Brennan Barber

This 45 has seen a lot of time on the turntables over the last month and for good reason. Released in 1972 by Chicago soul funk band The Pharaohs. “Love & Happiness” is a saxophone cover of Al Green’s immortal “Love & Happiness”but brings a unique flavor to the rhythm track. One of the things that stand out to me is the hand drums which were played by Maurice White. Maurice played drums for the Ramsey Lewis Trio from 2966 - 1969 and was heavily involved in the Chicago music scene. So much more can be said about the members of The Pharaohs but we’ll leave that for another post. #45rpm #AlGreen #vinyl #soulfunk #mauricewhite

Gwan bassie! Donovan Carless from Soul Syndicate backed by my favorite local bass player (Dean) and my favorite local drummer (Broadway). This was the first time Donovan’s granddaughter had seen him sing live and to top it off she sang backup vocals with him! Shout out to Jill as well as the booking staff for making this happen! #donovancarless #shakorihillsgrassrootsfestival #soulsyndicate #reggae

Shout out to a great friend & longtime Grassroots Vinyl Lounge DJ @craiglayabout for the incredible analog lights he designs and builds for each festival! #grassrootsvinyllounge #analoglighting #vinyl #dancefloorvibes #shakorihillsgrassrootsfestival

6 days left until liftoff! ☀️ We are looking forward to seeing everyone as well as meeting new friends so come by the lounge and say hi! #grassrootsvinyllounge #shakorigrassrootsmusicfestival #shakorihills #musicfestival #vinyl

@shakorihillsgrassroots is just one week away! #grassrootsvinyllounge #shakorihillsgrassrootsfestival #vinyl #shakorihills #musicfestivals

Just Released by Studio One! Alton Ellis covering Al Green’s classic “Let’s Stay Together” in a Studio One Style 💨 A little taste of the vocal & the version. #studioonerecords #coxsonedodd #coxsonesmusiccity #altonellis

I’ve always used cardboard inners that were left over from incoming packages to separate groups of records. Recently I started looking for something that was easier to see but I wasn’t about to spend $1 each for a single divider, especially considering I need a couple hundred! A good friend of mine has a 3D printer and after some searching he found a divider meant for comic books and we resized it along with a couple small tweaks. After a few test prints we got it dialed in and the finished divider works great. They only cost a few cents each to make but the print time can be long depending on your printer, these are taking 20 min each but there may be some ways around that. Shout out Squeaky for making this happen! Anyway, I thought this might be of interest to those of you with large 7 inch collections. If you end up making any I’d love to see how they turn out! #45rpm #recordstorage #vinyl #recordcollectors

CLD Series 3 - Part 1 has been released! We all have our favorites but Devon Russell’s - Jah Hold The Key is one I’ve been after for awhile and so was a welcome addition. Alton Ellis covering “Let’s Stay Together” is one more from the 70’s that is loved by many and can be hard to find. Another favorite is Hound Dog credited to Norma Frazer, the bass on this press is super deep and sounds great. As far as I know it only saw release on a rare Red label UK press as well as the Studio One compilation Get Ready Rocksteady. On the flip is Hugh Godfrey’s - My Time, another 45 that was originally released on a rare UK press. It also was pressed in the 70’s on a B&W Coxsone label. All of the Part 1 titles come in a new B&W Studio One sleeve! One of my favorites out of all the new 45 sleeves Studio One has been putting out . The last several years have been great for fans of @studioonerecords ! Many classic and obscure records have been reissued with great sound quality and the original artwork. Salute to Studio One for making so much great music available again ❤️ #studioonerecords #coxsonesmusiccity #coxsonedodd #reggae #45rpm

Sad to learn we lost another great Jamaican producer. Rupie Edwards sits firmly alongside Jamaica’s greatest and put out so many great records but doesnt seem to be as well known as many of his contemporaries. He recorded some great rocksteady, early reggae, roots and dub! The dub can’t be overlooked and could be it’s own post, heavy stuff! But once Rupie got ahold of the “My Conversation” rhythm he was gone! Hit after hit on the immortal rhythm was let loose in every style popular at the time. Everytime I’ve spoken with session musicians that recorded for Rupie they have had nothing but good things to say. Now Gen recorded extensively for him which speaks to the quality of his material. Too many favorites to even begin to list them all but here are a couple beyond the 1 million pieces of “My Conversation” 😂 One Fine Dub - Rupie All Stars Johnny Clarke - Everyday Wondering Bob Andy - The Way I Feel Tommy McCook - Bubbling Horns Errol Carter - Mannish Water Rupie Edwards - Trying To Fight The Virtues - Falling In Love

🏝 Sunday Dubwise 🏝 King’s Dub - Ranking Barnabas & Dudley Swaby 🔊 Dub - “West Man Skank” Many years ago I learned that I could pickup great Dub albums for cheap without the original sleeves. Since then I’ve scooped up many that I might not otherwise have owned. I love album art but the music is the most important! King’s Dub is the 2nd dub album that the great producer & label owner Dudley “Manzie” Swaby put out. I found this copy along with many other Dub LPs in a little dub shack off Red Hills Road in Kingston. Many of them had homemade customized sleeves as the sound system they came from received copies before the sleeves were printed. “West Man Skank” is on the “Weatherman Skank”rhythm aka “It’s Raining” from the original 1960’s classic by the Three Tops. Dudley put out a vocal by Rod Taylor titled “Let Love Abide” as well as a DJ cut by Clint Eastwood called “Weather Man”. Dudley “Manzie” Swaby had a very unique sound and his productions are worth digging into! Blood & Fire put out 2 x great compilations and Dudley has also reissued many titles. Salute to one of Jamaica’s great producers! SWIPE ⬅️ for clips of the vocal and dub plus album & label art. #dudleymanzieswaby #rankingbarnabas #channelonestudio #reggae #dubwise

As relevant now as the day it was written. Keep the pressure down.

There are times where I need to hear a record on my home system to really get it. “Hi Fu Mi Yo” by Yukiko Kato is one of those records! As soon as I dropped the needle I knew it was a keeper. Over the past several weeks @funknight and @jjwhitefield have been hard at work releasing some great music on the Field Records label. Don’t sleep! SWIPE ⬅️ for clips & label art. #funknightrecords #jjwhitfield #45rpm #vinylcollectors