'MYSTIC VOYAGE' - DISCOVERING THE MUSIC OF THE LEGENDARY ROY AYERS : (PART 3)

Discovering Roy Ayers Originals in the 90's - Record Collecting in the UK.

In the early 90's I lived in South London, on the edge of Blackheath, (opposite Glen Tilbrook from Squeeze) and I used to make journeys to a number of sources for records.

One was Cavern Records in Lewisham shopping centre - a place where I first met the rapper Blade on numerous occasions. Another was Greenwich market - a perfect place to pick up old 70's LP's and rare Hip Hop 12"s and lastly there was Collections (pictured here) I can't remember the bloke who ran it but I always remember his long leather coat and long hair. Nice guy, who had a turntable so you could listen to the music too.

It was at Collections that I bought 2 more original Roy Ayers LP's

Red, Black and Green (Polydor, 1973)





Favourite tracks on the LP were Ain't No Sunshine and Papa was a Rolling Stone, although the most well known is probably the title track.

http://www.discogs.com/Roy-Ayers-Ubiquity-Red-Black-Green/release/380129?ev=rr



Being into Hip Hop these LP's were also of interest to me for being the original sources for Hip Hop artists to sample. So songs like Red, Black and Green took me all the way to the X-Clan who sampled the song for Raise the Flag on the excellent political To the East Blackwards LP



The other LP I bought from Collections was A Tear to a Smile (Polydor, 1975).


Listen Here"-

http://www.discogs.com/Roy-Ayers-Ubiquity-A-Tear-To-A-Smile/release/499373
















After starting to think I knew a lot about Roy Ayers I discovered the Silver Vibrations LP (Uno Melodic Records, 1983) at my favourite Hertfordshire spot for old vinyl, David's Music. I didn't know anything about this LP when I bought it in David's Music. But it contains one of my all time favourite Roy Ayers songs Chicago.



Around the same time I also picked up a 12" of Running Away @ Davids Music which also appears on the Lifeline (Polydor, 1977) LP that I also own I reckon is probably my most played Roy Ayers track as it always gets a people moving and shaking on the dance floor.



Sometimes I'd discover Roy Ayers on other songs, one example is the Ladies of the 80's 12" I bought featuring Turned Onto You. on (Streetwave) I was pleasantly surprised to see not only that Sylvia Striplin was the main vocalist but also Roy was the writer and producer on the whole LP which also included the excellent B-side of my single, I Knew that Love, a song I love almost as much as Turned Onto You.