Roots Archives Forum

the sound of this album is a synthetic reggae 1986 new yorker that I dont like. the best black uhuru albums to buy are "love crisis", "black uhuru", "sinsemilla", "red". this is stricly roots.

Sorry but for me Brutal and Positive are the two best Black Uhuru Albums ever. Junior Reid's voice at that time was absolute killer. Of cause Michael Rose is great, but Junior's just my number 1 I guess.

Talking bout Junior Reid in the late 80s... who remembers 'stop this crazy thing' with Coldcut? I really enjoyed that when I was 11 years old at that time.

Most of the people seem to regard "Sinsemilia" and "Red" as the best two albums recorded by Black Uhuru ; That may sound strange but, although there are some very crucial tracks on it, I just can't stand listening to it entirely. I think this is the drum and bass which are kinda too heavily mixed for me, or the songwriting which seems light to me, but I find "Black Uhuru" and "Chill Out" (and maybe "Anthem", if you consider the original mixes) far better than these two, speaking of the Michael Rose era, and Brutal/Positive too, if you add the Junior Reid years.

i really enjoy both brutal and positive.. i love both dub versions as well The e-drums are sweet

To me Brutal is one of the best late Black Uhuru albums. The high energy of singer Junior Reid made up for the gap that Michael Rose left behind. The approach that Sly and Robbie chose for this album is different, and I like the sound and the way how they crafted the riddims and the keyboard work of Robbie Lyn. To me it is a different Black Uhuru albums with a strong set of songs that really belongs together. Great Train Robbery is far out not my favorite song; Dread in the Mountain is maybe one of the best. I think it is under estimated album when it came out in 1986, just when sounds changed in the mid eighties. check it out and give it a good ear!! To me the dub album is a disappointing one compared to the vocal versions.

About RAS; not all is great, and I am not a large fan of the Doctor Dread productions (except Brutal), but don`t forget about the Tiger and Brigadeer Jerry albums, and the come back of Michigan and Smiley (Sugar Daddy), en what about Strenght of my Life by Israel Vibration.

Doctor Dread & the RAS label has done a lot towards spreading the Reggae message and I personally am thankeful for their efforts!

ras actually has a quite heavy catalogue, though there is some deadweight in there and many didnt care for jim fox, lion and fox studio as engineer. aside from that in my estimation ras was groundbreaking and worthy of praises. one example of underestimated ras release: two sides of charlie chaplin and take two, both radics in the studio backing charlie live on the mic. pretty killer.

back to brutal though, yep i thought it was the best jr reid uhuru album and it didnt lag much. great train robbery was a strange song but pulled off pretty well, but yeah dread in the mountain was #1 but i also loved fit you haffe fit and some others on there. solid album.

one love
jah bill

jb welda wrote:two sides of charlie chaplin

Yes JB, this one is really good. Very inspired Charlie Chaplin. Live & direct !!!

I do not really know this album but I have heard fit you haffe fit and its a fine song.Brutal is ok but not brilliant.There are times I find Black uhuru a bit repetitive for my liking, overall theyve done some great stuff.

sean wrote:There are times I find Black uhuru a bit repetitive for my liking

Yes, this is Dancehall.