Coxsone - UK 1986 tape rip

Coxsone - UK - 1986
(A) = 29:14
(B) = 30:56

Featuring Anthony Johnson, Pinchers, Frankie Paul, Yami Crucial, Fat Head, Tenor Fly, Mikey Dread.

download zip


(from uncarved.org)

With Coxsone at the controls Reid controlled south of the Thames and regularly made forays into territory of other sounds north of the river. Competition was fierce, with a tendency for rivalry to spill over into dance. But it was at Carnaby street’s notorious Roaring Twenties which was the premier venue from late 50s and 60s through to the 70s, and the residency at the Twenties was Coxsone’s ambition.

With the formation of Sir Coxsone sound in 1969, based on a team born out of Duke Reid’s, that ambition was soon fulfilled. It was this team that the man called I Roy was to celebrate in his ‘Coxsone Affair’ and ‘Lloyd Coxsone Time’, and it is teamwork that is the foundation of Coxsone sound now.

"To run a good sound in the UK is teamwork… a young team of men who are ambitious, record crazy and have young ideas, If I get old within my ideas there is many young men who come up with suggestions. By building a team you are building your sound for a long term. In my time in England I have seen a lot of good sound die ‘cause they didn’t build a team to manifest the work of the sound. Teamwork and effort is crucial as you can’t live off your name."

For his endeavour Lloyd Coxsone can boast an unrivalled selection of music, that his sound was the first UK system to play dub, that they set the pace in equipment and pioneered the use of echo, reverb, equaliser, and also in paving the way for a sound system such as Shaka to take sound to a new dimension, creating atmosphere out of rhythmic weight and effects. Sound system has come a long way since the days of Lloyd the Matador when upon asking an electronics man named Fred to build him a 600 watt amp, Coxsone was greeted with: "You must be fucking crazy. Do you know how much power it takes to drive a cinema? Ten watts!"

The past 15 years has seen a shift from one extreme to another, and the banks of amplifiers in evidence at any sound dance are testimony to the current fixation with wattage rather than, Coxsone feels, an ability to select and present the music.

"People can’t dance to wattage. If a man comes to me and he deals with sound he almost always deals with wattage. Listen, the more you step up weight you lose quality, and a man must be able to hear your vocal playing. Too much sound in this country is running down weight, but I don’t see sound as is rootin’ down like bulldozer as good sound. I am more interested in quality and selection of music."

[Sir Coxsone Sound crew in 1981]