Linton Kwesi Johnson – Bass Culture (UK)

Comes with original black Island Inner Sleeve

I 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.