Ossie

For our next batch of Gold Shop releases, we are focusing on the productions of Ossie Hibbert. Ossie is a completely under rated talent, as he often worked behind the scenes, and in different capacities. In the seventies Ossie played keyboard for The Professionals, The Aggrovators, And The Revolutionaries. He also worked as an engineer and in house producer for Joe Gibbs, Channel One, and others. His resume of hit songs that he has worked on is quite impressive, but what many do not realize is that his own catalog of material is equally impressive. Partly what has obscured his legacy is that although he has had a handful of imprints for himself (Ossie Sounds, Earthquake, Ossie Music), a lot of his best material was released on other labels. Most of the singles we are releasing now originally appeared on other labels, and sometimes a different label in each territory, but the sound is distinctly Ossie.

OH701    A SIDE  ROLAND BURELL    RIP OFF

OH701    B SIDE  BARRY BAILEY        GUN SLINGER

First up we have what may be the best and hardest to obtain tune of this catalog. Recorded and mixed at Channel 1 in the mid eighties, and released in NY on the obscure Super Power imprint “Paradise” and in the UK on the C & E imprint, this one is a total monster. Killer synths on the vocal side, and an awesome horn cut by Barry Bailey on the flip.

OH702    A SIDE  TONY TUFF   HEAT IN THE PLACE

OH702    B SIDE   DEADLY HEADLY HOT HOT

Only released on a Barry U 12″ as far as I know, this one probably sank without a trace when it was originally released, but has become a bit of an anthem among fans of Digital dancehall ever since. Wicked rhythm that is crying for more cuts, but alas, the only other one is the horns cut by deadly headly.

OH703    A SIDE  KING KONG   DOLLARS STRONG

OH703    B SIDE  VERSION

The only song King Kong ever recorded for Ossie, this one was on a World Enterprises 12 inch and also features a great driving rhythm with reality lyrics about the importance of having some dollars in your pocket.

OH704    A SIDE  JOHNNY OSBOURNE  I’M MOVING UP

OH704    B SIDE  VERSION

This one sounds like it could have come out on Jammys in the midst of the other Johnny Osbourne hits from that studio, and for good reason. Ossie recorded this tune at Jammys, and the rhythm was played by none other that Steelie & Clevie. This tune was previously released as a Living Room 12 inch in the UK, and an Ossie 12 inch in NY.

OH705    A SIDE  LIONEL CRAIG  UNDER MI NOSE

OH705    AA SIDE  RICKY STEREO  JEALOUSY LOVER

Same rhythm as the Johnny Osbourne, here we have Ansel Meditation singing as Lionel Craig, backed with Ricky Stereo’s “Jealousy Lover”, a great dj cut, with an even better intro by Joe Lickshot.

- GOLD SHOP CREW

Progressive Int’l Records

Gold shop is pleased to announce two new titles from one of our favorite artists, Nitty Gritty. Produced by Derrick “Eric Bubbles” Howard, one third of the roots vocal trio The African Brothers, these are two of the earliest and hardest to find Nitty Gritty tunes. Produced around 1985, a few years before his string of hits for King Jammy and others, these two tunes showcase Nitty Gritty in a raw roots fashion. Voiced and mixed at Channel one, these are a great example of the sound of pre digital dancehall that paved the way for the sleng teng era that would follow.

PR-001  NITTY GRITTY  MORNING TRAIN

PR-002  NITTY GRITTY  GOT TO MAKE IT

Gold Shop New Release

Witty Records Round 2

As we promised when we released the first batch of records on the “Witty” label, that was only the beginning. For our second batch we have decided to focus on one rhythm. Most probably remember this rhythm as the backing track to Sluggy Ranks girl’s anthem “Rough Wine”. Although there were a few tunes on this rhythm at the time, I don’t think people really played this as a juggling. The Sluggy tune was a hit on it’s own, but was overshadowed by the B-Side cut, 95% Black In Jail, one of Sluggys biggest hits, and an absolute dancehall anthem to this day. The other tunes on the rhythm were spread out over album cuts, and even different labels. The Sugar Minott cut, “No Wicked” was actually never released on the Witty label at the time, it came out on an Ikus 12 Inch in the US, and on the Charm imprint in the UK. Be sure to check out the Dub that is on this record, as it is unique to this track, and is a bit different than the rest. The Nitty Gritty tune “Sweet Dreams” was a tune that Nitty Gritty performed live often and as a dubplate, but the actual song was released as an album cut on his self titled LP recorded for Witty. The real gem of this selection however is Junior Wilson’s “Mama Told Me”, which was a minor hit for him at the time, but over the years has become a sound system classic, and a very hard to find original record. So, for the first time, available as a complete set on 45 we bring you the entire rhythm selection.

MM113  JUNIOR WILSON  MAMA TOLD ME

MM114  SLUGGY RANKS  ROUGH WINE

MM204  NITTY GRITTY  SWEET DREAMS

MM205  SUGAR MINOTT  NO WICKED

MM206  CARLTON LIVINGSTON  WHY YOU DO IT

African Love Records

When we did our last set of African Love Records, we knew it would not be long before we went back to this label to do some more of our favorite Shinehead tunes. Know How Fi Chat, Shineheads cut on the Sleng Teng rhythm has always been a bit of an elusive tune, only released on an African Love 12 Inch as the b side to Who The Cap Fits, another classic on the Tempo rhythm. So here, available for the first time on 7 inch, we bring you these two classics in all their glory, paired up with the original versions. To round out this set, we included two more Shinehead tunes, Rough & Rugged, and  Good Love Tonight, which although they have been available on reissue before, have been unavailable for awhile, and are really the type of tunes that never go out of fashion, so we are proud to add them to our catalog.

ALM-7-002    SHINEHEAD    GOOD LOVE TONIGHT

ALM-7-004    SHINEHEAD    WHO THE CAP FITS

ALM-7-007    SHINEHEAD    ROUGH & RUGGED

ALM-7-012    SHINEHEAD    KNOW HOW FI CHAT

Here at Gold Shop we are a bit old school. We prefer fax machines over email, Fila over Nike, beepers over cell phones and Records over anything else. You will notice that our releases have very little information about Gold Shop, and despite the fact that we do actually have a website, we never list this or our email on our records. We just have the opinion that who needs to know knows, and that our Gold Shop logo lets people know what is real from imitation anyway. That being said, many people have gone to great lengths to contact us, and we figured that maybe we should make it a little bit easier. Below you will find our email as well as our mailing address. Feel free to drop us an actual letter, and go ahead and include something good like a photo, sticker, record, sound tape or basically anything else that won’t result in us getting arrested when we go to the post office. Should you wish to contact us by phone, I will update this post with my beeper number as soon as I pay the bill and get it turned back on.

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GOLD SHOP

P.O. BOX 250630

BROOKLYN, NY 11225

contactgoldshop@gmail.com

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Witty Records

Gold Shop is pleased to announce a new partnership with one of the most iconic NY dancehall labels Whitfield “Witty” Henry’s Witty Records. Throughout the 80′s, Wittys Music Master Record Shop, and Witty record label were the pulse of the NY dancehall scene. His releases began with licensing tunes from his friends back in Jamaica like Prince Jammy, Junjo, Gussie Clarke and others, but by the mid 80′s Witty began focusing on his own production.  Some of the earlier productions featured rhythms that were made in Jamaica with vocals added by the popular artists of the time. As the label and the NY dancehall scene developed, Wittys became a home to some of the best NY artists like Shelly Thunder, Sluggy Ranks, Knight Rider, Trevor Sparks and others. Witty also employed some of the best NY musicians of this time, most notably John “Raf” Allen who played a lot of the classic Wittys rhythms, as well as legendary engineer Philip Smart, whose HC & F studios served as the home base for all of Wittys in house productions. Gold Shop plans to tell the whole Wittys story over a lengthy campaign of releases which will begin with these titles listed below.

MM200      LITTLE JOHN    CORK UP DANCEHALL

MM091     LITTLE KIRK    I DON’T KNOW

MM064     ECHO MINOTT   FOLLOW ME

MM201       NICODEMUS    EARTH & MOON

MM202       AL CAMPBELL   LEAVE THE HERBSMAN BUSINESS

MM203       TONY TUFF     COOL IT

Gold Shop / Yankees logo courtesy of our in house art guru XRAT

2009 was probably a bit of a mixed bag overall. Barack Obama became the new face of America, giving us a much needed pr boost. The Yankees won the world series. Michael Jackson died, leaving the world in mourning, further reminding us that the world is in short supply of music legends, and we don’t seem to be creating any new ones. The music industry as a whole continued its death spiral unimpeded, with the one exception being the vinyl market. There seemed to be a lot of press in 2009 about the resurgence of vinyl, and for once I started to agree with these articles. When I was distributing new releases from Jamaica, I used to loath this type of press, as it was only true for genres like rock which had abandoned vinyl over a decade ago. Genres like Reggae who never stopped releasing vinyl have seen a steady drop off in sales since the advent of the cd burner. In fact, I think that reggae djs were the first to go to cd, even as hip hop and dance music djs managed to stick it out for a couple more years. Part of this was the fault of the producers, who started to supply radio and sound djs with promo cds long before the records were available. You couldn’t really blame the people who had originally lined up at the record stores every week for wanting to stay current. If this meant switching to cd, so be it, it was certainly cheaper. When you removed the djs, the only people left buying records are collectors, and it has taken the industry a long time to figure this out. In the last couple of years however the message is starting to get out there. While Jamaica continues to churn out new dancehall records which would only appeal to a decidedly non vinyl crowd, the rest of the world has started releasing records specifically geared towards actual record collectors. There has been a huge increase in the amount of Roots releases, primarily on 10 Inch which are mostly produced by and for Europeans. Along with this, reissues have come back to the forefront and are starting to become a mainstay of the vinyl business. In my opinion, 2009 was a pretty good year for reggae re-issues, and for once I could start to see a correlation between reggae re-issues and the type of re-issues that seem to be coming out in other genres and generating all of this press about the growing vinyl market. Considering how dead the market is for new releases, the fact that re-issues are selling at all is reason for optimism. The people who put out re-issues last year definitely put in the amount of time and care required. Deadly Dragon Sound have been a central hub for reggae collectors worldwide, and they have also been behind some great re-issues. In 2009 they released the killer from Icho Candy “Bloodsucker”, definately one of the best from the Ujama catalog. Digikiller Records came on the scene rough in 2009 as well. After a couple of releases on the Crat label, they came with a massive 12 Inch on the Yah Congo label. By combining two massive roots tunes onto one 12 inch they made available two utra rare tunes, Freddie Mckay – Take My Hand Oh Jah and Naggo Morris – You Want To Get I out. The response was massive. If you are reading this blog, then you are probably aware of the releases that Gold Shop put out on the Eclipse, Part 2, and African Love labels. Standout tunes where Sammy Levi – Come Off The Road, Sluggy Ranks – Sodom & Gomorrah, and Shinehead – Mama Used To Say. For 2010 we plan to put out a whole lot more, so stay tuned to this space for further updates. Not every re-issue label is based in NY however, GB Distribution from London put out some great releases, most notably from Dixie Peach on the Jah Tubbys imprint. Dub Store from Tokyo released some great re-issues of Bunny Wailers productions which set a new high for quality of packaging (and price!). Looking forward for 2010, I would expect that there will be many more well received re-issues, which will hopefully drive some people into the record shops. As bright as the future looks for releasing re-issues, it does not look so bright for the shops that sell them. Here in NYC most of the original landmark shops have closed, or at least stopped selling vinyl. Special big up to Deadly Dragon, NY’s only all vinyl reggae specialist shop. Moodies in the Bronx is probably the only store left of the original 80s stores in NY which still sells vinyl, and remains basically unchanged. Worldwide we are experiencing the same thing, with foundation shops closing or diverting there attention to cds and dvds. The one shop that has managed to continually re-invent themselves without losing the original identity or focus is Dub Vendor in London, which I am going to say in my completely biased opinion is the worlds greatest reggae specialist shop. If reggae music is your obsession, make it a point of paying a visit to Dub Vendor for a taste of the past and the future.