"Kingston All Stars Meet Downtown ..."

[chuckasaurusrex]

OK ... so this "Kingston All Stars Meet Downtown At King Tubbys" on Kingston Sounds compilation is belatedly tempting me.

Am I just a chump, knowing full well as I do that KS is affiliated with Jamaican Recordings (and consequently I've avoided both labels like the plague)? Or might this actually be a legitimate release (i.e. actually played, voiced, and mixed in the 1970s)? I haven't found much about this release online other than here (where there is indeed the suggestion that the mixes aren't authentic , but I thought I'd ask nonetheless to see if there is any consensus):

viewtopic.php?p=13262

[jb welda]

I don't know about "legit" but to my ears the Kingston Sounds offerings have been miles above the typical Jamaican Recordings release. Not nearly the obvious phony overdubs and actually I think they might specialize in unmolested vintage recordings much more so than their stablemate does.

one love
jb

[Mick Sleeper]

I agree with JB - I remain suspicious of Jamaican Recordings, but I have a few Kingston Sounds releases and they're all very good.

[Donovan]

Gotta question for you Mick! I was searching your site to see where you classified "King Tubby meets the Upsetter at the Grass Roots of Dub". Couldn't see it anywhere.

So what is the history of this release and is it bogus? Regardless of the quality of the music, was it a coordinated "clash" type album, or was it slapped together later on? Thanks for any info!

[skunkride]

might this actually be a legitimate release (i.e. actually played, voiced, and mixed in the 1970s)

Like most KS/JR releases this one is most likely licensed from Bunny Lee although some of the tracks here are not his productions...

Don't have it anymore but from what i can remember it's a mixed bag of original 70s mixes & newer mixes from multi track tapes (might be some tracks that weren't released in the 70s) - all in all it's a nice compilation, sound quality is mostly good (remember the Yabby U sounding not so great)

[chuckasaurusrex]

Thank you all, and especially skunkride as the Yabby You track would have been the highlight for me...

[chuckasaurusrex]

Donavon, pending Mick's response to your "Grass Roots of Dub" question, there is a thread here which might help a bit:

http://www.roots-archives.com/forum/rea ... 907,page=2

[Donovan]

Thanks! Lots of great info on that thread. It once appeared on the Esoldun label, which pretty much says it all.

[Mick Sleeper]

@Donovan: Grass Roots Of Dub is one of those LPs I have only heard casually, so I don't really have a definite answer. As others have said, it's a good dub collection, but I think most trainspotters agree that Tubby did the mixing on everything. Some of the Perry tracks sound as if they are from the sessions he did with Vin Gordon (Musical Bones, Return Of Wax).