Letter From Zion Riddim – Midnight Rock, Mixing Lab, Volcano

Letter From Zion produced by Jah Thomas, Roy Francis, King Jammy, Phil Pratt, Henry Lawes for Midnight Rock, Mixing Lab, Volcano in 1978

Letter From Zion Riddim, issued through Midnight Rock, Mixing Lab, and Volcano and dated to 1978, brings together a wide roots lineup linked to Jah Thomas, Roy Francis, King Jammy, Phil Pratt, and Henry Lawes. The set moves through cuts from Barry Brown with Girlfriend, Dennis Brown with Africa We Want To Go and Home Sweet Home, Don Carlos with Street Life, Echo Minott’s Youth Man, Half Pint’s One Big Ghetto, and Jah Thomas on Liberation, alongside dub versions and deeper roots pieces from Ranking Dread, Triston Palmer, and Well Pleased And Satisfied. It also connects across a longer run of versions and later recordings, with some tracks credited in the 1980s as the rhythm kept resurfacing under different labels. That mix of stern roots vocals, dub takes, and later revisits gives the riddim its identity: a tough, elastic foundation that travels well from Dennis Brown’s soulful phrasing to the harder edge of the deejay and dub cuts.

Letter From Zion Riddim Tracklist:

1. Dub – Billy Boyo
2. Dub – Con-Man
3. Dub – Dubbing Time
4. Barry Brown – Girlfriend
5. Courtney Melody – Billy Boyo
6. Dennis Brown – Africa We Want To Go
7. Dennis Brown – Home Sweet Home
8. Don Carlos – Street Life (1982)
9. Echo Minott – Youth Man
10. Half Pint – One Big Ghetto (1984)
11. Jah Thomas – Liberation
12. Junior Keating – Jah Wrote Me A Letter From Zion (1984)
13. Ranking Dread – Kunta Kinte Roots
14. Scientist & The Roots Radics – Jah Wrote Me
15. The Blackstones & Joseph Cotton – Open The Gates (1978)
16. Tonto Irie – Ram Up Every Corner (1986)
17. Triston Palmer – Time So Hard
18. Well Pleased And Satisfied – Zion High

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