Review of "Heavyweight 3: A Blood and Fire Sampler"

The first two entries in the Heavyweight series on Blood & Fire were economical ways to sample the vast catalog of roots and dub that Blood & Fire has the rights to. The England-based labels has released smoe incredible albums in the last few years, including the double-disc Yabby You album Jesus Dread, an album of remixes of classic Horace Andy tracks titled Good Vibes, and several notable King Tubby dub releases. I don't think there's a been a Blood & Fire album yet that hasn't caught my ear.

Heavyweight 3 features some solid roots from the relaxed roots voice of Johnny Clarke. "Every Knee Shall Bow," a track the late Garnett Silk interpreted 20 years later, leads off the album. This mid-70's tune has solid traditional roots instrumentation and a positive vibe: "***". Clarke also contributes "Age is Growing," a nice Bunny Lee production.

The sweet soprano of Horace Andy can be heard on two roots classics: "Don't Let Problems Get You Down" (previously issued simlpy as "Problems") and an eight-and-a-half minute remix of "Pure Ranking." Andy has some current appeal from outside the reggae circles from his work with Massive Attack. He's also released several solo albums with Mad Professor on RAS in the last few years.

On the dub side of things, we hear the Impact Allstars ("S-Corner Dub" and the catchy "Jaro") and the late Bingy Bunny and the Morwells.

Even with such a stellar line-up in place, things only get better with contributions from Vivian Jackson aka the Jesus Dread aka Yabby You. One of the most crucial singers of the 70's, Jackson here has two of his earlier tracks with the Prophets: "Love of Jah" and a remix of "Kign Pharoah's Plague" (which also features Trinity). Jesus Dread, from which these two tracks come, was released two years ago, but personally, I don't have a problem with them being pushed on a compilation two years later. They're that good.

We also hear from U Brown, Junior Byles, Tommy McCook, and the mighty Bim Sherman.

The Heavyweight series can be found in most chain music stores for under $10. Each entry thusfar has been a great introduction to the label, but also serves as a solid compilation for collectors as well.

Go To Page: 1

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic