Silver & Gold (2CD)

The growing international interest in Jamaican music as the 60s progressed emboldened increasing numbers of dynamic and ambitious music makers on the island to launch their own record labels. By the close of the decade, Kingston’s re­cording industry was awash with such talent, with this new generation of enterprising record producers including such future luminaries as Lee Perry, Joe Gibbs, Bunny Lee, Harry Johnson, Lloyd Charmers and the man whose early productions provide the focus of this compilation: George Phillips AKA Phil Pratt.

The singer-turned-producer whose initial recordings had been distributed by former Skatalites’ road manager Ken Lack introduced his Sunshot Records label early in 1969, finding almost immediate success with major Jamaican hits by celebrated singer Ken Boothe. Encouraged by these early triumphs, Pratt swiftly expanded his artists roster to include other major stars on the burgeoning reggae scene, with the likes of John Holt, Dennis Alcapone, Pat Kelly and Horace Andy all scoring significant hits with the producer.

This first Doctor Bird volume of Phil Pratt’s productions brings together almost the entirety of output from his from the first two years of his career as a record label manager and features numerous major hits alongside an abundance of obscurities that have remained unissued since their original release over 50 years ago.