Linton Kwesi Johnson

remember at the time of its release that many reviewers considered Bass Culture a slight disappointment because it didn’t reach the highs of Forces of Victory. Granted, following up a record as great as Forces of Victory is no easy task, but all these years later I wonder what were people thinking. Bass Culture is tremendous, another successful collaboration between Johnson and Bovell with songs that are, at times, even more confrontational (e.g., "Inglan is a Bitch") than anything he had previously recorded. I will admit that the Dub Band sounds better on Forces of Victory, but Johnson is hitting his stride at the time of this release and experimenting with song structure and lyrics a little more (i.e., not everything is explicitly political here). Still, I defy anyone to come up with a reason to not own this record. An extra added bonus is John Kpiaye’s great guitar playing.

Produced by: Linton Kwesi Johnson & Dennis (Blackbeard) Bovell
Recorded at Gooseberry Sound Studios
Engineered by: John Caffrey, Mark Lusardy & Dennis Bovell
Tape-Op: Sid
Mixed by: Dennis Bovell

Vocals: Linton Kwesi Johnson
Bass: Vivan Weathers, Floyd Lawson
Guitar: John Kpiaye
Keyboards: Dennis Bovell & Webster Johnson
Alto Sax: James Danton
Tenor Sax: Buttons Henry Tenyue
Trumpet & Flugelhorn: Dick Cuthell & Patrick Tenyue
Trombone: Rico
Harmonica: Juilio Finn

From the Island/Mango album Bass Culture, released May 7, 1980