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Dread Beat an' Blood [Caroline]

Linton Kwesi Johnson
1 disc

1. Dread Beat an' Blood
2. Five Nights of Bleeding
3. Doun de Road
4. Song of Blood
5. It Dread Inna Inglan
6. Come Wi Goh Dung Deh
7. Man Free (For Darcus Howe)
8. All Wi Doin Is Defendin'
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 49921
Credits

Producer
Engineer Dennis Bovell
Linton Kwesi Johnson went under the name "Poet & The Roots" for this release.
Personnel: Linton Kwesi Johnson (vocals, percussion); Lila Weathers (vocals); John Varnom (guitar); Dennis Bovell (keyboards, guitar); Desmond Craig (keyboards); Floydie Lawson (bass, guitar, background vocals); Vivian Weathers (bass, guitar, vocals); Winston "Crab" Curniffe, Jah Bunny (drums, percussion); Everald Forrest (percussion).
Producers: Linton Kwesi Johnson, Vivian Weathers.
Includes liner notes by Vivien Goldman.
This is the first Heartbeat label release.
Personnel: Linton Kwesi Johnson (percussion); Vivian Weathers (vocals, guitar, bass guitar); Lila Weathers (vocals); Floyd Lawson (guitar, bass guitar); John Varnom (guitar); Desmond Craig (keyboards); Everald Forrest (percussion).
Audio Remixer: Dennis Blackbeard.
Recording information: Gooseberry.
The debut album by Linton Kwesi Johnson hits with the force of a fist. A Jamaican-born British immigrant, Johnson worked as a poet and political activist before deciding to set his rhymes and convictions to deep roots music, effectively inventing the style known as "dub poetry." DREAD BEAT AN' BLOOD directly addresses the racial and economic strife of Tory-ruled England in the late 1970s, particularly as it manifested in West Indian and other immigrant communities. With narratives that balance unflinching journalistic accounts of specific injustices ("It Dread Inna Inglan") with high-octane associative lyricism (the title track), Johnson embodies both the militant revolutionary and the visionary prophet.
DREAD BEAT's superb backing band weaves a dub-heavy web that is churning and ominous enough to suit the messages, and when the rhythms combine with Johnson's no-nonsense monotone, with its heavy cadences of British Jamaican patios, the effect is mesmerizing. Although many of the cuts cover issues that are time and site-specific ("Man Free" and "Five Nights of Bleeding" speak to the then-current political plight of individuals), the sheer intensity of Johnson's fervor makes the record timeless. DREAD BEAT is a statement that is impossible to ignore.