Sound Systember 1

 

Before I take off on this adventure, a bit of a preamble.

While trying to be as chronological as possible, there will be side-steps, flash-backs, detours, & culture clashes as this is a rambling tale & much of it overlaps itself. Also, there will be much more verbage than my usual Dub forays. After all, Sound System culture begins at live performances with DJs, toasters or chatters as they are sometime called in the UK, reggae vocalist, & more responding to the music they are creating & playing. I tried to rein it in, for example, in the Saxon Sound segment, renowned reggae vocalist Tippa Irie is mainly represented in a compilation of his more Dub tracks. But I have let the Sound Systems tell their own stories. Also, I have transgressed a few time away from actual Sound System performers. An example of that would be the Mad Professor segment. Prof. basically ran Ariwa Recording studio, but was crucial in the early days of Jah Shaka, as well as recording & getting the Sound Systems of the day to the rest of the music world that might not be able to experience it live.

I have tried to be as historical & educational with this undertaking as I am able, but I also want it to be above all else enjoyable & entertaining, so I have been fast & loose with any rigid framework. Let's get this show on the road, as is sez. It's a long way from the humble beginnings to today & the future, so boom shaka laka...

I have shared Lloyd Coxsone's King of Dub Rock Parts 1 & 2 before here. Go there to get an in-depth overview of the man & his music.

But for this journey, it is important to note that Lloyd is the true Godfather of UK Dub Sound System culture. He built on the popularity that Duke Vin, Count Suckle, & their ilk created for UK Sound Systems, However, by this time, the Tubby King of Jamaican music, one Osbourne Ruddock had launched the secret weapon of selectors across the world, releasing the first examples of 'Dub Plates'. These pre-release test pressings of records gave producers the opportunity to test their newest tracks on a live crowd. It gave Sound Systems exciting new material to attract new listeners. These Dubplates paved the way for 'specials'; new records produced by artists exclusively for a specific Sound System. That will be our focus throughout this journey.

By the late 70s/early 80s, Sound Systems were clashing up & down the country, with virtually every major city boasting a handful of crews.There were sounds in Manchester (Megatone), Nottingham (Top Notch), Derby (First Class), Reading (Resident), Coventry (Mackabee) & Birmingham (Quaker City), to name a few. Of course London had the highest concentration. Fatman Hifi was running out of Tottenham, Coxsone held a weekly residency in Dalston, Saxon was in Lewisham & King Tubby's played in Brixton.

Throughout the Thatcher years of 1979-1990, support for neo-fascism continued to grow, but so did its opposition. Jamaican music was the soundtrack to Britain's division. The Brixton riots, three days of unrest within South London's predominantly Afro-Caribbean communities to protest discriminatory police "stop and search" practices, are reflected in lyrics from Raymond Naptali & Roy Rankin ("Brixton Incident") or Linton Kwesi Johnson ("The Great Insurrection"). This was still the era of "No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish".

Lloyd Blackford took on the name Lloyd Coxsone & formed Sir Coxsone Outernational in 1964.
By the 70s Sir Coxsone Outernational was highly sought after & the legendary Poppa Festus was their main selector. 

 

Lloyd Coxsone came to the UK in 1961 from Morant Bay, St Thomas, Jamaica. He started out his Sound System journey with his own Lloyd The Matador which folded because of lack of funds. He went on to work with the Duke Reid Sound. Upon splitting from Duke Reid in 1969 it was a natural choice to name his sound Sir Coxsone, in recognition of the Jamaican rivalry between Studio One & Treasure Isle.

Initially, Sir Coxsone had a residency at the Roaring Twenties Club in London's West End, having I Roy as a resident deejay in the club in 1973. He later moved to the Four Aces in Dalston, East London about 1974. He was doing regular Sunday night sessions by 1979.

In late 1974 he set up his own record shop at Peckham Rye. He also launched the label Ital Coxone together with Leonard "Santic" Chin. There he would create the aforementioned albums King of the Dub Rock & King of the Dub Rock Part 2. In 1977 Coxson started his own Tribes Man label. 

 

Truly a Sound System Dubplate from the Godfather... 

 

Lloyd Coxsone - Presenting the Coxsone Affair, Tribes Man Records, 1977.
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Bass culture,
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