best CLOCKTOWER records

[pampasjudas]

hello!

recently i have been through my collection and checking out the handful of Clocktower/Abraham records i own.
some are very good, some less so... at times the sound quality is pretty bad.
i wanted to explore the label a little further, but am not sure what is really worth purchasing in their extensive catalogue.
any suggestion? anything i really shouldn't miss?

thanks in advance!!!
- pampasjudas. xxx

[informer]

original clocktower releases (not abraham) worth checking:

Aggrovators - Rockers almighty dub
Aggrovators - King of dub
Prince Jazzbo - Ital corner
Johnny Clarke - Originally Mr.Clarke
Linval Thompson - Six Babylon
Linval Thompson - Don't cut off your dreadlocks
Scientist - Scientific dub

[edgar]

Brad Osbourne the owner of clocktower died in 86'. He was shot and killed in his store after an argument with a customer. He mostly licensed stuff from Jamaican producers like Bunny lee and Lee Perry (he also worked on hiphop/rap releases) After that the store was eventually sold and his label sold to some Canadian guy (Abraham) who added all kinds of bogus releases to the existing catalog in the following years/ during the 90s


His album the King of Dub is pretty bad...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QehX02DLKQ

[Ital Dokta]

The bogus (new) Clocktower/Abraham releases are still pretty common over here, some local record shops are stocked full of them and have little else in their reggae section, multiple copies of Ital Corner etc. Apparently Abraham's has a guy making the rounds of record shops and basically selling vinyl stock out of his car trunk.

[pampasjudas]

Brad Osbourne the owner of clocktower died in 86'. He was shot and killed in his store after an argument with a customer. He mostly licensed stuff from Jamaican producers like Bunny lee and Lee Perry (he also worked on hiphop/rap releases) After that the store was eventually sold and his label sold to some Canadian guy (Abraham) who added all kinds of bogus releases to the existing catalog in the following years/ during the 90s

oh, i didn't know. what a sad story...
i'll try to stick to the original catalogue, then.

thank you!
- pampas. xxx

[informer]

great picture btw ...


some more:
Upsetters "Scratch&Company Chapter 1"
Upsetters "Blackboard jungle dub" (with the best cover)
Horace Andy "Pure Rankin"
King Tubby "Dub from the roots"
King Tubby "The roots of dub"

[Rootsitup]

The Sound of Macka dub vol 1 on orange clocktower label

[TruthTown]

Beautiful record!

http://www.strictly-vibes.com/burning-s ... +traveling

[Don Cosmic]

The bogus (new) Clocktower/Abraham releases are still pretty common over here, some local record shops are stocked full of them and have little else in their reggae section, multiple copies of Ital Corner etc. Apparently Abraham's has a guy making the rounds of record shops and basically selling vinyl stock out of his car trunk.

A guy who is related to the owner of Abraham does the same thing over here in Los Angeles. Record store owners tell me that he drives up from San Diego every month or two and does the rounds at all the record stores. Sad when you see these bootleg records at big stores here like Amoeba Records. It only continues the unjust treatment of the artists when it comes to payment on their work.

[jay-b]

Some great stuff came out on Clocktower in the late 70's - although the Abraham rereleases in recent yrs have been decidedly inferior - favourites are the dub LP's sound of macka, rockers almighty dub, king of dub, scientific dub, dub from the roots and dancehall style dub - many featuring re-editing / re- mixing by brad osbourne & co in the US.

However by some accounts, the blackboard jungle dub issued by clocktower was based on a cassette given by scratch to brad - which may explain its rather flat, un- dynamic sound ............