WARNING!
This is an unofficial release, an abomination actually! While the music is great (and that is the sole reason I am offering this unofficial copy), the packaging is poorly created.
The asking price is purely for the new(ish) cassette case and a little of my time to create this advertisement - the tape itself has no real monetary value but for those who like their reggae a bit "different", these recordings are just the ticket!
Who made this tape?
The outer cover is single colour printed, in Green of all colours. It looks to be an altered copy of another bootleg with the catalogue number 7513. Whoever created this cover wasn't very familiar with English or they were making it obvious that it was a bootleg copy because the title on the cover is Cocody Roch¡¡¡ (exclamation marks are upside down!) in two places. The original bootleg has this typo in the title at the top of the cover but this copy has had the s 46 STARS plus the title added in banner style at the bottom of the cover - spelling mistakes and all!
The cassette used is branded SMAT, which was a tradename used by SKC products from Korea. This MAY indicate the source of the bootleg was Korea but it is not 100% proof. That upside down exclamation mark is sometimes used in Spanish writing but if so, it is used at the beginning of a word not the end so I seriously doubt this was a Spanish language related bootleg. The cassette clamshell has not even been direct pad printed but instead there is a simple paper label with just COCODY ROCH! hand written on it (still couldn't get the "Rock" spelling correct!)
In days gone by (1982 ~ 2005) we (my audio production business) were interested in collecting bootlegs to increase our awareness of how well bootleggers were creating their products, both the packaging and the audio quality on the tape.
This looks to have been recorded using a cassette tape to tape duplicator, these used to be readily available in the 1980's ~ 1990's, allowing up to 4 copies to be created at high speed from a single master tape. I don't believe this media came from a professional "pancake" duplicator output.
The quality of the recording on both sides is actually pretty good and there are no drops or apparent high end frequency loss. Tape transport seems smooth with no "warbling" or other nasties.
I am 100% sure that the source material was actually lifted off vinyl, it's a bit disconcerting to listen to a nice analog tape and hear the occasional vinyl surface noise or a click n pop event!
THE ARTIST:
Alpha Blondy is in reality Seydou Koné, born on the Ivory Coast, Africa. World reknown reggae singer with many releases of his great music under his belt. As often happens, this success seeds the creation of a bootleg industry, eager to make a quick buck at the artist's expense. This is an example from that bootleg industry.
ALPHA BLONDY - Cocody Rock!!!
Title printed on the cover is Cocody Roch¡¡¡
Stars (bootleg label)
Cat# s 46
1984 (ish) Not dated but the vinyl albums were begun to be released in 1984, although there were numerous re-pressings in following years.
Country of origin is unidentified and unknown
Cassette packaging is in very good condition, no personal writing and only very light scuff marks or scratches. Very simple single page cover insert, poorly printed in Green of all colours - not even a drop of Black ink.
Before playing I repacked the tape (fast forward & reverse the entire length 2x), and carefully visually inspected the clamshell, rollers and head pressure pad - no issues with the shell or tape at all
This is a screw type clamshell so if ever it was required to "get inside" to re-lube, no issues with this tape.
The audio is actually very good, crisp and clean and there are no problems at all with "drop outs" or high frequency loss being heard.
TRACKS: Cocody Rock (Ft. The Wailers), Tere, Super Powers, Rasta Pause, Brigadier Sabari, Interplanetary Revolution, Fangandan Kameleba, Bory Samory, Rasta Pause (Instrumental), Bintou Were - Were
