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John Clarke - not to be confused with Johnny Clark - had been running with the Wackies operation for six years, ever since moving from Jamaica to New York. He'd cut memorable sevens with co-founder Munchie Jackson for the Tafari label, and with Lloyd Barnes for such Bullwackies imprints as Versatile and Wackies. "Visions Of John Clarke" was a little thrown together for its original release in 1979. Still, its sleeve carried a ringing endorsement from Bullwackies himself and the album attracted the interest of no less than Studio 1 boss Coxsone Dodd, whose bid for distribution-rights was thwarted when the Brooklyn label Makossa quickly put in for a full licence. Out soon afterwards, the new version - entitled "Rootsy Reggae" - duplicated five tracks, but with markedly different mixes, fresh edits, and sometimes new instrumentation.