BLACK UHURU – Live At Soledad Prison 1982 – 2LP – Vinyl

2LP – Black Vinyl.

Founded in the mid 70s, Black Uhuru really burst into the reggae scene in the early 80s when Sly & Robbie took over artistic direction duties and produced crucial albums like Showcase, Sinsemilla, Red, Chill Out and Anthem (note that a magnificent collection of their singles for Sly & Robbie’s TAXI label is available on TAXI TRAXX, released by TABOU1 last year).

Not only were the albums groundbreaking from an artistic standpoint, but the live shows were terrific. An avalanche of heavy-as-lead drum and bass, augmented by borderline metal rock guitars courtesy of the late Darryl Thompson, provided a bedrock of rhythm and energy for Michael Rose‘s lead vocals and Duckie Simpson‘s and Puma Jones‘ backing vocals.

Black Uhuru’s first US tour took place in 1982. Back then, Reggae was in its infancy in the US and there were only 3 Reggae radio shows in California: Doug Wendt in San Francisco, Roger Steffens in LA and Lance Linares in Santa Cruz. In addition to running his radio show at KUSP, Lance also booked artists in Santa Cruz and worked with the Soledad Prison to help inmates acquire professional skills that could be used once they would be out of jail. Lance contacted the Black Uhuru organization and offered to organize a concert in the prison itself. To his surprise his idea was enthusiastically accepted and the group performed in front of a full house at Soledad Prison.

What we hear on this double LP is the entire concert, which was broadcast live on KUSP. Its historical significance is huge and can be compared to the reggae equivalent of the legendary live recording at Folsom by America legend Johnny Cash. Also, the concert was video recorded. We have restored the video using cutting edge technology and curated key moments of the concert. Each of these videos can be streamed on a smartphone using the Artivive application. Once the app is installed, users can view the videos by pointing their phone at the photos on the record cover (done by Bruno Tilley) that are marked with the Artivive logo. TABOU1 is proud to be the first record label to offer this Augmented Reality feature.

Tracklist:

FACE A
A1. Stage Intro
A2. Puff She Puff
A3. I Love King Selassie

FACE B
B1. Mondays
B2. Youth Of Eglington
B3. Chill Out

FACE C
C1. Darkness
C2. Whole World Is Africa

FACE D
D1. Happiness
D2. Sponji Reggae
D3. Sensimilla