brilliantly focussed throughout - which originally appeared in 1983 as a picture-sleeved ten-inch on the singer's Black Roots imprint. 'Everyone played Informer, all the sounds,' recalls Rae Cheddie, who remembers selling more than five hundred copies straight from the Wackies office in Soho, London. 'It was international - a couple of boxes went to Japan, some to Mad Robbie at Fotofon...' 'Special dedication to all dancehall fans', it says on the label.
release date: Feb 29, 2008]]>text/html2008-01-25T00:00:00+01:00http://basicchannel.com<![CDATA[Jah Batta: Informer (W-615)]]>
http://www.basicchannel.com/item/W-615
Two versions, different dubwise mixes of Sugar Minott’s massive Informer rhythm - both choca with living dancehall vibes and Channel One-style deadliness. A graduate of soundsystems like Gemini and Volcano Hi Power, Little John was twelve years old when he voiced this tune, shifting its sights from snitches and stoolies, straight to the head of all dancecrashers. It appeared in 1983 during Sugar’s stay in London after Good Thing Going was a national pop hit in 1980, coming on the Stoke Newington label M & M - presumably named after Minott and his then-partner, Coxsone Dodd’s niece Maxine Stowe. Appearing first with Wackies’ pink-to-orange labels, Batta’s cut is a different mix again to the version on his album. He bows to U-Roy at the start, before switching to a more contemporary delivery. Sugar is in attendance throughout, almost as if the pair were taking turns at the mic, before the dub takes over.