The connection between Wayne Jarrett and Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes goes all the way back to the 1970s. Wayne’s 1982 album Showcase Vol I, also known as Bubble Up, has long been a staple in serious reggae collections. His discography isn’t the biggest out there, but the quality? Consistently high. Among older heads, the man holds genuine cult status, and rightly so. That clear, high tenor of his, with that delicate, almost fragile quality, often draws comparisons to Horace Andy. Word is he’s still living in Hartford, Connecticut. He was also part of The Chosen Brothers, the rotating collective that stayed close to the Wackies orbit.

Now, Wackies and DKR out of Brooklyn have come together to drop a 12″ that real fans are going to want to sit with. Six versions of African Woman, Wayne’s very first studio recording, pressed onto one slab of wax. The tune goes back to 1976, when it first appeared as a 7″ on Versatile Records, a New York label. It was cut at Bullwackie’s Sounds Unlimited Studio in the Bronx, the same spot that served as home base for his early productions between 1976 and 1979. It also saw a Jamaican release through the Tafari Syndicate label, run by Munchie Jackson.

The song had been reissued before, but this release is different. They went back to the original master tapes for most of it, and that alone makes it special. The one exception is the African Version Dubplate Mix, which had to be ripped from an acetate. You can actually hear it, the crackle, the surface noise, all of it. Don’t expect them to clean that up, that rawness is part of the story.

Looking back, African Woman might be considered a blueprint for what we now call the Wackies sound. And what a sound that was. Deep bass, heavy reverb, dub effects drifting through the mix, voices floating above the riddim. Deliberately lo-fi, steeped in the energy of New York, and unlike anything else coming out at the time.

The A-side opens with that original 1976 single version, followed by the version as it appeared on the 7″. Wayne’s vocals carry a real sense of longing, singing about a lost African love. But there’s more going on beneath the surface. Africa here also reads as spiritual homeland, which is classic roots territory. Interestingly, Wayne has said he often made up lyrics on the spot, and you can feel that in the music. There’s an improvised looseness to it that gives the song its soul.

Track three is where things get interesting. Black Horns is an instrumental with a distinctly jazzy lean, saxophone and flute leading the way, played by Baba Leslie and Mark. Baba Leslie, also known as Leslie Moore, was a saxophonist moving through the early Wackies circuit in New York, and most likely a regular with The Bullwackie All Stars.

Flip it over and the B-side opens with the LP mix of African Woman as it appeared on Reggae Goodies Vol. 1, released around 1977 on the Bullwackies’ City Line imprint. After that comes Black Heart Dub by The Bullwackie’s All Stars, a serious drum and bass workout with a saxophone riff cutting through the top. Then, to close things out, the African Version Dubplate Mix Dec ’75. That date is worth pausing on. It suggests Wayne may have recorded the tune a full year before the official release, perhaps as a dub special. Raw, unpolished, and completely unfiltered.