Roots Archives Forum

Hi there

I am hoping you will be able to assist me with a search that has spanned some 27 years now.

During 1984/85 I was in the Defence Force in South Africa. A friend used to have a cassette tape that we would "chill out" to most nights. I cannot remember the title so it has made looking for it very difficult indeed. What I do remember is that I am almost certain it had the word 'Frontline' on the cover. I also seem to remember it had a clenched fist with barbed wire. I'm not totally sure that this was this particular tape as I used to listen to a lot of reggae back then. It was a continuous mix tape meaning there was essentially only one track on each side. It was 'old school' reggae - each track running into the next in a 'medley' format. Some of the songs included were "Love of the Common People"; Rat in my Kitchen"; "Barbados"; "Dreadlock Holiday" etc. I don't think it was the original artists - I think one group did the entire recording but I may be wrong.

I work as a Radio Presenter today so understand what it's like when a listener cannot remember a song title and expects you to find it for them but finding this particular recording will be like finding gold for me. It was a very special time in my life and that particular cassette forms part of the 'soundtrack' to it. It could have been released in the early 80's or somewhere in the 70's. I do not think it was a 'current'
recording at the time. I am still in contact with the friend but he cannot remember what it was called or what became of it.

Any leads will be appreciated.

Kind Regards
Gary
gubbles@mweb.co.za

Well there was a reggae record lable called Front Line. They also released Various Artist Samplers. Here's a wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Line_(record_label)

But I think that's not what your looking for. Sounds more like a mixtape from a soundsystem or maybe a radio promo tape or something like that.

Sorry can't help you more. Must have been a hard time in early/mid 80s South Africa.

the cover you describe is the virgin frontline 'sampler'. but the mix tape sounds like it could be 'the sunshine mix 60 non stop hits'.

Virgin did issue some of the Frontline issues on cassette tapes in 1990. They like look like you describe. It's just the songs that don't fit in.

Example picture below altough I don't think it works on this message board.

Thanks Gabranth.

Yeah SA in the early to mid 80's was a weird time to say the least .... Thanks for the response. I'm pretty sure it was a 'legit' cassette and not a sampler. It was full length - about 20 minutes each side and was a continuos mix in the same veign as things like Stars on 45 in the Pop genre was. This was just much earlier though - late 70's I have always imagined.

Hi there

Thanks for the response. Nope - not the Sunshine Mix. That was released in 1989 - this particular recording was probably late 70's

sounds like a recording of a local reggae cover band...

There is a comp that i have seen with two different covers called beyond the front line one has a yellowish cover and the other has the fist holding barbed wire but i am not sure if it was released at the time you mention.As someone did mention before those came out in the 90's but the actual frontline label has been around for a while. I am of the opinion that it does have something to do with the Virgin frontline series the cover you describe anyway.
But as for the music it didnt have a mix of Eddy Grants-Living on the Frontline and maybe thats where your getting the frontline from?

27 years! spent looking for an album with some of the worst reggae ever made, what a waste of time.
Buggles you're having a laugh right? c'mon people "rat in mi kitchen" & "dreadlock holiday" hahahaha

Those Frontline issues did float around at the time,but they were most probably banned.But those were tough single track mixes.You can have a look at the tracklisting of those on Discogs.I think what you are looking at is some medleys done by a studio band with Kevin Kruger.They went under the name Kariba,I remember two volumes and one which was a Marley only tribute.I googled them and there is some info on them around,but I don't see any tracklist.Another lead would be to check out Marq Vas's Southern African Music Collectibles,where you could pop this question as there is some Kariba filed there,but only singles and 12',the albums still to come.The producer of those LP's frequents that archive,so he could help you with the tracklisting.Hope you come right. Cheers !