A Reggae label, founded in 1977 by Dennis Harris and Dennis Bovell in reaction to the masculine-orientated Roots Reggae which was prevalent at the time. The aim of Lover's Rock was to provide a gentler, more soulful, kind of Reggae, which would appeal to women in particular. Thanks to the songwriting, production and instrumental talents of the team of Harris, Bovell and friend John Kipaye, that aim was achieved. At first singles appeared in a CJ-600 series, which appears to have been a continuation of the one used by the Concrete Jungle label (q.v.); this was eventually replaced by a LR-00 / LRS-00 series. The records featured mainly female artists. One basic design was used, but the simpler layout used for at least the first three records (1) had been replaced by a more businesslike one - complete with an apostrophe - by the time CJ-618 came out. Some early singles seem to have been re-pressed with the new-style labels, CJ-615 being credited to a different artist, the 'Eve All Blacks'; the 'B' side appears to be a different one, as well. CJ-617 came out on Bovell's Rama label (q.v.). T.T. Ross's 'Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right' (3) is something of an oddity: the label design is that of the twelve-inch-only Love Bird Records, and the catalogue number, LBS-05, meshes with Love Bird's LB-00 numbering, but for some reason the label name was given as Lovers Rock instead of Love Bird, therefore depriving Love Bird of a page on this site. Dennis Harris owned several other labels, including DIP, Eve and Lucky (q.v. all). The first scan appears by courtesy of Charlie Chalk of the 45cat site; thanks to him also for the Love Bird connection.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.