Honest Jon's
278 Portobello Road
London
W10 5TE
England

Monday-Saturday 10 till 6; Sunday 11 till 5

Honest Jon's
Unit 115
Lower Stable Street
Coal Drops Yard
London
N1C 4DR

Monday-Saturday 11 till 6; Sunday 11 till 5

+44(0)208 969 9822 mail@honestjons.com

Established 1974.

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Twin Roots

Know Love

Black Art

Danny Red

Don Gorgon

Partial

Sonny Wong

You Can't Hold On

Pyramid / Dub Store

Classy, proto-lovers, full-scale do-over of the Robert John 45 still big in Northern Soul circles.
The original arranger, none other than Gene Page gets a run for his money in the typically sophisticated instrumental version by Geoffrey Chung and the In Crowd.

Earl Flute

The Betrayer

Mafia / Dub Store

Gripping, up-in-your-face account of the story of Judas. Full-on Keith Hudson roots.
And an unmissable nugget of flute-led JA funk, by the Soul Syndicate, on the flip.

Cornell Campbell

Hey Mr. Cop

Firehouse / Dub Store

Typically fine singing, over crisp, bare Tubbys digi, with strong backing vocals on both sides.
Hey Mr. Cop is a draft of the song he recorded for Bunny Lee, over Rumours; the flip does over his Jammys smash.
Dubplate action.

Junior Soul

Miss Cushie

Gay Feet / Dub Store

Hard to resist Junior Murvin in this teasing, saucy mood, on a lovely nyabinghi rocksteady rhythm.
With an alternate take.

The Victors

Easy Squeeze

Gay Feet / Dub Store

Agony aunts Clifford Morrison and Dada Smith from The Bassies, with George Blake replacing Leroy Fischer, in 1969. Cornerstone moonstompers, both sides.

Frank Wilson

Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

Soul Essentials

Legendary Northern — the last record played at the Wigan Casino — this archetypal heart-on-sleeve stomper was originally pressed in 1965 by Motown as a handful of promotional copies on its imprint SOUL. Most of these were destroyed soon afterwards, though people say Berry Gordy has a copy, and another was sold in 2009 for just over twenty-five grand.

Sharon Revoal

Reaching For Our Star

Numero

Piezo ft. Sunun

Water Chamber

No Corner

The Browne Bunch

We've Got A Good Thing Going

Superstar / Dub Store

Young bros Glen, Dalton, Noel, Cleveland and Danny, irresistibly doing over MJ for Geoffrey Chung. ‘She makes my motor purr.’

Dennis Alcapone

Spanish Omega

INBIDIMTS / Dub Store

Out-of-this-world toasting, the absolute bees knees, over Old Fashioned Way; and a stupendous piece of Skatalites, way from creation. Swing baby swing and do your own thing. Uptight and rocking out of sight.
Bims almighty.

Inner Vibes

Mix Up Blender

Firehouse / Dub Store

Monumental Tubbys digi terror. Tougher than Lee Van Cleef. Heavier than lead and cold as ice.

Carlton Manning

We Will Live & Love

Gay Feet / Dub Store

Gorgeous singing by Carlton (from Carlton & The Shoes and The Abyssinians), with tasty nyabinghi drumming in the accompaniment.
“I was writing songs but I didn’t record until 1968. I did one song for Lee Scratch Perry. He gave me £5 and then I didn’t hear anything more about it. Then I went down to Mrs Pottinger, did one song for her named Live and Love on the Gay Feet label. It was played on the radio for a couple of days and it wasn’t going anywhere really because she had some good artists down there at the time and they did some songs that were doing well, so my song wasn’t getting much promotion and it wasn’t being played. I think I heard it twice on the radio and then I didn’t hear it anymore.”

Lennie Hibbert, Count Ossie & Lynn Taitt

Pure Soul

Gay Feet / Dub Store

Pure loveliness, deep and stately.
Plus Patsy dishing it straight back to Johnnie Taylor on the flip, with a reworking of Blues In The Night.

Culross Cross

Moments

Escencia

Vibesing, jazzy bruk.
Culross… aka K15 from Wild Oats and Floating Points.

Bobby Wright

Blood Of An American

Melodies

Tommy McCook

Ska Flea

Treasure Isle / Far East

Irresistibly bouncy, pestiferous and nostalgic do-over of the version of One Note Samba/Spanish Flea which Sergio Mendes cut for Herb Alpert, with Lani Hall singing.
Perhaps a shame Homer Simpson wasn’t in Kingston at the time.
The flip-side sets the stage for Lloyd ‘Reggae Feet’ Williams with a quick mashing of the intro to I Can’t Help Myself by the Four Tops into some chords from Rescue Me by Fontella Bass.

Judge Winchester

Public Jestering

Black Art

The Upsetter’s imperious do-over of the almighty Skylarking rhythm, featuring himself alongside Winston Blake at the microphone, berating people for having fun in public. (‘Sylvester the jesterer from Manchester’, you know who you are.)
Contrastingly backed with Jimmy Riley in a sombre mood, c&w soul style, over a bare-bones reworking of the People Funny Boy rhythm.
Unmissable, obviously.

Andres Loo

Seto Dub

Sex Tags Amfibia

Captivatingly decentred, ghostly dubscapes, unhurriedly rolling out elements of jazz, reggae and — yep — Estonian folk music, with suspenseful toms, groovy double bass and punky-reggae guitar, and some lovely xylophone and accordion playing. Have a listen.

The Browne Bunch

There's Fun For All

Edge / Dub Store

Superb, soulful, easy-rocking, Philly-dilly reggae. Old-school call-and-answer vocals, full of personality and charm; beautifully arranged, with criss horns. Class.

U-Roy

Dynamic Fashion Way

INBIDIMTS / Dub Store

What a record. The studio debut of the mighty Daddy U-Roy in 1969, sparring with Val Bennett over Old Fashioned Way, both of them wigging out like a couple of beboppers, with the ghost of John Holt on the backing tape. “The studio is kinda cloudy,” reports U-Roy — and everyone sounds lit but utterly inspired. Pure vibes.
“My first tune I ever do was Dynamic Fashion Way with Keith Hudson, and then I do Earth’s Rightful Ruler for Scratch. Those tunes didn’t get very far, them sell a couple hundred.”
Cornerstone stuff. Show some respect and chuck your bootleg.

Michael Prophet

Sweet Me

Firehouse / Dub Store

Baba Brooks

1st Session (Alternative Take)

Gay Feet / Dub Store

Holland Dozier Holland

Why Can't We Be Lovers

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