giving reggae upfront image (04_11_76)

Final in a series on thein Br i t a in |>y.VIVtfA>J GLDMAN.

K. , - one Vuicaii band, the Gimafons (oneMerchants of England's ribst rfespjcted: black bands)

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VUL49-53

Road, W21' *

T ,THE TIME*

Vul•

(jan had been ^stabtishbd iri theirrather grand offices dn^hefor precisely six weeks. The.-tofnpany hadbeeji going for- the Same! lengrh of time.Founded and run hy.Jjtinior L ill coin andWebsier §crrrovjder, both long-time fix-tures oiji the British reggae scene, comingfrom Trojan and Ashanti Records. Wjeb-ster is reputedly reggae's foremost' A&Rman. Everybody claims.,to -have discqv-ered Bob Marley. , but the claims I m;idefor Webster ring truer than most.V-

V u l c a n , like Sourifdtracs, isinnovatory raggae cqmpiny. Whatcan is aiming at is, it seems to m

have just coibe back fj-orh a toiik ofJapan, where they have # ;single inj^theJapanese charts, Vulcan is Jfiso handlingthe Ashanti okalogijw, so w^ now naveSharon Fonjester. 7 . I - •'. '

By the tjfrue you read this.^ Ms Forres-ter will hafe performed } a week at theswanky Penthouse Club, Evidence of the,way Vulcin artistes are Ipeihg oriented!towards pirestige gjig? 4 not that CountOssie arid th^ Mystic ^Revelation of Rasta-

-fari would be put ori. there. Or RasMichaelj dnd the Sons ,of Negus. They'retwo of the robtsiest bands you can hear.'j j* * t f •

both on the Grounation label.ii * i

I think it's safe to say that had Vul-c art/Grouha turn' not 'signed, .those twogroups, neither of their alburns wouldhave

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available , anywhere in this

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gvngreggae a more upfront image. Ofjcourse,the- fact that they are backed by ^Phono-gram makes all the difference; to ajn"extent they have a ready-made machinethey can1 just slot, irjto. Be that as it may,it's stili nothing short of bizarre to receiia folder fu l l of biographies and photos ofreggae artistes. :•

Vulcan has another la-bel — Grountion. Over to Junior: "We just like gooclmusic" .,. we have two labels, Vulcan,that concent ra.tes, on building up artiste^,and Grounation, whic)i caters for the eth-nic market. Grounation gives the smalproducer,1,the ypunger aniste. a char

cy

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to haveftheir music-he.ard over here. Vcan s1 cihianging; the usual reggae polby sij^ni;ig artistes, getting them td playthe right gigs, and generally develop"their carper.

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Were already having some' sutjcps

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fNttllAJilCHARDScourt try

V^lca!cording British

Parcel Post': an• ' • ' \

I h<- t a x i driver^ . invoanr Square sttjp[>cd

t h d - i r cabs .tos something

.di f ferent . "ThVeeJactressesfrom ihc Royal 1 Court'sn r w p i -ay .were -be ing

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Da nil

U a u f i I t come

black centres), 'their own up-and-

by the t name of

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ethd«

riic Afro; colorfullyssed and voluble to a

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live

<aplied. * 'y jusi happenedirec highly attrac-ck ,actresses,, very

decree

The three ladies were*'Taiwo A i a i , M u r i e li • i j

Oduhton and Glenna

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jForstelr Jones iwho haveleading roles in Vemi Aji-i » i *

Ipadels p lay "Parcelj*ost." art extravagantcomecjy set in a Nigerianhoustltiold in Islington as

! l 'they wait for the virgin^i •

bride to-be, to arnyefrom INigeria.

! Miss O'dunton is the• . .

bride. She is at tHe Roy-al Court ori leave from

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St. Arine"s College,Oxford, where she sitsthe finals of her Englishdegree course , j t jhi 'ssummerJ i i

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r >EROT SMART• ! ^i ' ' "

K^ndidate. ^They're ridiculously young) to•have fjich * tight rhythm section — Ihe

Cynthia Richards, Leiroy Spiart, and the(in-lmy opinion) wonderful Fred Locks. I

I *hope we hear more of Fred Locks., Other Vulcan alburns of note includetheir I Roy release. 'Truths And Rights',which hai some good moments .— classicskanking (i,e. talking over tracks). WhenVulcan finish their set-up, they'll, havethd most ^ impressive reggae company

ces there are — . veritable rival toisland's luxury abode. Vulcan have a bne-stob record! stack in the offices, enabling

•pie to buy direct, as well as j theirL |

nogram distribution and vans. ReheY-saI rooms, relaxation rooms ... let's.hopebdfeiness goes well enough -for t^iis progres-sive company tb be able 'to say insplendour.

i % *Junior made a very valid point —"jThej existence of Jamaican music wasbiased ori the West Indian peopft Hvirigh;re.j They played the most importantpart ;5n reggae's development because inthe days when, the quality of the music

lead singer, who also .writes all their mate- was Criticised — and rightly so because1 itrials, is 11 if I recall correctly. j was bad — we were recording on two; i Kahdidate are out touring Universities tracks. , . •and1* coll leges, though I caugjit them p/ay-- But it didn't fnatter to the Westing in p disco one (night. Raciallk thei're Ifidiaii1 people, because every Friday they' . T * 1 - * - * • *. * . * * _ L » . *L' " • '" • « « * " J J . *a imixe i bag, with i p guy from Sri Lanka, ; would

get their vocals tightened u*p. they'regoing toibe a force to watch out for.

; , | Vulcan -also arrange one-off deals '—1 i i • , '

through the bne-offe they/re able to spot

take their pay packets and go intoone truje blue British honky. and'a bunch the sfcbbs, and^buy those records. Theyof bladk kids frbjn] Brixton. When ttyeyj forme I iani independent market, which

allowed;small record companies to formand release records.

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"Ajittle money went back tb Jamaica,to the producers and the artistes, ana the

1 i l t * & * 'afrtists iHey might yint to develop in the while thing developed and developed andfuiur^. jbne-off singles artistes include developed...1'*, - 'Sounds*

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Final teut iof an aby JVfkhaeljMaragh

youpdwcr amplifier should buy forup?->V«I *at depends a^ lot on the sbcaJt- ^ "',w JT"TT. w" "T LI a -Jt •* -'i i• J u V >°u "ave "W"1 enclosurt of this type (look-en toe* with u, and how much vdume i £. . . . . - .1 ^ . .. _£"; :fj

t, be asking'what

paring each speaker to one speciall speak-er, and'changing kh^ wires around. Donot reverse the reference speaker again. ;

Atfothcr way to increase the bassj if.

ing sideways), is to am a shelf about mid-way, whkh joins on to the front and side

blg»pc

with it, and how much volumeThose little' bookshelf ipeak- [

•old with^mp* 'co^pta,: outfits; ^m ,,ave abouk 3 inches for -^jrdativcly large ^ppunt, of power .fcj . J, ^ ^ . since this ^

sound from the^back pan of the cond 'is!them to the same yolurhe as a

Because!speaker', iand

i - 1 'i* 'net around the

a large box. j (|e large surface area of athe more jpcjwerful mag-coil; one w.att of'.power

^

^rom all amplifier produces much highejrvolume tnarJ if a .smaller speaker is used!.A.dar tape plaver connected to itwo

• U • v • I - ' • hIDinch or 12 inch diameter speakers i,rtappropriate sized boxes can be: us^d" tc

f * ikeep] a party, as I have done."It can ibe idifficultfor black actors ^nd I1 the !p4wer. I find that it is le|ss tlian .-!

: ^^ • • fw* f • « • **. 1actresses tocareer m Britaiis w"iy t s so

Ajai, '|ta s.ee atheatre like \he Courputting on a bpack play.

This jplayj is :abouculture shock,? really.play the sistenwho runthe hbusehora andi 'know a couple of house-holds' in London just likethis ohe.V|

Glenna Forsterj ]»nesc f ' • ' ' J»~ 'has been .ifehedrsing! 'Par-nile

watts R .- .

tota!

M.S. per channel, or 8 'watt*

f . -thlt;

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for- the,, speakerand should be

rre totally enclosed jexcepi!are usually nott^efjFici^ntjavoided if you t have the

space,'for a bigger,box that has arj oaperi-ing, or releasing thei-sound produiieo biy -the! j bstck p'an of tjhej speaker cO|n . Thedirrien^ions ind i^vors bf boxes cam get

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SHELF

very l ill not 'be* diin la basic 'aHicId 'as this.

Foir btter sound

cussed

One practical laid .to bette'r sound ts tomake $ureitht tHe speakers are "phased"

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COMEDY GIRLS — Toiwo Ajand Glenna Forsler Jone*.

Odunton

eel Pos.t' by dayplayingln Black iyat the Cambridge I bynight. After the RibyalC6urt run she retui-ns toher highly sensuous ropeas the Snake Lady at theCambridge- "I'm going.to be rising all :the wfohjggauscles here," she says,by way of warning.

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if not the basl will be very, weak, and thtI " I i I

speakers will iejem to fight each otiher. i l fyou have [two Speakers, put them to

aipd play some heavy musicthenlshut off set, reverse wires to 1 of the

forced |to travel a longer distance;, arounddie' shelf, to get out at the bottom port,the box seems taller, and therefore bigger

Ito the Soundwave, and the effect is aheavier bast. I have tried it with goodresults. ' '

From this article you should1 see thatthe final link; speakers play la major partin the sound that can be. produced fromany sound system, and your ears will bedeciding factor in choosing any set overanother, keep in mind thai you do not

speaHeri , and play again, is the Ibass is I have- '.to buy everything frorn'heavier jr^pw, the speakers are ifiow

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phasefor]with1

h

instace, you can buy spdakfsho$. For

b

rs and leet1 ~ ' • i * ~ ' i t f " -

{should be connected likb that M boxes builtJby one who 1-ndws how, v^ithquality sound, bo th|| sarne'- you supplying the dimensions!, from

. i . * j ' - A _ j " T + »

he* * • J .. - ' ' —* *. * • * *-r * •* s ,

tticr'bther speakers.! if you have more many- booljs available at radiio shops, Jon2 speaker* in your systcfmi corn* .speakers and boxes. Good lucje.

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