Roots Archives Forum

Being new, I'm still trawling through old threads. Promise not to resurrect them all(!) but I'm bumping up this one to warn people who might confuse the Jolly Bros 'Conscious Man' and 'Consciousness'.

Do not be conned into buying Consciousness! Here's what I wrote (elsewhere) on the subject...

Consciousness: An LP released internationally through United Artists, this is often mistaken for the much rarer Conscious Man album, leading to plenty of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth from unintentionally deceived purchasers. Pleasant as some of this one may be, the only thing the two albums have in common is the same Conscious Man mix – nothing else on here is from the Black Ark.

Conscious Man: A rare Black Ark Production – the full artist name is “Lee Perry presents The Jolly Brothers”, and the sleeve is marked with various labels - Seven Leaves, Hot Pepper, Roots Records & Upsetter. Some tracks appear elsewhere on compilations, but they are generally rare too so that doesn’t help much. Though nowhere near as revered either at the time of release or more recently, this is probably as close as anyone else got to the stunning Heart Of The Congos set that marks the pinnacle of Scratch’s work at the Ark. Conscious Man is the full 7 minute extended version, and the mix of Brotherly Love is the same as the 12” but different to the Heart Of The Ark albums.

I love the heart of the congos, I have to hear it atleast a couple times a week. I recently got the Conscious Man on MP3 and didn't enjoy it nearly as much.

Try Willy williams "messenger man" album?

Regrettably, there's not one album that is as good as the Congos one. From The Heart of the Congo, Open The Gate, Arkology are all superb albums, but nothing beats "Heart of the Congos".

tingjunkie wrote:bwoyrough wrote :Is this from the heart of the congo different to the heart of the congos, I've not heard of this trojan release, whos on it?

Totally different album. The short version of the story is that two African musicians- Seke Molenga & Kalo Kawongolo- were brought to JA by some producer (not Scratch) to record an African/Reggae fusion album, only to be abandoned in the middle of Kingston without knowing English or having any friends or money. They somehow found their way to the Black Ark studio, where Scratch took them in and recorded an album with them.

It's definitely a great set, and the mix of African and heavy roots is good stuff.

Here's another link to the story about Heart of the Congo: http://playtherecords.com/2006/03/from- ... congo.html


TJ

P.S. Here's a link to (possibly ??) get the CD:
http://www.runn.nl/albums/rn0029.htm

i have to agree with the fellows that you have to try the lee perry black ark studio stuff....

and by the way if you listened to all the perry stuff, you can try some of the wonderful twinkle brothers albums

seb wrote:It's hard to find lately but Conscious Man is often referred as having the same kind of sound as well.
Seb

if anyone in the New York area is looking for this album there are 2 copies left at Jammyland