Creation Rebel Rare Sides By The Reggae Originator

This Limited-Edition vinyl release for RSD Black Friday 2021 celebrates the long and ground-breaking career of the artist who single-handedly created the model for all succeeding reggae DJs, the legendary U ROY.

It is impossible to overstate his importance to the history of reggae, representing a status as Louis Armstrong’s lasting influence on Jazz; U Roy’s feat of having the Top 3 best-selling singles at one time in 1970 on the airwaves & in record shops announced the beginning of a long recording and live performance career, known internationally as the ‘Rasta Ambassador’, a status he held until his death in February 2021. Quite simply, U Roy created the template for all those countless Mic MCs who followed his example, from the 1970s to now. Bob Marley was known to not be a fan of the DJ music sweeping the dance in Jamaica, but when asked what he thought of the trend replied “Well…me like U Roy.”

Pressed on clear vinyl (with liner notes by the noted reggae producer/historian Leroy Pierson), this compilation includes Roy’s collaborations with the leading vocalists of the day (including Johnnie Clarke, Lee Perry, The Heptones, Slim Smith and others), on his own, now-extremely rare JA-only 45 releases, from the collection on Sound System Records, Foundation Skank . There are also sides from an earlier release on Sound System (out of print on vinyl for 20 years) The Lost Album: Right Time Rockers, cited by the Rough Guide To Reggae as one of its 100 Essential LPs. Chatting as a master jazz scat-vocalist over the rhythms originally cut at the Channel One studio in Kingston for the all-time greatest LP of the vocal group Mighty Diamonds, they give an intimate look at the island’s #1 DJ at the top of his form.