Sadly, legendary Jamaican reggae producer and label owner Phil Pratt has passed away at the age of 82. He'll be greatly missed.
From Trojan Records...
Legendary Jamaican music producer Phil Pratt has passed away, with the cause of his passing on 25th February yet to be confirmed.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica on 15th June 1943, and Christened George Phillips, Phil first made his mark on the local music scene as a singer and guitarist prior to producing his first recordings during the rock steady era.
By the early 70s, he was established as one of the island’s most accomplished record producers, releasing scores of Jamaican hits by some of reggae music’s premier talents, their number including John Holt, Ken Boothe, Pat Kelly and Dennis Brown.
Primarily utilising the facilities at Channel One and Lee Perry’s Black Ark studios, Phil continued to release popular singles, principally on his Sunshot and Terminal labels, prior to settling in London around the middle of the decade.
Thereafter, he continued to record and release new material, but in the mid-80s, eased off from his music-making career to concentrate on managing his kitchen in Harlesden, although he did still occasionally return to the studio to produce new reggae and r&b works, almost all of of which has yet to see issue.
A gentle and truly humble man whose importance within the sphere of Jamaican music cannot be overstated, Phil Pratt produced some of the most popular and influential reggae recordings of all time, with his passing a huge loss to both fans of his music and those lucky enough to have enjoyed his company.
"Funny Dream" & "Everyone Has Got To Go" by Prince Robinson are being reissued by Toronto's Shella Records in March.
Here's the scoop from Shella Records...
It's been hard keeping a lid on these but I'm thrilled to announce two dream reissues from Jamaican Canadian enigma Prince Robinson A.K.A. "R. Man Prince" - Everyone Has Got To Go" and "Funny Dream", a 45 so scarce it has spawned its own mythology among collectors.
Fully licensed for the first time from Prince, both 45s feature extended vocal mixes straight from the mastertapes and a couple of insanely heavy dubs from Ernest Hookim and Barnabas at Channel One circa 1976.
Read the back story (below) behind what inspired Prince to record these edgy, apocalyptic roots steppers and why so few copies of "Funny Dream" were ever in circulation. The lost polaroid in the first slide, unearthed by artist Zun Lee was the key to unlocking the R.Man mystery. Special thanks to Prince, Jeanette and Angella Robinson, Brandon Hocura and Zun Lee.
Shella Records' reissues of "Funny Dream" and "Everyone Has Got To Go" will be released in March but they're both now available for pre-order right here.
R. Man Prince's Funny Dream
Funny Dream, an apocalyptic roots stepper from 1976 is a 45 so rare that it has developed its own mythology and folklore in the small circle of collectors who know of its existence.
One rumour suggests that so few copies exist because Robinson’s Russian wife took all the records from Canada back across the iron curtain in the late 70s when they split up. Some suggested he had died. If you are lucky enough to find an original copy, it will set you back at least a month’s rent.
The truth behind this song is perhaps stranger than fiction.
After years of searching for Prince, Chris from Shella Records saw an article about a lost polaroid from the early 70s of a dapper man holding a trumpet that was exhibited in artist Zun Lee’s exhibition of found photos about Black life in North America.
Remarkably, the man in the photograph’s daughter, Jeanette, who happened to be visiting the gallery almost immediately spotted her father on the wall in an exhibit of over 500 polaroids of unknown family portraits. The man in the photo in question was called Prince Robinson but there was no mention that he was a singer. After contacting the journalist, Chris eventually spoke to Prince’s daughter who confirmed that her father was indeed the singer Prince Robinson aka R. Man Prince. He was very much alive, still in Canada and only 45 minutes north of Toronto in Pickering.
While the story of the Russian ex absconding with the 45s is not true, the truth is equally dramatic. Almost all copies were destroyed shortly after they were pressed, tragically reduced to ashes inside an incinerator.
Prince would rather not get into specifics about the incident but offers:
“Somebody was angry and didn’t understand what they had.”
The fact that anyone has ever heard this track is a small miracle, as it never had a proper release. Recorded in Jamaica, it was pressed in Canada on Snowball Records as the follow up to the killer “Everyone Has Got To Go”. Only a handful were distributed in local Toronto shops and given to friends before the majority were obliterated.
While Prince was a family man and always employed legally, he had some friends and acquaintances who were into a heavier lifestyle. Prince always dressed like a celebrity, rolling around Toronto in a nice car and outfitted in the latest fashions from New York, a man about town at sound system events, soul and reggae shows. He felt this made him a target from some of these more dangerous characters.
“If you’re rolling around people that’s hypocrites they smile in your face but all the time they wanna take your place”
Funny Dream reflects his unease with this situation and is based on a real dream or as Prince sees it, a vision from God showing him another path. “God jus’ a show me say 'Yow, Step away from that crew, they don’t really love you. They’re just nice to you because..I drove a nice car, I took people anywhere they wanna go, I had a Lincoln continental, we’d pile up 8 guys and go the studio or the pressing plant, anywhere you wanna go.”
Luckily for all of us, Inside a now battered briefcase that he took to Jamaica in 1976, Prince has kept his mastertapes and promo photos in pristine condition, knowing that his music had value and biding his time. The new 45s Funny Dream and Everyone Has Got To Go feature extended mixes from the original mastertapes, backed by Sly and Robbie, recorded at Joe Gibbs studio and dubbed into oblivion by Ernest Hookim and Barnabas at Channel One.
Prince is a soul survivor, who has weathered the storms of life and the music industry. He still performs on occasion as Prince Jahmerican and these days is much more of a soul R&B artist. He is a dapper man in his 70s though he looks much younger, married to the daughter of a legendary Jamaican music producer.
Prince’s daughter Jeanette feels like the interest in her father’s music close to 50 years later is “a little miracle.”
Prince himself feels this reissue represents “a resurrection” It makes me feel great ‘coz you think you came and you passed... God is doing something in the background, I don’t know…but I’m letting it flow…”
Listen to R. Man Prince's "Everyone Has Got To Go" and "Funny Dream" below.
A timely reissue of Ruffy & Tuffy's vocoder-tweaked "If The 3rd World War Is A Must" will be out in May. Read all about it below.
Here's the scoop from Shella Records...
Teenage twins Ruffy & Tuffy deliver an apocalyptic slab of synth drenched rub a dub with what could be the first use of Vocoder in Reggae for 1982’s "If The 3rd World War Is A Must." This release draws from both the original 12” and the master tapes combining the best vocal cut and dub versions.
Though not prolific musicians, many will recognize the twins sparring in matching red Pony track suits in Ted Bafaloukos’ iconic 1978 film Rockers. Given that to many today Jamaica means reggae and reggae means Rasta, it may be hard to grasp just how feared and despised the Rastafari community was by mainstream Jamaican society in the 60s and even into the 70s, as the representation of everything anti-colonial.
Ruffy explains, “We wasn’t the first kids …with locs but the first who were going out ‘cause you have other Rasta youth with locs but they were staying at home..we were venturing, going out.. everything is in the street. In those times Rasta never get accepted in society that much (people say) “ Rasta no good.. nothing good came from Rasta ” But everything good came from rasta ‘cause we were the ones teaching them about their culture.”
Raised by their mother as Rastafari from birth, brothers Omar and Otis Newton (Ruffy & Tuffy) were visible symbols of this defiance and were taken under the wing of Kingston's Reggae fraternity and even feared enforcers across JLP/PNP divides such as Claudie Massop, Bucky Marshall, Tony Welsh, Earl “Tek Life” and Froza who ensured they weren’t discriminated against at school and encouraged them to take the path of education.
“Most of the bredren in those times respect us as Rasta youth..They never introduced us to guns..they encouraged us to go to school… they give us money to go to school, buy school gear, buy us books.”
Surrounded by elite reggae musicians from childhood it was nothing unusual for the brothers to be in the presence of elders like Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Augustus Pablo, Jacob Miller and especially Bob Marley at recording sessions and in daily life. Ahead of its time in almost every way, the lyrics of If The 3rd World War Is A Must dealing with global apocalypse and the nefarious use of technology, sadly seem as relevant now as they did in 1982, though some of the actors may have changed. In the early 80’s the threat of nuclear war was inescapable as was the cruelty of poverty In Jamaica, apartheid and other global conflicts.
“We as artists at the time weren’t gonna sing about how much girls I love..And through the Rasta faith.. everything entwined.”
If The 3rd World War Is A Must was their first venture into the studio as solo artists in 1982, first at Channel One and then Tuff Gong where Wailers alumni Earl “Wire” Lindo and Tyrone Downie (keys and Vocoder) laid down their space age additions to the track creating a genre bending Reggae /Electro/ Dub concoction that still sounds fresh 41 years later.
Pre-order a copy of the limited 12" release on Shella Records right here. Have a listen below.
The Texas connection
Wire Lindo & the twins took the mastertapes to Texas based mechanical engineer and producer Stephen “Iya” James who ran Marcus Garvey Records and the label African Unity Productions in the unlikely Reggae hub of Austin Texas. The track was not released until two years later in 1984 as a 12” which had a run of only 500 copies and is no easy pull these days. Both Ruffy & Tuffy are still active musicians, Ruffy migrated to London in 2002 while Tuffy remained in Jamaica. For more shots from Austin’s 80’s Roots and dancehall scene check Shella Records Melody Beecher reissues “Illusions” and “Diamonds & Thrills" available now.
