Burning Spear: Social Living - 1978

By 1978, Burning Spear (Winston Rodney) was three years away from what was rapidly becoming his seminal album in Marcus Garvey and his previous two albums, 1976's The Man In The Hills and 1977's Dry And Heavy had witnessed a lighter touch to Spear's music - lighter vocals, more lilting guitar work, bucolic lyrics and a general chilled-out vibe. 

So, it was a bit of a surprise to find that this album is his heaviest, densest, rootsiest offering to date. While the Marcus Garvey album had, notoriously, been re-mixed by Island Records to render it more palatable to UK listeners (not really necessary because a lot of UK reggae fans loved their hard-core roots), this release underwent no such tinkering. By 1978, it seemed, people realised that the heavier and the dubbier the album was the better it would be received. 

What we get here, therefore, are a series of dense, grinding roots grooves that rumble along without a huge amount of hooks and Spear's vocals becoming more like that of a DJ chanter such as Prince Far I or U-Roy, to an extent. His voice is still naturally lighter in tone and he still sings, but only just on occasions. Phrases and slogans are growled and repeated, such as "don't you know social living is the best", from Social Living, probably the album's most catchy number. Singing breaks out too, but the overall vibe is more of a DJ-ish one. 

Spear's band can still play, of course, and a lot of the instrumentation is impressive, particularly on the extended bonus material from the album's dub partner, Living Dub, where the tracks obviously get dubbier.

The bass throbs, the drums thud, the brass interjections are somewhat distant and Spear's vocals wail in and out, as if caught on the wind, often echoey. The album is a superbly atmospheric one, I have to say, totally summoning up the punk/reggae crossover vibe of 1978 on first listen. Sure, it is deep, coal-mine deep, but it has a gravitas to it and it is now reproduced in fabulously warm, bass remastered sound. I can't eulogise strongly enough about the sound. It's utterly superb. 

The standout tracks are Institution, Social Living, Nyah Keith (who was Keith, I wonder?), Mister Garvey and Civilised Reggae. To be honest, I could pick any of them, as the album just chugs dubbily through as one complete dark, rootsy whole. It is one of those albums which is a complete feeling, as opposed to lots of varied tracks. 

If you want the spirit of London's reggae scene circa 1978, you've got it right here via Jamaica's Burning Spear. If put on the spot, I would choose this as my favourite Burning Spear album.