Search - Various Artists :: Blood & Fire All Stars: Singerman

Essential, umissable, 5 stars

Red Eyes | 05/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"


This is a near perfect introduction to some of the strongest reggae vocal tracks laid on vinyl from the mid to late 70's -- classic Roots Rockers militancy from start to finish.



And at the staggeringly low price -- how could you refuse it?



The album opens confidently, with a paradoxically languid , feverish swagger -- Max Romeo striding into "Fire Fe the Vatican", a further cut to "War in A Babylon", Black Ark style.



Everything is here for the serious reggae listener -- from the hard, hard dubwise Shaka workouts like Johnny Clarke's "Every Knee Shall Bow", Black Uhuru's " Rent Man" and Linvall Thompson" Jah Jah the Conqueror" to spiritual lyrics of deep insight such as Junior Byles "Remember Me", dealing as it does with Gnostic themes of reaching to the other shore, attaining the deathless and deliverance.



Dennis Brown weighs in heavily with his version of "Man Next Door" with its lyric of inner city isolation and frustration, stuck in substandard dwellings, trying to bring up a family with some sense of dignity. Horace Andy matches that sense of frustration with "Problems", replete with an icy keyboard sweep from Augustus Pablo.



Blood and Fire music is a thing of beauty we should still feel privileged to hear, and one shouldn't forget -- prior to re release,these tracks were extremely difficult and costly to get hold of,mostly only available as long deleted, hard to find 12" vinyl discs out of JA.



Without any concessions to trite cliche or sentimentality -- the vocalists and lyrics here reflect a deep yearning for peace of mind and body,and in places act as a set of meditations on rejection of worldly snares and attachments, the insights inviting the listener to deeper self knowledge."