The Heart of the Congos - Sublime Reggae Brilliance

Picked up the Simply Vinyl issue of Heart of the Congos by the Congos at the weekend from Selectadisc (there's a CD version too I believe) and have to say its one of the best LPs I've picked up for a long while.

The first track (Fisherman) sets the standard very high - starts off a bit disco funky and then just morphs into this fabulous reggae groove with some incredibly subtle and beatiful keychanges running through it, with the most soulful falsetto singing and three part harmonies. Then toward the end of the track your jaw just drops when the bass vocal comes in. The rest of the album then continues in a similar groove - 100% roots reggae and 110% pure Soul Music.

Soundwise not bad at all - they actually give an account of what they did with the tapes in the liner notes which mentions some of the difficulties they had, but whilst its not the hiest of fi, it sounds great to me.

Lee Perry produced at the height of his powers and the whole album just drips "Black Ark". Highly recommended.