“From I was a youth, vinyl was always a special format for me. When I started my collection with my first LP purchase, it resulted in a long-standing love affair with the physical form of the music I love.”
“I would read and re-read the album liner notes and all the captions for the pictures and have hours of fun listening to my selections at my leisure on my Phillips radio/record player to which I had patched 2 speakers into the line for the tiny one in the unit. Stack them in alphabetical order, then re-stack in order of preference.
When I played them I had the little felt brush to wipe the discs before putting them on the turntable, and I would be ever so gentle as I tried to drop the needle right into the grove! And when the music vibrated up the needle and out of the speakers, I would experience a strange indescribable joy from the whole scenario.
Since the advent of the digital music format however, I feel a strange musical melancholy where those sentiments are concerned… as though I have lost a close friend. This is one of the motivating factors for us to decide to make our music available on vinyl… to be enjoyed the way it should be!”
—Billy Mystic, vocals
“After a nearly 15-year hiatus, the iconic band Mystic Revealers reunite to tour and release new material in 2015, introducing their music to a new generation. The group’s latest collection Crucial Cuts (available Jan 13, 2014 on VP Records new Dub Rockers imprint) gathers key tracks from the band’s 20-year catalog. The songs date back to the ‘80s – including “Young Revolutionaries,” “Rasta Man,” “I’m Gonna Tell Ya” featuring Anthony B and the Sizzla collaboration “Tell Them.” In a nod to their other passions, the cover depicts founding members Wilmot, Edwards and Henry on surfboards and jet skis.
Three decades after their earliest single releases, the band’s message remains exactly the same as it did when Wilmot, Edwards, Henry and Davis first came together near the shores of Bull Bay. “We are like a postman sending a letter,” Wilmot says. “We might not be the ones who wrote the letter, even though the songs are ours. The messages being transmitted are from the Almighty—messages of love, honor, truth, justice and unity.”
Is it crucial a copy of Crucial Cuts lands on your turntable? Tell us in the comments below which track from the album streaming above is calling your name and we’ll send one enthusiastic reader with a North American mailing address their very own vinyl copy.
One winner will be notified directly via email a week from today, January 23, 2015.
