Pressure Sounds

In my 38 years of collecting reggae (possibly the world's largest reggae collection), and 30+ years of running one of the biggest reggae distribution companies, I've dealt with pretty much all of the reggae labels. Pressure Sounds is doubtless in the Top 10 for best reggae reissue labels, and having seen around 50,000 Pressure Sounds units go through my warehouse I can say their quality control and customer service is in the top 5%. Please keep in mind running a reggae reissue label is a labor of love (far from lucrative) and about 90% of the time a losing proposition. As a collector I'm just glad to get the music at all, and Pressure Sounds has some of the best reissues. Certainly they don't have any pressing issues that everyone else doesn't have as well. As a distributor it was a great joy to sell the label and use it to turn many people on to reggae. OnlyRoots, Dub Store, Bond Export/Digikiller are some that come to mind for other great reissue labels still in operation. I hope these and other reggae labels are supported.

Pressure Sounds is a constantly brilliant label, of usually excellent to very good quality.

I've bought most of their releases since the days they began and only had one record that had a slight warp and that was the thick vinyl press of Creole 7".

There seems to be a lot of parroting about how brilliant Blood & Fire were over PS, but that has never been the case -
Blood & Fire had more trendy artwork
(tho usually it was terrible , like some scrapbook toss or derelict building, with minute writing on the CD sleeves you needed a magnifying glass to read)
The music inside is what really matters, and I've not seen anyone mention how Blood & Fire brick-walled the mastering on their CDs
and even missed SEVERAL SECONDS of music from some classic tracks such as KING TUBBY IN FINE STYLE.
. and that was after the sleeve notes claim it to be one of the best Tubby Dubs ever !

Maybe some tetchy folk here should keep things in perspective a bit more ?
Is there any PS releases that lob off the musical introduction to classic tracks without telling the public before or after release?

Shame because they have the right music... but. Well, I've been remastering Jamaican music (and many, many other genres for that matter) using original vinyl for many years. Pressure Sounds? Get in touch. I can do much much better.

hello, can someone that's *reliably* informed (i.e. understands the limitations of available source material & how remastering can destroy as much as it can revive) comment on why Hiltongrove seems to have an unreliable record buyer / listener reputation for remastering vintage dub / reggae?
what are the primary criticisms? I'm not concerned with re-issues mastered from worn out dub plates, only those that have standard release vinyl as the source masters.
thanks

pressure sounds dudes go hard in the paint. my favorite jawn is the revolution vocal and dub on the little roy and friends lp.

Pressure Sounds are an excellent label that has released a range of different Jamaican genre, albeit predominantly roots. I have found the sound quality excellent and the sleeve notes informative. Furthermore, is you ever deal with their web site orders, you always get a swift and personal reply. As for the silk screen sleeves, people don't have to buy them, and I loved the fact that they picked up on the old JA practice of printing album sleeves on the back of recycled cardboard.

I have all PS releases and do not want to miss in my selection ....... dub store is a nice label , too ...... it is the pity that B&F not release the great roots music .....

Won't argue with good or bad words here, but I'd say the label's description is actually more an advert from owner or hardcore fan than a true description.
Japanese dub store issues shows a far better sound for instance.
PS releases have some filler too, in order to issue more albums hence generate more benefit. Same with the so called 7i blanks or silk screen LP editions.
Good music still, but let's face it as it is.

I also love this label & have never had any issues whatsoever!

Just want to add my agreement that Pressure Sounds are absolutely one of the best reissue labels around. I buy many of their releases and have never had a problem with the pressings and would consider the earlier comments a little unfair. Given the quality of the source material they seem to do the best they can.They also sell the vinyl on their own website at a cheaper price than cds, rather than ripping people off with high priced 'limited editions'. So worth purchasing direct if you can http://www.pressure.co.uk/