A few gems on Black Slate’s Midnight

midnightSeveral roots reggae outfits in the UK have reunited in recent years. Black Roots in 2012 and Talisman 2013. Both bands also managed to put out strong albums.

Another UK reggae band that was originally formed in the 70s and recently reunited is Black Slate. This London-based band started out by backing visiting Jamaican giants like Ken Boothe, Dennis Brown and Delroy Wilson. Between 1979 and 1985 they dropped seven albums as well as a signature hit – Amigo, a track that managed to reach top ten on the UK singles chart.

Midnight is their ninth album and the first album in almost 20 years. It was released earlier this year with only a few taking notice I believe.

The album features eleven tracks, of which two are dub excursions. The audio quality is unfortunately below par and a number of tracks sound plastic and dull, especially a romancing cut like Your Love.

There are however a few gems here. No Justices for the Poor borrows from Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry in the chorus, which makes it rather cathcy and memorable, and Incidents almost sounds like Dennis Brown in his prime.

A decent album, but not nearly as great as the sets from other recently reunited UK reggae bands.

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1 Comment

Filed under Record reviews

One response to “A few gems on Black Slate’s Midnight

  1. I’m adding a few corrections.

    The Midnight album was released in 1985. I don’t know if this is a remix or just a rerelease.
    http://www.ebreggae.com/Reggae/CD/172106/Black-Slate-Midnight.html

    There is also an album titled Get up and Dance from 1995 so “first album in 20 years” is not quite right. Available on iTunes here:
    https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/get-up-and-dance/id217791350

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