Occasional Albums Thing 052 - Various Artists “The Front Line II”

We covered the first issue of Virgin Records Front Line compilations way back in April (here https://www.whiterabbitrecords.co.uk/wrrb/just-at-the-right-time) and it had, upon its release, quite an influence on a group of scrawny little Punk Rockers. Until 2022 I had absolutely no idea there was a Volume II of “The Front Line”. Just before Xmas that year I bought a record collection here in Shrewsbury and there, among said collection, was Volume II. Seemingly released about a year after the original compilation, it was never, 40+ years later, going to have the effect on me that first Volume had, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I had to have it and there is some wonderful stuff within.

Now I say Volume II was released a year or so after the first comp but I’ve still never been entirely sure when that was….maybe until now. If you look back at my post about the first “Front Line” collection you’ll see there’s some confusion about when it was released. I say in that first Blog post “I remember “The Front Line” entering our world at Xmas (it may have been 1977 but I fancy it was 1978)”. Now, we know that John Lydon was involved in the birth of the first volume, having been sent to Jamaica by Virgin Records after the Pistols split at the end of 1977 to find new music for the label. Well I’ve recently read Don Lett’s book “There And Black Again” and there’s a whole chapter in that book about that trip to JA because Don accompanied Mr.Rotten, and at the very end of that chapter Don tells us they returned to London at the end of March 1978. I am therefore nailing my colours to the mast and saying the first comp was released in 1978 with this second edition following the next year.

The great names are included again, The Gladiators, Prince Far I, Culture, Big Youth and I-Roy. On this volume those greats are interspersed with some newer names to me, U-Brown, Prince Hammer, Ranking Trevor and Jah Lloyd alongside others I came to know after the first edition, Tapper Zukie, The Twinkle Brothers, Althea & Donna plus the UK’s mighty Poet & The Roots (a.k.a. Linton Kwesi Johnson).

The album opens with the joyous sound of The Gladiators “Jah Works”, Albert Griffiths vocals now instantly recognisable to me. U-Brown’s “Natty Dread Upon A Mountain Top” is a classic bit of I/U-Roy style toasting. The Twinkle Brothers formed the year I was born and are still going strong. Their “I Love You So” is a rootsy take on a straight love song.

Sly Dunbar’s (almost) instrumental “Mr Bassie” is significant as it was Sly’s drumming that kicked off the Front Line series with him being the drummer on the Mighty Diamonds “Right Time”, track 1 side 1 on Volume 1. I gotta admit Prince Hammer’s vocal style is an acquired taste (!) and if all you know by Althea & Donna is “Uptown Top Ranking” then their self penned  “Make A Truce” shows there was more to them than that one hit.

The highlight of the whole collection is without question Poet & The Roots incredible “Dread, Beat An’ Blood”, a booming tale of music, ganja and violence at a Blues party that kicks off side 2 (which I talked about in more detail here https://www.whiterabbitrecords.co.uk/blog/read_204817/2023-albums-thing-202-linton-kwesi-johnson-dread-beat-an-blood.html) and if you have any interest in British Reggae the album to which this song lends its title is an album you need to hear. 

Ranking Trevor and Jah Lloyd were new names to me…Trevor  works in a Big Youth Toasting rub-a-dub stylee. Lloyd closes out side two with a 2 minute rap on Dillinger’s “Cocaine In My Brain”.

In-between those two there’s a run of 4 tracks on side 2 by Culture (“Even if your sin be as small as a mustard seed, That sin cannot go to Zion, oh no”), Tapper Zukie, Big Youth (“Unity, love and strength, United we can never fall”) and I-Roy (“Jordan River” being a take on “Rivers Of Babylon”…yes THAT “Rivers Of Babylon” !) that perfectly encapsulate the power and beauty of 70’s Jamaican Roots Reggae. From Rastafarian devotion to political ire, it’s all covered in those 4 tracks, beautiful harmonising to righteous toasting all set to an infectious backbeat.

This collection isn’t quite the bolt outta nowhere that the first volume was but it’s still a very cool collection of some top drawer Reggae. I’ve also now discovered that the label released “The Front Line III” in late 1979 (there’s a “Beyond The Front Line” too from 1990, sadly CD only)…look out for my next Blog post !

Culture “Holy Mount Zion” - https://youtu.be/MZVO5hywFLA?si=x3XOYNUXy9McyPCB