Soul Jazz limited run Studio One 007 box repackaged as 2LP set

The Studio One 007 RSD 7"-inch box set has been repackaged as a 2LP (and CD) set due from Soul Jazz on July 14th. 

Here's the scoop...

Soul Jazz Records are releasing this new 2xLP expanded version of Studio One 007 - Licenced to Ska: James Bond and other Film Soundtracks and TV Themes, originally only ever available as a long deleted 7” RSD box set. This new edition is fully remastered and expanded to a massive 18 super rare and killer cuts from the Studio One empire.

Featuring the Skatalites, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Bob Marley The Wailers. Roland Alphonso and The Soul Brothers, rare and classic tracks from Jamaica's no.1 record label, Studio One

Extensive sleeve-notes discuss the connections between James Bond, Jamaica and Ska music. Jamaica was the setting for Dr. No, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun and the recent ‘No Time to Die’, and the home for Bond’s creator Ian Fleming. There is also an extended essay on The Skatalites and their post-modern love and ska-ification of all styles of music – from classical music to TV themes, from detective movies to Fiddler on the Roof!

Aside from the James Bond-related cuts this album also includes killer tracks from the secret agent 1969 spoof ‘Our Man Flint', the Clint Eastwood-starring Spaghetti Western ‘Hang ‘Em High’, the Brazilian movie masterpiece ‘Black Orpheus’ and more besides.

The vinyl album is presented in superb gatefold sleeve, with full inner and house bag. The album is also available for the first time ever on CD and comes in double walled-slipcase with 28-page outsized booklet.

Various Artists – Studio One 007

1 Jackie Mittoo and The Soul Brothers – James Bond

2 The Skatalites – Dick Tracy

3 The Soul Brothers – James Bond Girl

4 The Skatalites – Guns Of Navarone

5 Roland Alphonso and The Studio One Orchestra – From Russia With Love

6 The Soul Brothers – Thunderball

7 Jackie Mittoo – Hang 'Em High

8 The Soul Brothers – Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

9 The Soul Brothers – 007

10 Lee Perry and The Wailers – Pussy Galore

11 The Soul Brothers – Mr. Flint

12 The Skatalites – Ball Of Fire

13 The Soul Brothers – James Bond Danger Man

14 The Soul Brothers – Lawman

15 The Skatalites – Black Orpheus

16 The Skatalites – Exodus

17 The Skatalites – Dr. Kildare

18 The Soul Brothers – Fiddler On The Roof

Happy 80th Birthday Calvin Keys!

Cheers to jazz guitar great Calvin Keys on his 80th birthday! Here are a few of his classic recordings worth checking. 

Soul Jazz issues Studio One Ska Fire! singles box for RSD

The limited-run Studio One Ska Fire! box includes ska gems from Bob Marley, The Maytals, Lee Perry & The Skatalites.  

Here's the scoop... 

Soul Jazz Records are releasing the Studio One Ska Fire! box set, a limited-edition one-off pressing exclusive for Record Store Day 2021 on July 17. The collectors seven-inch box set includes 10 amazing and super-rare Studio One ska tracks on five 7” singles, all produced with separate inner sleeves. Featuring The Skatalites, Lee Perry, Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley and The Wailers, Don Drummond, Jackie Opel, Derrick Morgan, The Ethiopians and more – a who’s who of the biggest names in reggae history! Rare and classic original ska tracks from Jamaica's no.1 record label, all recorded by Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd at Studio One Records. All tracks have been digitally remastered and the singles come housed in a thick, heavyweight card box.

Check the track list following the clips of Lee Perry's "Open Up," The Skatalites (Rolando Al & The Soul Brothers) "Something Special" and The Regals' "Shammy Back"

RECORD 1

A: Bob Marley and The Wailers – Rude Boy

AA: Derrick Morgan – It’s Alright

RECORD 2

A: Don Drummond – Don D Special

AA: The Maytals – A Man Who Knows

RECORD 3

A: The Skatalites – Something Special

AA: Lee Perry – Open Up (aka Cook Book)

RECORD 4

A: The Regals – Shammy Back

AA: Bob Marley and The Wailers – Diamond Baby

RECORD 5

A: Jackie Opel – The Mill Man

AA: Ethiopians – I Am Free

Soul Jazz readies Studio One Dub Plate Special box for RSD 2018

For those who didn't score the super limited 12" dub plates, Soul Jazz is releasing a Studio One 7" box on April 21.

Soul Jazz Records is releasing Studio One Dub Plate Special, an exclusive Record Store Day collectors 7" box set featuring ten amazing Studio One tracks. Originally released as an extremely limited edition of hand-etched, one-sided 12" dub plates, only available to Soul Jazz Records subscribers at Sounds Of The Universe in London. This 7" box set brings together all eight of those exclusive dub plate cuts, plus two more never before released alternate cuts. Featuring Alton Ellis, Cedric Brooks, Brentford Road All Stars, Jacob Miller and more! Listen to "Soul Eye" by Cedric "Im" Brooks, "Go Ahead" by Carey Johnson and "Don't Know What You're Doing" by Alton & Zoot below.

Record 1
A: Alton & Cedric – Black People
AA: Cedric Brooks – Soul Eye

Record 2
A: The Officials – Distant Drums
AA: Cedric Brooks – Power To The People

Record 3
A: Soul Brothers – Skitting Day
AA: Carey Johnson – Go Ahead

Record 4
A: Alton & Zoot – Don’t Know What You’re Doing
AA: Brentford All Stars – The World Is A Ghetto

Record 5
A: Jacob Miller – Westbound Train (Alternate Version)
AA: George Philip – One One (Alternate Version)

Radical Art For Radical Music

Perfectly timed for the start of the holiday shopping season, which officially begins on "Black" Friday (November 27), the UK-based Soul Jazz Records has put out Freedom Rhythm & Sound (SJR Publishing) a spectacular compendium of vintage sleeve images from some of the most prized spiritual and free jazz recordings ever released that's sure to delight the hardcore jazz fanatic on your gift-giving list.
The large format (30.8 cm x 30.8 cm) hardbound coffee-table book was authoritatively compiled by Soul Jazz boss Stuart Baker in conjunction with celebrity DJ Gilles Peterson presents a well-balanced selection of the most aesthetically pleasing, bizarre, obscure, creative and iconic sleeve art from LPs issued between the years 1965 and 1983, primarily on independently-owned operations and often in editions of 1,000 copies or less.

That includes the album sleeve designs associated with such revered figures as John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Sun Ra alongside lesser-known artists like The Frank Derrick Total Experience, Dadisi Komolafe and Lloyd McNeill. While the labels Strata-East, ESP-Disk', Tribe, Delmark, Nessa, Black Fire, BAG, El Saturn, Nimbus, Actuel/BYG, Perception, Im-Hotep, Baystate, Asha, Mustevic Sound are each well-represented, the one notable exception is Black Jazz. Whether or not this has anything to do with the dispute Black Jazz had with Soul Jazz over the Universal Sound sub-label release The Best Of Black Jazz Records (see link below), is difficult to say but their achetypal cover images are conspicuously absent. 
Even though it would certainly have been a much more comprehensive overview had a sampling of the consistently dope designs of Black Jazz been included, the 179-page volume is still a worthwhile and wholly enjoyable document that doubles quite nicely as a collector's checklist.

As a musical companion, Baker has compiled a suitable survey of tunes from the albums depicted as the Freedom Rhythm & Sound 2CD set which ideally would've come attached to the inside of the book's back cover. But of course, this is a Soul Jazz release, not a lavish Numero Group production, so the double-CD package, with choice tracks from Steve Colson, Horace Tapscott, The Pharaohs, Philip Cohran, Roy Brooks & The Artistic Truth, Sun Ra, Oliver Lake, Ralph Thomas, Stanton Davis, Gary Bartz NTU Troop, Errol Parker, Joe McPhee and others, is being sold separately. No word as yet whether a vinyl version is planned.
 
Links
Soul Jazz Records http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/
Black Jazz http://www.blackjazz.com/bootleg.html