Roots Archives Forum

benjamin wrote:thanks for the info about Ernie B and for letting me be your first call in case you see it again!

Hi Benjamin

Not a problem.

Cheers

Incidentally, can I assume all Joe Higgs fans have the **["Beats Of The Heart - Roots, Rock And Reggae"](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beats-Heart-Roo ... 241&sr=1-1)** DVD?

If you don't, buy this tomorrow as there is the most unbelievable acoustic version of "There's A Reward". Just Joe with an acoustic guitar. Absolutely mind-blowingly wonderful. Does it get any better than this? I don't think so.

if you can find it get it! i was priveleged enough to hear my friends lp. his songwriting is awsome and the record really shows how versitile he was. very soulful and their aint nothin wrong with that

A very good quality album. Very soulful. Love to spin it.
Sometimes availabe on ebay from 10 - 20 GBP. One evening when I was reasoning with 2 roots friends they wanted me to play this album twice cause they loved it so much.

Well worth getting it!

to 6anbatte ; I never heard about this dvd but I have an acoutic version of there's a reward, I suppose it's the same, it was sent to me by a friend but I think it comes from a 7' or a tape (I can ask him). In the beginning he says "it doesn't sound like a reggae now... but it is". Indeed, it's very powerfull and deep.

benjamin wrote:to 6anbatte ; I never heard about this dvd but I have an acoutic version of there's a reward, I suppose it's the same, it was sent to me by a friend but I think it comes from a 7' or a tape (I can ask him). In the beginning he says "it doesn't sound like a reggae now... but it is". Indeed, it's very powerfull and deep.

Hi Benjamin

Yes, that is it. However, on the DVD he speaks for much longer prior to the song. That bit literally is just as he starts to play. Very powerful and deep. I'll try and transcribe it when I get a chance. You ***have*** to see his face when he speaks though. He has *enlightenment* written all over it.

Never will forget the first time I heard this LP when I was about 15 or 16.Still in my all time top 3 albums.
Strangely the songs I perhaps liked best on that LP are the 2 jazzy ones.

And also : I liked that acoustic version of "There's a reward" so much that I always found that that was the perfect example of a roots reggae song.I was very dissapointed when someone told me it was a cover actually!

reggaepostman wrote:And also : I liked that acoustic version of "There's a reward" so much that I always found that that was the perfect example of a roots reggae song.I was very dissapointed when someone told me it was a cover actually!

Do you know who it's originally by?

According to Wikipedia;
"Higgs commented on this song as being his anthem and biographical song, detailing a life of often being mistreated and overlooked, yet still holding strong and having hope for his future".

That seems a bit odd if it written by someone else. Mind you the liner notes do say "All tracks produced and arranged by Joe Higgs" as opposed to "Written by....".

benjamin wrote:to 6anbatte ; I never heard about this dvd but I have an acoutic version of there's a reward, I suppose it's the same, it was sent to me by a friend but I think it comes from a 7' or a tape (I can ask him). In the beginning he says "it doesn't sound like a reggae now... but it is". Indeed, it's very powerfull and deep.

As promised the transcript from the DVD;

"..the music originated from the confrontation of a struggle... It's not even got to be known as you are from Trenchtown. It is a kind of strength that you have to, really, accumulate. Reggae is a confrontation of sound, man. Reggae has to have a basic vibrant sound which is... to be heard in a ghetto is like playing the bass very loud...and the drum. Those are the basic sounds. A classical reggae should be accepted in any part of the world in the same sense: freedom, that's what it's asking for; acceptance, t'what it needs; and understanding, y'know, that's what reggae say."

"You have a certain love come from hard struggle, long suffering. A certain love that, through pain, girdle yourself with that hope for freedom. Not to give up."