VP Records Digs into its 40 Year Catalogue for Record Store Day Exclusives

VP Records, the world's largest reggae label, continues its yearlong calendar of events for its 40th anniversary celebrating Record Store Day 2019 with Sound System Showcases at its retail locations in Jamaica, Queens and Miramar, Florida. This year, both VP Records retail stores have received the distinct designation as official Record Store Day Locations. To commemorate the annual celebration of vinyl culture, the free event is a day for fans and consumers to experience authentic Jamaican Sound Systems while being able to purchase classic, new and exclusive titles. For the first time, the event will be streamed on the VP Records YouTube channel and archived for future viewing.

Special DJ and sound system performances will be held at the flagship retail location at 170-21 Jamaica Avenue in Queens, and the VP store in Miramar, Florida at 6022 S.W. 21st Street. New York's event will include selectors Earth Ruler, Digital English, Blunt Posse, Dub Electronics, Super Force, and Pretty Posse; artists are yet to be announced. In Florida, producer Bobby Digital will spin music, as an encore to his Record Store Day 2018 performance in New York.

For its special Record Store Day titles, VP Records reaches back to its early history and two of its important sublabels. Roots From The Yard, is a 7-record box set of 7-inch singles on the collectible Roots From The Yard label and highlights the early years of the company, when records were pressed on behalf of independent producers on a variety of sublabels. The set includes tracks from Barrington Levy, Bim Sherman, The Mighty Fantells, Junior Delgado, Freddie McKay, Earth & Stone, and Linval Thompson.

The next title is Nightfall, a deep collector's rarity from reggae and dancehall icon Johnny Osbourne. Released in 1981 on VP's Jah Guidance imprint, the album features heavy mixes and extended dubs produced by Linval Thompson, featuring the Roots Radics band, and engineered by Hopeton "Scientist" Brown. A companion release produced by Thompson will be available as Record Store Day title in Europe on VP's subsidiary Greensleeves label, which features the 12-inch single by Freddie Mckay "Another Weekend" b/w Earl Sixteen's "Live Together."

The final Record Store Day title is the "Roots Radics 12 Inches Of Dub", a dub companion to General Echo's 1980 Greensleeves album "12 Inches Of Pleasure", produced by Henry "Junjo" Lawes, and again featuring the Roots Radics in their prime with mixes by Scientist.

"Vinyl is such an important part of Jamaican music and culture and we are thankful that Record Store Day has kept it alive in such a powerful way, year after year," said Randy Chin, COO of VP Records. "Every year, VP does its part by hosting Sound system showcases and being that we are celebrating 40 years along with our stores now being official record store day locations, everything is aligned, and fans can expect a greater experience than ever before."

VP Records will also unveil The Reggae Trail, a project to identify and document locations of historic importance to the growth of reggae around the world. The Reggae Trail project starts with New York City record stores, initially celebrated on a map of 25 key locations in the city, from the past to the present. The Trail will be an ongoing project, with contributions solicited from the general public and reggae experts around the globe.

This year VP Records is celebrating 40 years in the United States. VP's history as a record store and music distributor is key to the growth of reggae music in New York and around the globe. The company was launched by Vincent and Patricia Chin as Randy's Record Mart in Kingston, Jamaica in 1958, and grew to become the world's largest independent reggae label. The 40th Anniversary festivities commenced with VP's return to Jamaica in January for Strictly The Best - LIVE Montego Bay on January 30th and continues with a variety of music and cultural events, products, historical exhibits and experiences, in Jamaica, across the U.S., Toronto, Canada and London, England slated throughout the year.

For more information on VP Records, log onto www.vprecords.com.

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