I only have his debut Dread Beat an' Blood. Normally this type of dub-poet stuff doesn't do much for me, but Dread Beat is intoxicating musically -- and one of the few albums that successfully creates an air of political menace. Does he have better albums? Is everything downhill since Dread Beat? And most important of all, is Kwesi spelled with a K or a Q?
― medelman, Friday, 6 August 2010 08:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
Forces of Victory and LKJ in Dub are both great, Bass Culture less so but still good. lost track after that.
― nerve_pylon, Friday, 6 August 2010 10:23 (2 years ago) Permalink
With a K. I have a few LKJ albums - Dread, Forces of Victory, Bass Culture, Making History - and there's not a massive amount of variety but they're all good. Most of the best stuff is on the 33-track Independant Intravenshan: The Island Anthology, along with dub versions. Depending on how much you know about the political context, it's worth googling stuff like the death of Blair Peach and the New Cross fire because some of the songs are very specific and topical in the reggae tradition of music being "the ghetto's newspaper".
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 6 August 2010 10:32 (2 years ago) Permalink
(xp) Aw, Bass Culture is possibly my favourite! But if you're after "political menace" then Forces of Victory or Making History are probably better picks.
― rah rah rah wd smash the oiks (a passing spacecadet), Friday, 6 August 2010 10:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
love this guy, maybe my favorite reggae artist. there are some great live shows floating around on Dimeadozen and the like, I recommend those as well as the LPs mentioned upthread. He has a live 2LP but I've never even seen it.
― bug holocaust (sleeve), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
^is real good. i have it.
― Quo riff just isn't a suitable vehicle for interplanetary exploration (Ioannis), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:54 (2 years ago) Permalink
Making History is one of those albums that sounds good at any time of day; you can drop it into any sequence.
― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
also: Tings an' Times is super grate.
― Quo riff just isn't a suitable vehicle for interplanetary exploration (Ioannis), Friday, 6 August 2010 13:57 (2 years ago) Permalink
Dread Beat is intoxicating musically
Maybe you already know about him, but you should check out some Dennis Bovell then. The Pressure Sounds comp "Decibel" has a lots of good stuff on it.
― elephant rob, Friday, 6 August 2010 16:02 (2 years ago) Permalink
Classic, of course.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Friday, 6 August 2010 16:10 (2 years ago) Permalink
Tings an' Times is super grate.
hell yeah! my fave reggae disc of the 1990's.co-inky: was just gettin' ready to put on In Concert (from 1988).
also, beg to differ a little w/Dorianlynskey's re: "not a lot of variety" comment. Making History sounds hardly anything like DB&B for example
― ....some kind of psychedelic wallflower (outdoor_miner), Friday, 6 August 2010 16:11 (2 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, I'll retract that - I was dashing that first post off from memory, and because I've listened to a lot of it out of sequence I underrated the differences in production as Dennis Bovell came more to the fore. I think LKJ produced Dread on his own.
― Haunted Clocks For Sale (Dorianlynskey), Friday, 6 August 2010 16:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
Is he still a visiting professor at Middlesex University?
― Henry's Hepcat (admrl), Saturday, 14 August 2010 22:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
I was wondering what he is up to these days. My quickie google search did not show any change since he got to Middlesex. Has anybody seen that 2004 (I think) dvd? I wonder how it is.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 August 2010 17:18 (2 years ago) Permalink
total classic
― gross rainbow of haerosmith (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 15 August 2010 20:21 (2 years ago) Permalink
I love getting the lyrics book out and reading them to myself.
Bass Culture is far and away my favourite LKJ album. D B and B is great, too, but Bass Culture was the one that made me question where poetry stops and music begins. I think those words sound like reggae even before he starts singing/reciting them.
― Daniel Giraffe, Monday, 16 August 2010 08:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
― meisenfek, Monday, 23 April 2012 03:36 (1 year ago) Permalink