Every so often we get a bit taken over by UK reggae, and spend many weeks knee-deep in the archives, trying to piece together as much homegrown roots output as we can find from that fertile period when it seemed impossible for any band playing this stuff to put a foot wrong.
This double-CD set we burned as a treat for ourselves therefore sees us break from fantasy label compilations in order to put together a playlist which we really think showcases the sheer beauty and strength of many British releases of what, in retrospect, feels a golden era. The usual rules applied though – no more than one track per combo!
If we'd stuck to a single disc, by the way, it might not have comprised that many numbers, given the propensity of producers from that era to max out on somewhat dubtastic 12” extended mixes: between them, the longest four songs on this add up to about three-quarters of an hour. The disc titles aside (they seemed fitting) we’ve steered clear of the reggae-style tunes and dubs which the Clash or the Ruts or the Slits or SLF or even Killing Joke turned their hands to: not because we don’t dig them, but because this exercise was about leaving our old comfort zones behind and embarking upon a proper voyage of discovery. It’s that voyage that we wanted to share.
It is not always easy to source this material, especially if you are a total amateur like me, picking up a lone dusty slice of vinyl in a secondhand shop every few months. So we’ve tried to indicate below where we’ve sourced stuff from. However, for the ‘bigger’ artists there are still reasonably widely available back catalogues. And, relatively recently, some absolutely *essential* work has been done by Bristol Archive Records and Reggae Archive Records, curating the Bristol and Midlands scenes of the time and bringing them vividly back to life. We’re far from the only ones, I suspect, who are profoundly grateful to them, and as you’ll see our list owes a fair bit to their labours.
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Disc one: Kick It Over
X-O-Dus "English Black Boys"
Now we’ve raved about this before, the sublime extended-mix of this tune from Mancunians X-O-Dus, released on Factory Records (as we remarked then, it’s kind of Dennis Bovell channels Martin Hannett). When they sing, plaintively yet disbelievingly, about those who are seeking their repatriation, it still sounds incredibly raw and harrowing. You can pick this up on 12” in Soho for about £30, or – if you’re not an oligarch of some kind - try and pick up LTM’s fairly comprehensive X-O-Dus compilation album for a more competitive price.
Aswad "Pressure"
If you only know them for their sundrenched 1980s number one single, “Don’t Turn Around”, don’t panic: west London’s Aswad have a highly impressive back catalogue which is 1000% less cheesy, and which between ’76 and ’82 is well-nigh unimpeachable. Unlike a couple of the other tunes they recorded for their landmark first John Peel Session in 1976, this song would not end up on their superb, horn-flecked 1981 breakthrough album, "New Chapter". However, it’s worth trying to find the Aswad BBC Sessions CD in order to hear it. Don’t forget – as we nearly did - that there was also a brilliant self-titled LP in between those first Peel Sessions and “New Chapter”: songs like the magnificent “I A Rebel Soul” and “It’s Not Our Wish” never get old, as they sound the beating heart of Ladbroke Grove.
Black Symbol “Trouble Trouble”
Led by the legendary Fatman, Birmingham’s incredibly soulful Black Symbol collective released a few singles in day, but may be chiefly recognised now for having been at the heart of the second city’s roots scene, in Handsworth. Indeed, in what turns out to have been a far-sighted move for posterity as well as a severely magnanimous gesture at the time, it was they who organised and paid for a host of other local musicians to record songs for two “Handsworth Explosion” compilation LPs in the early 1980s, which were released originally on Black Symbol’s own label and have now been combined on a single Reggae Archive compilation. Much more on those later.
Linton Kwesi Johnson "Bass Culture"
The finest performance poet we can remember on record, thanks in no small part to Dennis Bovell's bright, brass-fuelled arrangements and the way that LKJ's stentorian monotone drops in over the bass, in the vein of Prince Far-I's deliciously deadpan lilt. Much as we admire Benjamin Zephaniah (q.v.) there is no doubt that Johnson was not only a truth-teller supreme, but also the master of dub poetry: he should also, by rights, be a ‘national treasure’ now. Pleasingly, there are a host of LKJ albums still widely available on CD.
Eclipse “Blood Fi Dem”
More fire. Unearthed by Reggae Archive, this fabulous song was once a 7” A-side on Birmingham indie 021 Records, and now appears on Reggae Archive’s wider Midlands compilation, “The Midlands Roots Explosion” (a sister record of sorts to the three “Bristol Reggae Explosions” which is accurately if lengthily subtitled “Rastafari, Revolution and Repatriation: Roots Reggae from the Jamaican Diaspora in the English Midlands 1976 – 1984”). A strangely minimalist sleeve design too, like Factory on a tight budget. This was Eclipse’s third single, and also appeared on their lone album (now re-issued on Reggae Archive’s Eclipse CD, “Corrupted Society”).
Black Slate "Amigo"
A UK top ten hit, which is quite an achievement for a record that was neither a novelty tune nor a catchy chorus stapled to a reggae hook, but actually a fairly sincere paean to Jah (albeit a danceable one – even the European discotheques succumbed). The album of the same name is eminently trackdownable.
Black Beard "Cut After Cut"
Matumbi's Dennis Bovell would soon became the go-to man for pretty much everything, including mixing the Slits, LKJ and X-O-Dus, but this is from his incarnation as instrumental king on the very British dub outing "Strictly Dub Wize", which suggested he might be a match for the Jamaican masters. You can find the reissued Virgin CD if you look hard enough.
UB40 "Madam Medusa"
There are all sorts of reasons to be sceptical about what UB40 became, and their near-neighbours Steel Pulse clearly weren't very impressed, judging by BBC4's seriously ace "Reggae Britannia" documentary, but UB40’s "Signing Off" LP in 1980, with its big hit singles, is actually not bad at all. The music feels a little anaemic (especially the voice, the annoying tinny keyboards and the most crucial component of all, the bassline), but the songs are actually quite refined. None more so than their anti-Maggie rant, "Madam Medusa", which does the wider UK roots trick of marrying head-noddingly mellow music with vitriolic sentiment, and stretches the band's better traits over thirteen (gulp!) minutes.
Truths & Rights “New Language”
One feels that we ought to have heard rather more than a brace of tunes on the Handsworth Explosions from the now rather below-radar T&R syndicate, but both of their tracks are neatly clanging, echo-laden soliloquies which should be devoured by roots rockers and steppers alike.
The Cimarons "Willin'"
From UK veterans the Cimarons came this bass-heavy tie-in with the Rock Against Racism movement, which became a staple of their gigs in the later 1970s when the popular fight against the National Front – fought hand in hand with many of punk rock’s leading lights - was in the ascendancy. It fades in a bit bizarrely and extremely slowly, so much so that you are very likely to think that your speakers or headphones have given up the ghost, but once you can hear it, “Willin’” morphs into a rewarding listen. We often find ourselves seguing it into Steel Pulse’s “Jah Pickney – R.A.R”, for hopefully obvious reasons.
Musical Youth “Political”
Musical Youth “Political”
Yes, them! This was on their first 7”, released on 021 records back in the days when they were labelmates with the Au Pairs and about to be picked up by John Peel (older readers will recall that within a year or so they were Number One in the ‘real’ charts). This line-up, when Frederick Waite snr was still on lead vocals as ‘token grown-up’, is the same one that recorded their first Radio One session for John Peel. “Political” is a captivating plea for employment - “We don’t want to be treated like pawns on a chess board / We want work” – that has very little in common with “Pass The Dutchie”, the song that would catapult them to fame, but I can guarantee you will not regret investigating it for a second.
Smiley Culture “Police Officer” (this is the 7” version, with the Reprobates’ “Participation Two” on the other side)
His sad (and, yes, “police related”) death inspired a great musical tribute from Joseph Cotton, and a truly atrocious one from Emily Capell, but his handful of cheeky chappy hit singles on Fashion Records in the 1980s – especially “Police Officer”, a true story about how Smiley evaded arrest after being flagged down under the infamous ‘sus’ law - filled us with happiness even then, and certainly do the same now. Annoyingly, however, it seems impossible to get hold of any of Smiley’s ‘product’ without scouring those secondhand racks – thankfully we’ve now sourced the 12s of this, his biggest hit, plus the great “Schooltime Chronicle” and “Cockney Translation”. A much-missed, and much underrated performer, Smiley came through the Saxon Sound System with Tippa Irie (another of our faves, and a later Fashion labelmate) back in the day.
Iganda “Slow Down”
This skilful, soothing yet modernist platter – it’s propelled along by a single booming bassline and punctuated by shards of ambient noise and vocal manipulation - comes from the flip of the very first 021 Records 7”, cased in a sleeve that looks more like a Ron Johnson record than anything this relaxingly powerful. So we’re rather hoping that Reggae Archive will be able to deliver the A-side, “Mark Of Slavery” (and the A-side of that Musical Youth single!) on a future Midlands Explosion volume… We’re also beginning to surmise that 021, named after the Birmingham dialling code at the time, is one of the best ‘lost’ labels ever.
Steel Pulse "Prodigal Son"
There is an amazing Top Of The Pops episode from 1978, frequently shown on BBC4, which starts with Buzzcocks doing "Love You More". You think it surely can't top that, but hey presto then you see Steel Pulse, performing their sole UK top 40 hit "Prodigal Son", from their seminal “Handsworth Revolution” album. “Prodigal Son”, which was also the first song on their first John Peel session earlier in the year, was the epitome of how roots could sound punchy and immediate, as well as being delectably laid-back. Mind you, as their albums go I think we may even prefer “Tribute To The Martyrs”, the follow-up to “Handsworth Revolution”, if that’s allowed. Steel Pulse were, over the course of those two long-players at least, the business.
A good overview, covering those LPs and more, is the new-ish Island compilation CD “Prodigal Sons”. Mind you, note that “The Midlands Roots Explosion”, if you somehow hadn’t already decided to buy it, features the rather gorgeous vocal and instrumental tracks from Steel Pulse’s very rare 1976 debut 7” on Concrete Jungle, “Kibudu-Mansatta-Abuku”: you won’t find *that* on many of their ‘greatest hits’.
Disc two: Justice Tonight
Mystic Foundation “Handsworth”
Secreted near the end of Handsworth Explosion volume two is this humdinger of a track from another glittering discovery, Mystic Foundation, decrying the ‘sus’ laws but celebrating “life in the ghetto”: it feels almost like a hymn of civil pride. In the aftermath of the Handsworth riots, the song is also very matter-of-fact about violent retaliation against racism. The Foundation were evidently a versatile bunch, as the three songs they have across the recent Reggae Archive re-releases are all rather different, yet equally accomplished.
Matumbi "Bluebeat & Ska"
The general view seems to be that Matumbi, formed in London, were the second largely UK-based reggae act, after the Cimarons but before Black Slate. They even had a dalliance with the UK top 40, with “Point Of View”. This infectious and melodic single, “Bluebeat & Ska”, while less heavy on the low frequencies than some of their ouevre, is incredibly pretty and affecting. Listening to it now, I'm always wanting to substitute its lyrics with, "whatever happened to / UK roots reggae..." An easy way in to Matumbi is probably their “Empire Road” ‘best of’.
Benjamin Zephaniah “Stop The War”
Inspirational as he’s undoubtedly been as a poet and statesman for his home city, we hadn’t found ourselves really tumbling for our Ben’s forays into music, even his first (and therefore presumably best) album “Rasta”, which we tracked down over the internet for a few quid. However, the sterling work of Reggae Archive means we now have his contributions to the two Black Symbol-curated Handsworth compilation LPs, “Unite Handsworth” and “Stop The War”, which are both *much* more like it. The war in question, in case you wondered, is the cold war, but as well as castigating Russia and the USA this is a much wider plea against nuclear proliferation.
Reggae Regular “Where Is Jah?”
A soulful, solid, seven from ’77 from Reggae Regular aka the Regulars aka the Reggae Regulars, now findable on i-Tunes via one of the Greensleeves compilations. In particular, this boasts some incredibly pretty ‘plinky plonk’ piano. The band apparently formed in south London, although for some reason I had always assumed they were from the Midlands…
Lion Youth "Three Million On The Dole"
It is not easy to find out too much about Lion Youth, whose "Love Comes And Goes" LP suggested him to be a tender crooner of lovers' rock, loosely in the style of Gregory Isaacs' "In Person". However, his "Rat A Cut Bottle" and "Three Million" singles and dubs, on the preposterously but fabulously named Virgo Stomach, are a little different, not to say very special. There is no mystery, however, as to what Lion Youth is railing against with this single: again though, there is a little mournful magic amidst the "doleful", sober tones. Should you want a vinyl copy of this and don’t want to get your fingers burned like we did, it’s worth noting that Juno Records (whom we'd highly recommend for techno and bass stuff too) have a re-issue of the 12” available for far less than you’d be charged on Berwick Street for a scratched-to-smithereens original.
Talisman "Dole Age (12” mix)"
Ten minutes of top-notch West Country roots. Bristol's marvellous Talisman released only two singles, all four tracks on which are exceptional. "Dole Age", released as a double A-side with the should-have-been-a-big-hit "Free Speech”, is a fully-realised, easy-paced rumination about poverty and boredom that then flits into a slinky dub section which also suggests they were not too fond of Mrs T ("Mrs Thatcher is a criminal... just get the woman out"). Little wonder it was an NME single of the week. There’s a Talisman compilation on Bristol Archive Records, also called “Dole Age”, which collects their singles and more, as well as making them labelmates with the Cortinas and er, Nautical William.
Zephaniah “The Music Business”
Firstly, this lot are nothing to do with Benjamin Zephaniah, as far as I can tell: they were “a band from Birmingham”, in the words of Mighty Mighty. This track, from vol. 1 of the Handsworth Explosion, is a lyrical precursor of Napalm’s “Enemy Of The Music Business” and Thrilled Skinny’s “Musik Biz Slime”: sentiment-wise, anyway. What it has that *they* don’t have is a beautiful, easy feel and a closing coda of blissed-out dub (also featuring a woodblock, a creaking door, and those things they always had in school music rooms where you scrape a wooden stick over some grooves). We prefer this even to the seemingly more feted “Free Man”, the group’s contribution to the Midlands Explosion comp.
Black Roots "Juvenile Delinquent"
Many of the bands on here got radio sessions, play and praise from John Peel, including their Bristolian contemporaries Talisman, but Black Roots were certainly amongst his favourites, and right at the centre of their city’s reggae scene. The “Juvenile Delinquent” single preys on those regular themes of disaffection, alienation and unemployment: again, the dubbier last minute or so is particularly thrilling. Black Roots hailed from the St.Paul’s area of Bristol, and it’s no coincidence that many of the groups mentioned in this post came from neighbourhoods that witnessed riots in the early 1980s: the lyrics amply demonstrate the poverty, tension and sheer frustration that was rampant in these ghettoised parts of inner cities at the time. NB Bristol Archive Records have a *truckload* of Black Roots re-issues on tap.
Capital Letters “Unemployed”
Flying the flag for unglamorous (even by West Midlands standards) Wolverhampton, Capital Letters threatened to get somewhere around the time of their “Headline News” album, and had a crossover-ish hit with “Smoking My Ganja”, which feels a bit like a novelty single in the face of some of their deeper outings. This song from the album shows them in more reflective mood: it’s mellow, if tinged with a melancholy that borders on desperation. Like “Juvenile Delinquent”, it’s also about the dangers and sadnesses of sheer boredom.
Sceptre “Living On Strong”
You may have worked out by now that the chances are, if you haven’t heard of a band on this list before, they were (a) from Handsworth – a neighbourhood which has somewhat bulldozed its way into our recent affections - and (b) bloody brilliant. Although the female-vocal led “Ancestors Calling”, the first song on the first Black Symbol Presents comp, has rightly accumulated plaudits, we love to give this one a spin too as it picks up on those quintessential themes of Armagideon and stopping the ‘fussing and fighting’. There's now a Sceptre CD on Reggae Archive, memorably called "Essence Of Redemption Ina Dif'rent Styley", which we're frankly going to have to purchase as soon as we've finished typing.
Poet & The Roots “Man Free (For Darcus Howe)”
An early pseudonym for Linton Kwesi Johnson (yes, and with Dennis Bovell at the studio controls), Poet & the Roots released a tremendous if claustrophobic one-off album on Virgin, “Dread Beat an’ Blood”, from which this is taken, a record which directly and uncompromisingly addressed the injustices being inflicted on the black community in our capital city at that time. It’s also renowned as the album (well, one of them) that predicted the Brixton riots.
Black Knight “Feeling”
Black Knight (yep – of Handsworth) came across as a little too gooey and lovelorn on their first Handsworth Explosion contribution, “Let’s Make Up”, but this one more than makes amends as it contemplates what might make the youth turn to crime. It’s also the final tune on the second and last Explosion. We’re going to get in trouble for saying this, but these Handsworth Explosion sets remind us a little of the Subway or even Airspace vinyl LP comps that helped define a (Bristol-centred) indie-pop scene later in the 1980s. But’s not going too far, we think, to see them as a loose equivalent…
Misty In Roots "Poor And Needy"
We’re determined this fantasy compilation finishes as strongly as humanly possible. So…
We’re determined this fantasy compilation finishes as strongly as humanly possible. So…
Oh, Misty. If like us you only “properly” realized their worth in the 21st century, it seems ridiculously hard to find their stuff, unless you’re willing to pay sky-high prices… but over the last few years we have at least tracked down a clutch of the 12”s issued on their own People Unite label (People Unite Musicians’ Collective, to give it its full name), which we adore despite the fact that they hop, skip and jump, and the bass sounds like a foghorn through our stereo…
Less "agit" than some of their contemporaries, Misty remain perhaps the greatest of the UK roots bands, and certainly, along with Steel Pulse, those most closely identified with the punk / roots crossover of the time. Indeed, between them Steel Pulse and Misty recorded 14 Peel Sessions, which made them the darlings of plenty a late night radio listener, casting their spell way beyond a narrow ‘roots’ audience. If you don’t fancy shelling out hundreds of pounds for various long-deleted CDs your best bet is to see if you can still find their “Roots Controller” set from 2001-ish, which includes a limited and fairly random bonus selection of their 1978-1983 outings (our favourite may be the sublime “Ireation”) but doesn’t have any of their wondrous singles (this eleven minute 12” A side marathon of “Poor And Needy”, the magical “Peace & Love”, the sparkling double-header of “Wandering Wanderer”/”Cry Out For Peace” or the remarkably jaunty Peel Session favourite “Own Them, Control Them”).
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That’s it. We *know* that we’re just scratching the surface, and we *know* that we’ve a hell of a lot to learn. We’re total ingénues in this genre. But that’s perhaps the most exciting thing, being aware that we’ve 40 years of catching up to do, and that even this deluge of stunning songsmithery, political anger and of spiritual artistry is just… the tip of the iceberg.
