Monday, April 1, 2002

a c h t r a x x: Reggae With You

BU a c h t r a x x: Reggae With You
The most successful of the second-generation reggae bands, Black Uhuru maintained their high quality despite numerous personnel changes in their 16-year history. The first reggae band to win a Grammy award, for their 1983 album Anthem, Black Uhuru was, according to Reggae: The Rough Guide, "The most active and progressive reggae act of the seventies and early '80s." ...

Read the complete life by Craig Harris...



Black Uhuru - Brutal (1986)

BUB2 a c h t r a x x: Reggae With You
Tracklisting:

A1 Let Us Pray
A2 Dread In The Mountain
A3 Brutal
A4 City Vibes
A5 Fit You Haffe Fit

B1 Great Train Robbery
B2 Uptown Girl
B3 Vision
B4 Reggae With You
B5 Conviction Or A Fine

"Brutal," Black Uhuru sing on the album's title track, "the solid universe is brutal." And so it must have seemed to Duckie Simpson and Puma Jones in 1985. The old year, the group had won a Grammy for their album Anthem, but they'd crashed from such dizzying heights in a thing of months. The couple were remaining in the pitch when founding member and main song writer Michael Rose quit to pursue his solo career, and their kinship with Island Records came to an equally unsatisfactory conclusion. Regrouping, the duo brought in Junior Reid, a bit of synchronicity, as the singer had often worked in the past with Don Carlos, himself a founding member of Uhuru. More telling, however, was Reid's last project, Worry Struggle & Problem, a leash that also included Sugar Minott. Reid would take an unexpected dancehall feel to the roots masters. Signing to RAS, and with Sly & Robbie and a party's worth of other musicians in tow, the three set to function on the Doctor Dread-produced Brutal. Sadly, it's the product that lets down, and although Dread did his best to retake the Taxi sound so integral to the group's previous albums, the better he can create is a variety of Taxi-lite. Producer Arthur Baker, in contrast, brought his own trademark sound to "Great Train Robbery," a masterpiece of beats, screaming guitar solos, and electronic wizardry wrapped round a stunning new wave arrangement. ...

Read the complete review by Jo-Ann Greene...

BUB1 a c h t r a x x: Reggae With You

Enjoy it on the vinyl-player...

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