Occasional Albums Thing 030 - Various Artists “The Midlands Roots Explosion Volume(s) One & Two”

Back in the halcyon days of 1977…hey! I was 14 going on 15, having the time of my life and we discovered Punk Rock, they were great days for us…not only did we discover Punk but hand in hand with that came, mostly via my friend Howard, a growing appreciation of Roots Reggae. Artists like Bob Marley (of course) but also Prince Far I, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear and others. The Midlands (from whence we hail if you weren’t aware), both East and West, had long standing West Indian communities as did other areas across Britain, and of course the kids from those communities picked up on the music making its way here from Jamaica and wanted to make it for themselves. So we started to see the rise of British Reggae bands such as Aswad, Matumbi, Misty In Roots and from our own neck of the woods Afrikan Star and Handsworth’s mighty Steel Pulse.

The music they made was every bit as rebellious as the Punk Rockers they were, in many cases, playing gigs alongside, but you could dance to it. The better known bands listed above were followed by a raft of others who never reached the same heights and these two superb 2xLP compilations collect together the story of those other bands. Side 1 of Volume 1 kicks of in fine style with both sides of Steel Pulse’s 1976 independent debut single “Kibudu-Mansatta-Abuku” and “Mansatta (Instrumental)”, a £200 rarity these days. That Steel Pulse sound is there, right from day one. The song compares the situation British black youth find themselves in with the dream of an African homeland.

Other Brummie highlights include Musical Youth’s “Political”, this ain’t no “Pass The Dutchie” with lyrics like “I am not political, I am not a militant, I am just a working man”, the youth of the day may have been under heavy manners but Musical Youth sound much more grown up here; the late, great Benjamin Zephaniah’s “Unite Handsworth” and one that was new to me, Carnastoan (say it in a Jamaican accent and it makes sense) and “Mr Workhard” whose b-side, “Sweet Melody” with it’s chant of “Reggae can never die”, appears on Volume Two. Iganda were on Brum’s 021 Records (alongside the Au Pairs and Musical Youth) so I’m guessing they were also from Birmingham. Their contribution “Slow Down” is a bass heavy slow burner whose timing really throws you off. Its flip side “Mark Of Slavery” is included on Volume Two. Outside of Brum Leicester’s Groundation and their single “Fa-Ward” is quite superb, a driving slab of positivity firmly in the Steel Pulse mould. It’s included here in its “Version” also.

These two collections house some very valuable records. As we already noted an original Steel Pulse debut single is 3 figures now; Iganda’s lone single, both sides of which feature across these two volumes, would cost you around £150; Natural Mystique, Linton Haughton, Black Symbol and Groundation singles would all set you back around £50 each with African Star’s debut at not much less. So although these two albums themselves are selling for around £40-50 each these days they are almost a bargain when you add up the individual tracks contained within.

Both collections are beautifully presented with extensive sleeve notes and the cover pictures would have been enough to entice me in without hearing a note of what’s inside. The picture on Volume One I’m told was taken at a Youth Club in Wolverhampton. If you read my piece about the Eagles a couple months back (here  https://www.whiterabbitrecords.co.uk/wrrb/like-having-your-brains-smashed-out-by-a-slice-of-lemonwrapped-round-a-large-gold-brick ) where I went off on a tangent while droning on about Coomber audio equipment for schools, well that record player on the cover is the type of thing I was on about. I’d love to know what the two girls on the front of Volume Two were dancing to cos by the look of their moves it was great ! (Read more about that picture here https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/28/chris-steele-perkins-my-best-shot-wolverhampton-reggae-club)

My love of Reggae comes from exactly this period, the late 70’s and very early 80’s. We were woken up to it via the London Punks connection, thanks to Don Letts and his record collection at the Roxy Club, and Virgin’s Front Line compilation and label. We were hearing the same things incoming from Jamaica as the West Indian communities in the Midlands and while we went on to make shouty Punk Rock the Black kids wanted to play Reggae, both equally rebellious styles, and these two comps are the results. They are both absolute treasures.

Steel Pulse “Kibudu-Mansatta-Abuku” - https://youtu.be/UfuPOunm83k?si=2DULMGKy42QlYib8