Reggae Pulse, Vol. 5: Protest Songs

Performer: Various Artists
Producer: Micheal Henry; David Hinds; Doctor Dread; George Phang; Hugh Mundell; H. Swaby; Junior Reid; Lee "Scratch" Perry; Paul "Groucho" Smykle; Peter Tosh; Sly & Robbie; Steven Stanley; Tapper Zukie; Third World; Tommy Cowan; Winston Riley; Black Uhuru; Bunny Lee; Doctor Dread (Compilation); Bas Hartong (Compilation)
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Liner Note Author: Roger Steffens. No country has ever issued as much protest music as Jamaica, whose artists have released half a century's worth of songs calling for racial pride, repatriation, peace, brotherhood, cultural change, and the general and complete dismantling of all things Babylon. Out of this welter of protest, Trojan has picked 18 tracks for the fifth installment of its Reggae Pulse sampler series, a task that must have been daunting, since for every song selected, a dozen equally deserving ones had to be passed over, and this project could easily have been a multi-disc box set and still have been considered woefully incomplete. There are some obvious tracks here, including Peter Tosh's version of "Get Up, Stand Up," a song he co-wrote with Bob Marley while in the Wailers, Marley's own haunting declaration of intent, "Soul Rebel," and Third World's late-'70s history lesson, "1865 (96 Degrees in the Shade)." There are also some interesting surprises, like Delroy Wilson's resigned and hopeful "Better Must Come," which surmises that since things are so awful right now, "better must come one day." Two of the most striking tracks are 21st century interpretations of a couple of classic protest songs. Luciano restructures Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" into a magnificent statement, stripping out the rage and replacing it with a controlled resentment that seems all the more powerful when sung in Luciano's calm, measured voice. Bushman's reading of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" is also surprisingly effective, and given a Jamaican setting, the song rings with an added edge. What's collected here is obviously only the tip of the tip of the iceberg (one could easily fill a disc with Marley's protest songs alone, and Island's Rebel Music does exactly that), but as a sampler mixing in some classic tracks with some surprising new ones, Protest Songs accomplishes its mission, as long as one doesn't expect anything comprehensive. As Marley said, there's so much trouble in the world. Better must come. ~ Steve Leggett

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