“Urgh! A Music War is a 1982 British film featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the film are Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Magazine, The Go-Go’s, Toyah Willcox, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, X, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, Wall of Voodoo, Pere Ubu, Steel Pulse, Surf Punks, 999, The Alley Cats, UB40, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Police. These were many of the most popular groups on the New Wave scene; in keeping with the spirit of the scene, the film also features several less famous acts, and one completely obscure group, Invisible Sex, in what appears to be their only public performance. …”
Wikipedia
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Urgh! A Music War 26 videos
Tag: Reggae
Junior Byles – 129 Beat Street: Ja-Man Special 1975-1978
“A collection of four Junior Byles tracks from his post-Lee “Scratch” Perry era and seven tracks from lesser-known artists like Rupert Reid, Pablo Moses and others, 129 Beat Street highlights some of the best cuts from the little-known House of Music studio operated by Dudley ‘Manzie’ Swaby and Leroy ‘Bunny’ Hollett. In addition to that unifying theme, all the classic roots tracks are held together by thumping bass, exquisite singing and strongly conscious Rastafarian messages. While most of the reggae from the same era came from such big name studios as Black Ark and Studio One, this compilation demonstrates that the supply of talent in Jamaica was extremely pervasive, as is clearly evident on standout tracks like ‘Chant Down Babylon,’ ‘See the Dread Deh’ and ‘Remember Me.'”
allmusic
W – Junior Byles
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Dave Robinson – My Homeland, Junior Byles & Rupert Reid + Ja-Man All Stars – Chant Down Babylon, Rupert Reid – See The Dread Deh, bim sherman – mighty ruler
Hugh Mundell – Africa Must Be Free by 1983 / Africa Must Be Free by 1983 Dub (1976/78)
“The teenaged Hugh Mundell cut Africa Must Be Free by 1983 under the tutelage of the legendary producer Augustus Pablo in the mid-’70s, and had a Jamaican hit with the title track. Mundell‘s artlessly fervent singing is attractive far out of proportion to his technical skill. It’s the sincerity and devotion in his voice that make successes of songs like ‘Let’s All Unite’ and ‘My Mind’ — that and the rock-solid instrumental backing of Pablo‘s studio band, which at this time included bassist and trombonist Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace and guitarists Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and Jeffrey Chung. The CD issue of this album includes dub versions of six of the original album’s eight tracks, as well as several other miscellaneous dub tracks. Like too many of Jamaica’s best reggae musicians, Mundell died young — in an almost creepy irony (given the title of his hit song), he was shot and killed in 1983 at the age of 21. ”
allmusic (Audio)
W – Hugh Mundell
Discogs (Video)
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YouTube: Africa Must Be Free (full album)
Earth & Stone – Kool Roots: The Classic 1977-79
“Albert Bailey and Clifton Howell were an obscure vocal duo who cut several Jamaican hit singles for Channel One producer JoJo Hookim under the name Earth & Stone in the mid-1970s. Kool Roots, which compiles most of the group’s Channel One output, was originally released in 1978 as a double album (standard vocal mixes on one LP, dub versions on the other) in a gatefold sleeve — an almost unheard-of packaging extravagance for a reggae act at the time. Little more is known about the duo, and they dropped from sight after Kool Roots was released. But the haunting single ‘In Time to Come’ has endured, and this reissue, which combines both LPs on a single CD, shows that Earth & Stone was capable of producing consistently high-quality material. Bailey and Howell’s sweet harmonies are the main attraction, but a good portion of the credit for this album’s success must also go to the Revolutionaries, Channel One’s crack house band. …”
Holland Tunnel Dive
Discogs
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YouTube: Earth & Stone – Kool Roots – 1978 (Full LP) 1:06:16
Black Roots – Sugar Minott (1979)
“Black Roots is a 1979 album by Sugar Minott. It was the first to appear on Minott’s Black Roots label, and was described in the book Reggae: 100 Essential CDs – The Rough Guide as a ‘classic, which catches the singer on the cusp of the roots and dancehall phases, and with total control over his music.’ The album includes contributions from some of Jamaica’s top session musicians including Leroy ‘Horsemouth’ Wallace, Noel ‘Scully’ Simms, Eric ‘Bingy Bunny’ Lamont, Gladstone Anderson and Ansell Collins, with harmony vocals provided by Don Carlos, Lacksley Castell and Ashanti Waugh. Two of the tracks on the album had previously been issued as singles – ‘Hard Time Pressure’ and ‘River Jordan’. The album was described by Dave Thompson in his book Reggae & Caribbean Music as a ‘deeply dread collection…time has bestowed a stately uniqueness to it’. Alex Henderson, writing for AllMusic, said of the album: ‘If you combined Stax’s raw production style with the type of sweetness that characterized a lot of Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia soul and added a reggae beat, the outcome might sound something like Black Roots.’ …”
Wikipedia
Guardian
amazon, iTubes
YouTube: Black Roots 28:49
Junior Murvin – Police & Thieves (1977)
“This is one of those albums that winds up on just about every list of essential reggae recordings, and with good reason. Like Max Romeo‘s War Ina Babylon (which is equally essential, and can be considered a companion to this one), it was recorded under the auspices of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry at his legendary Black Ark studio, and is saturated with Perry‘s trademark dense, murky sound. Junior Murvin sings in a fierce and beautiful falsetto, a voice which lends a unique weight to such dark masterpieces as ‘Lucifer,’ ‘Roots Train,’ and the title track (which was later recorded by the Clash). Perry surrounds Murvin‘s voice with great washes of echo and reverb and keeps the tempos slow and intense, giving the album an almost Biblical feel. Ignore the goofy album art on some issues — there is nothing lighthearted about any of these songs, nor is there a single wrong note or misplaced effect. There may be eight or ten perfect reggae albums in existence, and this is certainly one of them.”
allmusic (Audio)
W – Police and Thieves (album)
Guardian: Junior Murvin has died but the story of Police and Thieves lives on
Genius (Audio)
amazon
YouTube: Police & Thieves Full Album 38:57
Two Sevens Clash – Culture (1976)
“One of the masterpieces of the roots era, no album better defines its time and place than Two Sevens Clash, which encompasses both the religious fervor of its day and the rich sounds of contemporary Jamaica. Avowed Rastafarians, Culture had formed in 1976, and cut two singles before beginning work on their debut album with producers the Mighty Two (aka Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson). Their second single, ‘Two Sevens Clash,’ would title the album and provide its focal point. The song swept across the island like a wildfire, its power fed by the apocalyptic fever that held the island in its clutches throughout late 1976 and into 1977. (Rastafarians believed the apocalypse would begin when the two sevens clashed, with July 7, 1977, when the four sevens clashed, the most fearsome date of concern.) However, the song itself was fearless, celebrating the impending apocalypse, while simultaneously reminding listeners of a series of prophesies by Marcus Garvey and twinning them to the island’s current state. For those of true faith, the end of the world did not spell doom, but release from the misery of life into the eternal and heavenly arms of Jah. Thus, Clash is filled with a sense of joy mixed with deep spirituality, and a belief that historical injustice was soon to be righted. …”
allmusic
W – Two Sevens Clash
Discogs (Video)
Genius (Audio)
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YouTube: Two Sevens Clash 1977 FULL ALBUM
Equal Rights – Peter Tosh (1977)
“Equal Rights was to be the album that propelled Peter Tosh to the top of the reggae world — the rival to onetime fellow Wailer Bob Marley. Time has shown that this lofty aspiration was not borne out, but Equal Rights remains among the handful of best, and most influential, reggae albums ever recorded. Tosh was always the most militant of the original Wailers and this album reflects that outlook. Whether it is preaching about the unity of the African diaspora (‘African’), protesting conditions in South Africa (‘Apartheid’), or giving a more general call to arms (‘Get Up, Stand Up’), Equal Rights is a political album. This is at times crippling, as some tracks are more effective as political statements than they are as songs. This, in fact, is a primary difference between Tosh and Marley — Marley‘s political statements never overwhelmed his songs. Unfortunately, this is not always the case with Tosh. That being said, ‘Downpresser Man’ (based on a folk standard), ‘Stepping Razor,’ and his definitive version of ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ are as good a trio of songs as you will find on any album, reggae or not. Tosh‘s singing is angry and forceful and the music is intricate and distinctive. On these three tracks you can see why people thought that Tosh could become a transcendent international star. The rest of the album, however, shows why he never quite lived up to that potential.”
allmusic
W – Equal Rights
amazon
YouTube: Equal Rights, Steppin’ Razor
YouTube: EQUAL RIGHTS [1977 FULL ALBUM]
Punk Scrawled Artist 