{"product_id":"black-solidarity-version-excursion","title":"Black Solidarity Version Excursion","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt the beginning of the eighties reggae music became increasingly in tune with what was happening in Kingston’s dance halls... probably more so than at any time since the sound system operators had started to make their own shuffle and boogie recordings in the late fifties.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe international audience and the critics were too busy looking for a new \u003cem\u003eBob Marley\u003c\/em\u003e to appreciate what was happening downtown and failed to acknowledge that this was a return to the real, raw roots of the music. Brash, confident, young record producers who were totally in tune with the youth audience stepped forward and seized the moment... \u003cstrong\u003eOswald ‘Ossie’ Thomas\u003c\/strong\u003e began his apprenticeship in the music business at the age of fourteen and served his time as a record salesman for \u003cstrong\u003eBunny ‘Striker’ Lee\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eWinston ‘Niney The Observer’ Holness\u003c\/strong\u003e before moving on to Miss \u003cstrong\u003eSonia Pottinger\u003c\/strong\u003e’s Tip Top Records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“I ended up working in three record stores on Orange Street from 1976 to 1981... Yeah man! Me deh ‘pon me bicycle till I buy my motorcycle! Them days records were coming out left, right and centre... every day!” Ossie Thomas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt was during his time with Miss Pottinger that Ossie began to produce records for himself and in 1979 Ossie and \u003cstrong\u003ePhillip Morgan\u003c\/strong\u003e began the \u003cem\u003eBlack Solidarity\u003c\/em\u003e label based deep in the Kingston ghetto on Delamere Avenue. Phillip initially inspired Ossie to start the label and soon \u003cstrong\u003eTriston Palma\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ePhillip Frazer\u003c\/strong\u003e and “a youth named \u003cstrong\u003eGary Robertson\u003c\/strong\u003e” joined in although Gary later left for Canada.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eSoul Syndicate\u003c\/strong\u003e rehearsed in the Delamere Avenue area and \u003cstrong\u003eTony Chin\u003c\/strong\u003e gave Ossie a cut of a rhythm that he used for Triston Palma’s ‘\u003cem\u003eA Class Girl\u003c\/em\u003e’... the label’s inaugural release. The record was a sizeable success and paved the way for hit after hit after hit on \u003cem\u003eBlack Solidarity\u003c\/em\u003e. Ossie worked with just about everybody who was anybody during this critical period of the music’s development including vocalists \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Ffrench\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eLittle John\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eSugar Minott\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eFrankie Paul\u003c\/strong\u003e and most notably Triston Palma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor this release we have compiled some of the version sides to those releases. Dub still being an integral part of the Reggae Sound System Sound. So sit back and listen to what \u003cem\u003eBlack Solidarity\u003c\/em\u003e, one of the most important and often overlooked labels were bringing to the dance, dubwise, back in those heady 1980’s times.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kingston Sounds","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50466855059787,"sku":"2007247","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50466855125323,"sku":"2007248","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/JRCD073_39062873_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727325863","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/black-solidarity-version-excursion","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}