Prince Far I: Message From The King - 1978
His style was that of a righteous preacher, railing in his deep, gravelly tones about Rastafarian ideology and dispensing warnings of damnation. Where he differed from other DJs was that instead of toasting over existing backing tracks from previous well-known recordings, the rhythms here were created by Far I and his team themselves. Far I also preferred to label himself as a "chanter" as opposed to the more rhythmic "toasters". I have covered in the most detail one of his finest albums here.
On to this equally well-known album. Message From The King has an infectious refrain, “black reggae music” sung over a mid-paced rhythm. The Dream has Far I croaking about righteousness over not much of a beat at all, to be honest. Commandment Of Drugs has a stark, almost indiscernible beat at times, just some quiet rim shots, while the Prince lectures almost incomprehensibly about drugs before some dubby guitar chops cut in.
Moses Moses is more melodic in its backing, although, as with many of the tracks, the music comes and goes, alternating between quiet and loud, in a typical dub style. Prince Far I’s sermon is mournful and sad on this one. The thing about this material is that it doesn’t have half the melodic appeal of much of the roots reggae from the same period. It is far more slowed-down, far heavier in its beat and often one-paced in its rhythm.
To be honest, I prefer the roots albums of The Gladiators, Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh and Third World and, when it comes to toasting/DJs, I prefer Big Youth, whose material was far more varied and inventive. Or U-Roy and I-Roy for that matter. That said, Black Man Land is a haunting, evocative cut, probably Prince Far I’s best, and in Concrete Column, Far I starts to almost sing, more than he has done in other tracks.
Dry Bone is a heavy, bassy but still attractive number with some echoey backing vocals and some dubby bass/percussion bits. Far I's vocal is nicely sonorous on here. Foggy Road again features some killer dub backing and the Prince delivers his vocal in evocative story-telling style.
Wisdom lightens the mood somewhat on a traditional brassy piece of roots backing the gruff vocal. This unique, ground-breaking ends with the cataclysmic warning of Armageddon. "We don' need no nuclear weapon..." growls Far I over a deep, rumbling bass on what is an extremely sparse, stark number. Indeed, we hear you.
Despite some preferences for other artists and other genre variations, there is something very atmospheric about these big, thumping, dread-inducing, mysterious creations. It reminds me of Notting Hill Carnivals in the early eighties just as it was getting dark and it all got a little menacing.
Tracks from this are something that appears as part of a random mix of my music in isolation every now and again or as part of a roots reggae playlist. When they do, I enjoy them, but more than half an hour is a bit heavy going.
Two more from the Prince
Here we have the underrated Livity from 1980 and the superb Dubwise, which includes heavy manners dub versions of many of the tracks featured in the reviews above. The highlights from Livity are many - Reggae Music Moving, Badda Card, Put It Out, River Of Jordan, King Of Kings and Ghetto Living. Actually, though, I have to say that my favourite way of listening to Prince Far I is on the Dubwise compilation of his work, produced by Virgin’s Front Line series, which is far more accessible, musically, with some attractive brass breaks and more upbeat, melodic parts. Far I’s vocal comes in every now and again, which is fine, because that is what it does anyway, but the backing is more intricate, less sparse and less one-paced.
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