RhoDeo 1306 Roots

Hello, what's going on here, the Pope throws in the towel, the end is neigh ! Or is he trying to break the Malachy's spell ? Attributed to Saint Malachy is a list of 112 short phrases in Latin. They purport to describe each of the Roman Catholic popes (along with a few anti-popes), beginning with Pope Celestine II (elected in 1143) and concluding with current pope Benedict XVI's successor, a pope described in the prophecy as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will end in the destruction of the city of Rome. The prophecy was first published in 1595 by Arnold de Wyon, a Benedictine historian, as part of his book Lignum Vitæ. Wyon attributed the list to Saint Malachy, however some have seen it as an underhanded list created by Nostradamus(1503-1566). The Prophecy of the Popes is not regarded as authentic by the Church.
Check it out Prophecy of the Popes a dedicated wiki page.

These past months we traversed the UK dubscene, but before all that there were a few UK bands bringing reggae to the island, obviously they found their lead in Jamaica who's first big stars came to the british shores in the mid seventies. This group were one of Britain's greatest reggae bands, rivaled only by Aswad in terms of creative and commercial success. Generally a protest-minded Rastafarian outfit, Steel Pulse started out playing authentic roots reggae with touches of jazz and Latin music, and earned a substantial audience among white U.K. punks as well. .  .... N'joy

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Steel Pulse were formed in 1975 in Birmingham, England, specifically the ghetto area of Handsworth. The founding members were schoolmates David Hinds (the primary songwriter as well as the lead singer and guitarist), Basil Gabbidon (guitar), and Ronnie "Stepper" McQueen (bass). All of them came from poor West Indian immigrant families, and none had much musical experience. They took some time to improve their technical proficiency, often on Rasta-slanted material by Bob Marley and Burning Spear. McQueen suggested the group name, after a racehorse, by this time their ranks had swelled to include Selwyn "Bumbo" Brown (keyboards), Steve "Grizzly" Nisbett (drums), Alphonso Martin (vocals, percussion) and Mykaell Riley (vocals).

Steel Pulse initially had difficulty finding live gigs, as club owners were reluctant to give them a platform for their "subversive" Rastafarian politics. Luckily, the punk movement was opening up new avenues for music all over Britain, and also finding a spiritual kinship with protest reggae. Thus, the group wound up as an opening act for punk and new wave bands like the Clash, the Stranglers, Generation X, the Police, and XTC, and built a broad-based audience in the process. In keeping with the spirit of the times, Steel Pulse developed a theatrical stage show that leavened their social commentary with satirical humor; many of the members dressed in costumes that mocked traditional British archetypes (Riley was a vicar, McQueen a bowler-wearing aristocrat, Martin a coach footman, etc.). The band issued two singles -- "Kibudu, Mansetta and Abuku" and "Nyah Love" -- on small independent labels, then came to the attention of Island Records after opening for Burning Spear.

Steel Pulse's first single for Island was the classic "Ku Klux Klan," which happened to lend itself well to the band's highly visual, costume-heavy concerts. It appeared on their 1978 debut album, Handsworth Revolution, which was soon hailed as a classic of British reggae by many fans and critics, thanks to songs like the title track, "Macka Splaff," "Prodigal Son," and "Soldiers." Riley departed before the follow-up, 1979's Tribute to the Martyrs, which featured other key early singles in "Sound System" and "Babylon Makes the Rules," and solidified the band's reputation for uncompromising political ferocity.

That reputation went out the window on 1980's Caught You, a more pop-oriented set devoted to dance tracks and lovers rock. By that point, Steel Pulse were keen on trying to crack the American market, and went on tour over Island's objections. Caught You was issued in the States as Reggae Fever, but failed to break the group, and they soon parted ways with Island. Steel Pulse moved on to Elektra/Asylum, which released an LP version of their headlining set at the 1981 Reggae Sunsplash Festival. Their studio debut was 1982's True Democracy, a generally acclaimed set that balanced bright, accessible production with a return to social consciousness. It became their first charting album in America, making both the pop and R&B listings. The slicker follow-up, Earth Crisis, was released in 1984 and featured producer Jimmy "Senyah" Haynes subbing on guitar and bass for founding members Gabbidon and McQueen, both of whom were gone by the end of the recording sessions. They were replaced by guitarist Carlton Bryan and bassist Alvin Ewen for 1986's Babylon the Bandit, another Haynes-produced effort that ranked as the group's most polished, synth-centered record to date. Although it featured the powerful "Not King James Version" and won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album, it sold poorly and alienated some of the band's older fans; as a result, Elektra soon dropped them.

Steel Pulse resurfaced on MCA in 1988 with State of Emergency, their most explicitly crossover-oriented album yet. They also contributed the track "Can't Stand It" to the soundtrack of Spike Lee's classic Do the Right Thing. In 1991, they released another heavily commercial album, the Grammy-nominated Victims, which featured the single "Taxi Driver." Backing up the song's views, Steel Pulse filed a class-action lawsuit against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, charging that drivers discriminated against blacks and particularly Rastafarians. Founding member Fonso Martin left that year, reducing Steel Pulse to a core trio of Hinds, Nisbett, and Brown. Their backing band still featured Ewen and was elsewhere anchored by guitarist Clifford "Moonie" Pusey, keyboardist Sidney Mills, and drummer/percussionist Conrad Kelly.

The 1992 live album Rastafari Centennial marked the beginning of a return to the group's musical roots, and earned another Grammy nomination. The following year, they performed at Bill Clinton's inaugural celebration, the first reggae band to appear at such an event. 1994's studio album Vex completed Steel Pulse's re-embrace of classic roots reggae, though it also nodded to contemporary dancehall with several guest toasters and a digital-flavored production.

In 1997 the band released Rage and Fury, with some of their most potent lyrics to date. A striking example of protest, "The Real Terrorist" challenges the CIA's clandestine policy of political disruption over the years, while "Black and Proud" celebrates Pan-Africanism. "We're not here to start a physical revolution, we're just here to open everybody's eyes and let them check themselves and continue in a very educational mode to change things on that tip", Hinds explains. "We're losing ourselves and I think it's very important for us to realize that. Too many of our youths have been lost to drugs, or by the gun, or not having the education needed to persevere and move in an upward direction.

Until February 2001, it had been many years since Pulse had performed in their hometown of Birmingham. They decided to perform at the Ray Watts memorial concert. In 2004, Steel Pulse returned to their militant roots with African Holocaust - their eleventh studio album. With guest appearances by Damian Marley, Capleton, and Tiken Jah Fakoly, the album is a collection of protest and spiritual songs, including Global Warning (a dire warning about climate change), Tyrant,a protest song against political corruption, and No More Weapons, a classic anti-war song. The band continues to tour, and is working on another studio album and a feature length documentary, both slated for release in 2013.

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The lyrical themes on Tribute to the Martyrs were even darker, angrier, and more politically confrontational than those on Handsworth Revolution. Yet strangely, the music itself was warmer and much more inviting. The songs on this album engage the listener -- either directly challenging the (presumably Babylonian) listener's ability to keep Rasta down ("Unseen Guest") or forcing the listener to consider the details of various martyr's stories ("Biko's Kindred Lament," "Uncle George"). Even "Sound System," ostensibly an expression of dancehall exuberance, sounds mainly defiant. But what really sets this album apart from its predecessor is the melodies, which, while still often fairly dry, are sometimes unbelievably powerful. The best examples are "Jah Pickney -- R.A.R.," which is based on a swooningly lovely vocal hook combined with a lovely percolating keyboard part, and the even better "Babylon Makes the Rules," which takes a lyrical message of despair and turns it into musical victory by means of one of the most exalted call-and-response melodies in the history of reggae music. Most critics will tell you that Handsworth Revolution is the crucial Steel Pulse album, but don't be fooled: Get this one and True Democracy and you'll have most of the band's essential studio recordings.

Steel Pulse - Tribute to the Martyrs (flac  297mb)

01 Unseen Guest 6:04
02 Sound System 3:24
03 Jah Pickney - R. A. R. 4:33
04 Tribute To The Martyrs 6:46
05 Babylon Makes The Rules 4:48
06 Uncle George 4:42
07 Biko's Kindred Lament 5:31
08 Blasphemy (Selah) 6:52

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Although the group's first three albums are generally considered their finest, there is a very strong case to be made for including Steel Pulse's Elektra debut in their core collection as well. Where Reggae Fever had found the band moving from hardcore Rasta politics into lover's rock and party anthems, True Democracy marks a return to more ideological subject matter; the cover art, which shows singer David Hinds reading the Bible to his rapt bandmates, is a dead giveaway. Their sound might be a little bit slicker than before, but it's also harder and the lyrics less compromising -- "Leggo Beast" denounces adultery over a stripped-down one-drop beat; "Man No Sober" inveighs against drunkenness; "A Who Responsible?" uses a dour trombone line to call down judgment on Babylon. But the mood is lightened somewhat by "Your House," a gorgeous love song, and by the exalted "Chant a Psalm." This is one of Steel Pulse's most satisfying and fully realized albums.

Steel Pulse - True Democracy (flac  447mb)

01 Chant A Psalm 4:20
02 Ravers 3:40
03 Find It...Quick! 3:20
04 A Who Responsible? 3:40
05 Worth His Weight In Gold (Rally Round) 4:25
06 Leggo Beast 3:30
07 Blues Dance Raid 4:45
08 Your House 3:40
09 Man No Sober 4:30
10 Dub' Marcus Say 4:25
bonus
11 Ravers (12" Version) 5:56
12 Leggo Beast (12" Version) 6:40
13 Your House (Dub Version) 3:48
14 A Who Responsible? (Dub Version) 3:59

key  PpBj2UoMH4Tmuw_tvQ6lRSt8b0hvg8NDySs1BZbxE60


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Earth Crisis suffers from uneven songwriting and dated, polished production Unfortunately the album is poorly sequenced too, placing the weakest cuts, "Steppin' Out" and "Tightrope," at the very beginning. "Throne of Gold," the album's love song, has beautiful lyrics but lacks a truly compelling melody to get them across. After that, the album picks up with a string of superior songs, all of which decry social injustice and have powerful music to back them up, though they occasionally drag on longer than they need to and are saddled with horn and synthesizer parts that sound superfluous. Still, the strength of material in the album's second half definitely proves why Steel Pulse earned their reputation as a top-notch act. Had the songs been more focused, the production less slick, and the album sequenced correctly, Earth Crisis would stand as a watershed album of the '80s. ( some homework then too give it a better sequence)

Steel Pulse - Earth Crisis (flac 416mb)

01 Steppin' Out 4:05
02 Tightrope 4:13
03 Throne Of Gold 4:28
04 Roller Skates 4:59
05 Earth Crisis 4:57
06 Bodyguard 4:30
07 Grab Education 6:13
08 Wild Goose Chase 5:49
Bonus
09 Steppin' Out (Dub Version) 7:04
10 Steppin' Out (Extended Version) 5:25
11 Roller Skates (Remix Version) 5:50
12 Roller Skates (Dub Version) 7:38

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previously aug 07   re-rip

Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution (flac  430mb)

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