Bob Soul - Message From The Congo / Billy Hutch - Ten Long Years (Gemini / DKR) 12"

Full track details: Bob Soul & The United Stars - Message From The Congo / King Tubby & Bill Hutchinson All Stars - Congo Dread Chapter 1 / Billy Hutch - Ten Long Years / Bob Soul & The United Stars - A Chant From The Congo (Take 2)

One of the most well known cuts of this brilliant rhythm, played by the Wailers' Barrett brothers, alongside Earl Chinna Smith, Augustus Pablo and Gladdy Anderson, all together truly a rhythmic force to be reckoned with. "Message from the Congo" and "God Is Love" are two vocals cuts produced via the mid 1970's partnership of Milton "Billy Hutch" Hutchinson and the late Linton "Bob Soul" Williamson.  The dub mix, "Congo Dread Chapter 1", is actually worthy of the type of genre cross-referencing hyperbole I normally decry in music writing. In hindsight we find in this track, Tubby prefiguring not only the remix and the 'edit', but also the frantic yet orchestrated chaos of a lot of the complex electronic dance music that would being to come into its own a full decade later. To try and describe the magic herein would be pointless, you must simply listen to Tubby deconstruct and reconstruct the rhythm using a melange of his now famous tools and techniques to devastating effect. Indeed, it is tracks like this one which made the man himself and those very techniques now so famous."

If that's not enough to convince, here is our resident roots connoisseur Shere Khan with his thoughts:

6 feet deep roots plucked out of the undergrowth on this mystical 12. 'Messsage from the Congo' has all the cornerstone elements that addicted roots fans thrive off... Side A is multi-layered with deep dread tones and harmonious backing vocals that transport you to an elevated place. The layering is also resonated on the vinyl, with every cut bringing something different to the table. Side B's 2 cuts are a nutritious roots filling, with vocals from both Billy Hutch and another chant from Bob Soul. Part of roots music's mystique is the contextual nature of the music. Clearly the happenings of the time, for good and for bad in Jamaica, inspired music of a deeply spiritual nature. It is for that reason, that despite the passing of time, the music still sustains. Definitely a tune for the early warming segment of a sound system dance. Designed to open up minds. Killer!

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