One Third of a Holy Trinity...

Occasional Albums Thing 085 - Max Romeo & The Upsetters “War Ina Babylon”

Following Millie Small’s worldwide hit “My Boy Lollipop” in 1964 the floodgates opened for Reggae music, particularly in the UK. There was already a large Jamaican/West Indian population in Britain and they naturally wanted to hear the music from home. In the latter part of the 60’s the original Skinhead movement took to Reggae and this saw a golden period for Jamaican and Reggae artists with UK hits for Prince Buster (“Al Capone” #18), Desmond Dekker & The Aces (“The Israelites” #1, “007 (Shanty Town)” #14, “It Mek” #7), The Pioneers (“Long Shot (Kick de Bucket)" #21) and many, many more, too many to list here.

In 1968 a young man from the countryside of Jamaica who had moved to Kingston to become a singer had his first hit. Maxwell Smith changed his name to Max Romeo and had a top 10 UK hit with a song the BBC were never going to play and banned immediately. “Wet Dream” stayed on the UK chart for 6 months, peaking at #10 despite its uproariously lewd lyrics…

Every night me go to sleep, Me have wet dream…
Lie down gal, make me push it up, push it up, lie down…

Max claimed it was about his leaking roof, but nobody was buying that ! In 1970 Max returned to Jamaica and set out making a more politically charged music supporting the democratic socialist People's National Party (PNP led by Michael Manley). In 1975 he began working with producer and all round warped genius Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and a year later in conjunction with Scratch’s musicians of choice, The Upsetters, Max Romeo released “War Ina Babylon” on Island Records. 

Sadly the individual musicians aren’t listed in the credits but The Upsetters would certainly have included Boris Gardiner (remember “I Wanna Wake Up With You” ?) on bass, the great Sly Dunbar on drums and Earl “Chinna” Smith plus Marcia Griffiths (of Bob & Marcia fame), members of Bob Marley’s Wailers and I Three’s backing vocalists respectively.

I don’t recall exactly when I first heard “War Ina Babylon” but I do know that on first hearing I recognised it as an immense album. With a singer as good as Romeo + ‘Scratch’ Perry + The Upsetters I think it’s very possible that 1970’s Roots Reggae never got any better than this. Placed alongside The Heptones' “Party Time” and Junior Murvin's “Police and Thieves”, “War Ina Babylon” makes up one third of what is known as ‘Scratch’ Perry’s Black Ark Studio produced "holy trinity". 

It begins with the high stepping, bass heavy “One Step Forward”. Although Romeo had been a supporter of Manley’s PNP this is a brutal condemnation of how ineffective the PNP had become at the expense of the sufferah underclass 

Are you a con man, or are you a dreadlocks, eh?
One step forward, two steps backward, Down inna Babylon

“Uptown Babies Don’t Cry” is one of my favourites, a simple juxtaposition of the life of poor children in the verses (kids selling ice pops and newspapers on the street (“He is doing it you see, To help his mummy pay the fee, For little junior to go to school”) up against the life of the uptown babies (who don’t cry as ”They don't know what suffering is like“) all set against a sun soaked groove. That’s followed by a slice of Rastaman righteousness in “I Chase The Devil”. Maxie begins by proclaiming “Lucifer son of the morning/ I’m gonna chase you out of Eart’ !” before telling how the Devil “Him haffi drop him fork and run, Him can't stand up to Jah Jah son”.

The strident title track had been issued as a single before the albums release but at first titled “Sipple Out Deh”, echoing the lyrical hook in the song (“It sipple out deh” i.e. it’s slippery out there, dangerous). It is one of the greatest cuts in all of 70’s Roots Reggae, standing shoulder to shoulder with Marley’s “Exodus”, Junior Murvin’s “Police And Thieves”, Culture’s “Two 7’s Clash” among other greats. The single repositioned Romeo from being a former salacious Rocksteady singer into the realms of serious agitator and protest singer.

In honesty Side 2 , although being great, doesn’t quite reach the majestic heights of Side 1. “Norman” tells of a gangster (c’mon, he’s a pimp !) who drives around in a flash car with girls and money all around. Side 2’s highlight is “Stealing In the Name Of Jah”, a song that is credited to Max Romeo but is a song/style I’ve heard by many a soul singer as “Stealing In The Name Of The Lord” (check out Paul Kelly’s version from 1970 ). “Tan And See” is a sultry, dubby groove. “Smokey Room” is in praise of de riddim (“You feel the riddim? (“you feel the riddim?), You like the riddim? (you like the riddim?)”) and the weed while “Smile Out A Style” is a good old dance tune with a  message and a guitar riff that harks back to a simpler 60’s style.

The sound of “Scratch” Perry’s famous Black Ark Studio is held in these grooves. Black Ark was equal parts mad audio laboratory and Rastafarian community centre (Perry lowered the height of the studio door and posted a picture of Haile Selassie above it, making everyone who entered bow down to His Imperial Majesty). “Scratch” would bounce numerous recorded tracks down onto a single track leaving him more room to add layers and layers of sound creating a Rastaman take on Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound in a graffitied shack in a Kingston suburb. In a bizarre incident in 1979 Perry set fire to his legendary workspace and it was gone.

This 2025 Golden Sunshine coloured vinyl re-issue is very welcome as a 1976 original copy will set you back 3 figures these days. The singer is fantastic, the musicians are the best Jamaica had to offer and the producer was a mad genius. “War Ina Babylon” is certainly one of the greatest Reggae albums of the 1970’s, Hell I’d posit it’s one of the greatest albums of the ’70’s, period !

War Ina Babylon - https://youtu.be/oGYFobPWmck?si=v8xBUujX1DCb8Rhq