The only reggae album I can stand is "Heart of the Congos"

Seconded - it's just so heavy & enjoyable & catchy. I'd also recommend Alpha Blondy's Apartheid is Nazism.

Mr Cool is the choicest cut, but the album has melodies and rootsy ease in abundance. It was released on Carib gems, and is on CD if you can find it.

Cybele is largely right, HOTC is pretty much an outlier among vocal harmony groups, Lee Perry productions and the entire history of music as we know it. But I still wouldn't stop there.

+

Sinsemilla ~ Black Uhuru
East of the River Nile ~ Augustus Pablo

Vg

1. Wailing Souls, "War"
2. The Mighty Diamonds, "Right Time"
3. Black Uhuru, "I Love King Selassie"
4. Israel Vibration, "The Same Song"
5. The Itals, "Ina Dis Ya Time"
6. Culture, "Revelation Time"
7. The Meditations, "Tricked"
8. Yabby You & The Prophets, "Deliver Me From My Enemies"
9. Royals, "Promised Land"
10. The Congos, "Fisherman"
11. Gladiators, "Bongo Red"
12. The Melodians, "Stop Your Gang War"
13. The Heptones, "Jah Bless The Children"
14. Twinkle Brothers, "Here In Zion"

WONDERFUL album

Found Burning Spear a bit boring, to be honest... altho' Jah No Dead is pretty spine tingling.

also if you wanna try some Modern Roots
Sizzla - Black Woman & Child is a great starter

but wait. what have you heard that you can't stand?

No, I have never considered that. My slightly provocative exaggeration was intended to produce discussion and recommendations. Which it did. Don't get all serious on me. I'm thrilled to go through these.

i'm repeating myself slightly...but BURNING SPEAR-MARCUS GARVEY is an amazing album..and you can get it with its dub companion GARVEY's GHOST all one 1 CD ..and it's MID PRICE so cheap as.
it's always the first thing I recommend people that want to move on from BOB

Don't know if this person still posts, but three years later it would be interesting to see what he actually checked out and liked. There's a few albums I rate higher than this, but as a follow-up experience to Congos I'd suggest:

Cedric Im Brooks - The Light Of Saba (Total Sounds) 76

Out of print, but most of it is included on the excellent Honest Jon's compilation. It shares much of the Nyabinghi influence with the Congos, but more. I wrote:

What if Sun Ra were dubwise? Fela Kuti a rasta? Curtis Mayfield, well, Curtis influenced countless Jamaican artists already...Who knew Sir Coxsone Dodd (RIP) had harbored such an adventurous spirit all those years? Since the early 60s, Brooks was one of Jamaica's premier instrumentalists, playing on many of Sir Coxsone Dodd's Studio One hits. His passion for jazz and African rhythms led him to Rastafarian drummer Count Ossie, with whom he formed Count Ossie And His Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari.

At the end of the decade Brooks went to Philadelphia to go to music college. He ended up meeting saxophonist Sonny Rollins and Sun Ra. Ra's communal-based approach of living and practicing together was not a far stretch from the dreads at home, and he was on the verge of joining the band when the birth of his daughter called him back.

He formed The Light Of Saba, and recorded four albums in the seventies that built upon The Mystic Revelation's brass and nyabinghi Rasta hand drumming, adding reggae guitars, dub effects, his own sax and wooden flute, and a wide variety of rhythms, from local Mento/calypso/rocksteady/reggae to Cuban, American funk and African burru, poco and kumina. Like Fela Kuti, he started with his native culture and expanded the influences to create something new and truly ahead of its time.

Honest Jons pulled 19 tracks from the four albums and 7" singles and released it last fall. It sounds incredible. The bass is deep, and the sound surpasses any of the early 70s reggae remasters I've heard lately. The instrumentals are hypnotic, there's occasional shouts and chanting that preclude African Head Charge, and even some soulful Curtis Mayfield inspired singing. Brooks went on to play with the Congos and the Skatalites. I'd say a reunion of this group is in order. Let's hope the full albums see the light of day too.

More:

Keith Hudson - Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood (Mamba/Atra) 74
The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari - Tales Of Mozambique (Dynamic) 75
Ijahman - Haile I Hymn (Mango/Jahmani) 78

I still can't work out what makes this record so entrancing. I've had it for years and all I know is that when I put it on it gives me the tingles. Rain or shine, it always transports me to much warmer climes. Perry is definitely at the top of his game - there are no dubbed-out indulgences - Congoman's robotic intro notwithstanding - just a dusty shimmery presence felt all through the record. But the production would be nothing without Cedric Myton and Ashanti Roydel Johnson's impeccable voices - the Beach Boys of reggae - those sunny falsetto harmonies capturing rural life in the West Indies in the same way Brian and co evoked the idylls of sixties California. And then there's the band's namesake - those drums - perhaps the first time the Nyabinghi style was brought to such prominence on record? I'm not sure - but this is certainly the best roots album, possibly the best Jamaican album of all time.

"perhaps the first time the Nyabinghi style was brought to such prominence on record"

There are quite a few 70s nyabinghi records (including a Ras Michael one produced by Perry) which predated HotC. Agree this is quite a special record however.

Ah yeah - those Ras Michael songs are great too, good call.

Actually I guess Perry's produced Michael record came out later. He had other records that came out prior. As did Count Ossie.

lol this is probably the first ilm thread i started

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/nyregion/watty-burnett-long-off-reggaes-grid-is-back-on-the-map.html?ref=arts

“I do a lot of my shopping in Babylon,” Mr. Burnett said recently.

lol. also this thread should probably go in the first response hall of fame.

tnite i think this is probably ilm's best thread. what is the answer to cad's q? atm i think maybe max romeo war ina babylon comes closest.

you mean what's a dub or reggae record "as interesting and beautiful as Heart of the Congos"?

• burning spear, marcus garvey
• lee perry & the upsetters -- super ape
• johnny clarke -- rockers time now

what if instead of "as interesting and beautiful" it was "as strange and haunting"?

max romeo otm

what if instead of "as interesting and beautiful" it was "as strange and haunting"?

― Mordy, Wednesday, June 18, 2014

then i still say the burning spear and lee perry discs qualify. both sound like they floated in from another world, so "as strange and haunting" fits (and both are brilliant).

yeah, the max romeo is great; a clear classic. i actually prefer his blood & fire comp, oddly.

Agree about Burning Spear, Lee Perry and Max Romeo albums. Never heard that Johnny Clarke. Will investigate.

Keith Hudson - Torch of Freedom, Playing it Cool, and Flesh of My Skin are all better and more interesting than Heart of the Congos to me, but I realize this is an unpopular and unique opinion.

Joe Gibbs - Majestic Dub

The two 'reggae' albs that I know that come closest to capturing some of that same ineffable spirit as Heart of the Congos are -

Cedric IM Brooks & The Light of Saba
Peace and Love - Dadawah

Yeah that Cedric IM Brooks is transcendent in more than one way. I should dig it out again soon.

heart of the congos sags a LOT in the middle of the album imo, but it starts and ends beautifully, some of the best reggae out there (and not much that sounds like it except for other black ark stuff)

i do feel though that it gets a lot more praise than it deserves when there is a glut of "interesting & beautiful" AND "strange and haunting" reggae from the 70s roots era

but yea if you like heart of the congos i would buy arkology and ape-ology right now. off the top of my head i'd also add:

Keith Hudson - Torch of Freedom, Playing it Cool, and Flesh of My Skin are all better and more interesting than Heart of the Congos to me, but I realize this is an unpopular and unique opinion.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, June 18, 2014 10:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

those are fucking great but... the... harmonies... on that congos record omg

woops!

jah lion - colombia colly
junior murvin - police & thieves
the heptones - party time

and if you like harmonies:

mighty diamonds - right time
abyssianians - satta massagana, arise (which is not as good as satta massagana but is very underrated imo)

war ina babylon is also a good call

You need to get some rocksteady, it beats reggae hands-down.

― cnwb (cnwb), Monday, March 13, 2006 5:16 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol not really

yeah false dilemma!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ak1LjDNQ3o

hey if you like harmonies i'm going suggest the fucking WAILERS man, the 1970-1972 scratch perry-produced stuff is earlier and different than the black ark work but it is unmistakably scratch perry, and the wailers harmonies are awesome. even if you don't give a shit about island years marley i feel like most reggae fans are unanimous that the scratch-wailers collaborations are really solid, some of the best work by either party

figured they'd be mentioned already in this thread but they are not

Send my sons from afar
And my daughters from the end of the world

thread title otm

oh wait never mind it’s very much not otm

i misread it as “The only album I can stand is "Heart of the Congos"”

i wonder if he ever gave bounty killer a shot

Send my sons from afar
And my daughters from the end of the world

― Mordy, Thursday, January 18, 2018 11:22 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

best song

If you can only stand one reggae record, and eventhough it's the greatest reggae record ever made, have you ever considered just fucking off completely? Come back when you're ready to listen to ONLY reggae.
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Monday, March 13, 2006 5:55 PM (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

hah!

I got into this via the Blood and Fire re-issue in the 90's, truly beautiful album. I used to dig Bounty Killer back then as well, until he made that sprawling mess of an album with loads of mediocre filler w/ Wu-Tang + associates guest spots.

sadly my vinyl of this is skipping terribly :/

and this is an album that def benefits from "warmer" sounds

Anyone who can stand this record should really be able to do likewise for The Best Dressed Chicken In Town.

HORACE ANDY - DANCE HALL STYLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJEZWsnIECo

Send my sons from afar
And my daughters from the end of the world

― Mordy, Thursday, January 18, 2018 11:22 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Such a great bit <3 although I always hear it as 'and a tortoise from the end of the world', which I also like

Doran OTM. Also: Super Ape.

lol i always hear it as "the doctors from the end of the world"

some good science fiction stuff going on in these misheard lyrics