Greensleeves Records, under the VP Music Group, is celebrating 45 years in 2022 and in doing so, VP is bringing back the classic Wailing Souls record, Fire House Rock, for a special Record Store Day vinyl reissue.
Drop 2 of 2022’s >Record Store Day is taking place June 18th and it’ll be the first chance fans will have at getting the remastered in high definition and packaged in a deluxe gate-fold Fire House Rock vinyl record. VP Records is going all out for the 1981 Greensleeves title as the original LP is augmented by a 12-inch single of alternate mixes, including two from the legendary Prince Jammy! The package also includes contextual liner notes and previously unpublished photos by original photographer George Williams.
Greensleeves originally released Fire House Rock on June 3, 1981 with the titled-track being one of Wailing Souls most popular songs, always cited on a short list of all-time reggae classics. For this special edition, the original master tapes were transferred by Kevin Przybylowski at Sonicraft A2DX Lab and a new master cut by Chris Muth (former Sterling Sound and Masterdisk engineer) of Taloowa Mastering.
For the occasion of Greensleeves Records’ 45th anniversary and this special edition, an animation of the original “Fire House Rock” was commissioned from illustrator Costantinos Pissourios. In addition, the 12-inch mix from Jamaican engineering icon King Jammy (then known as Prince Jammy) will see its first digital release, while also included on the bonus 12-inch single for the first time since 1981.
Fire House Rock was Wailing Souls 3rd studio album and considered a touchstone LP from the beginning of reggae’s post-Bob Marley era. The group had been together for more than a decade before the release of Fire House Rock, establishing a strong catalog of singles, establishing themselves at Coxson Dodd’s Studio One. By 1980 the group was well rehearsed with a settled and seasoned four-party harmony line-up of Winston Pipe Matthews, Lloyd Bread McDonald, Garth Dennis, and George Budy Haye.
Listen: Wailing Souls – “Fire House Rock”
Related Links:
@WailingSoulsMusic
Wailing Souls Website
@RecordStoreDay
Record Store Day Website
Article By: Mike Patti
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