The Congos

The Congos’ Lee “Scratch” Perry-produced and mixed roots evergreen is one you’d play to aliens enquiring about reggae. It returns to vinyl orbit with VP Records for the umpteenth time, primed for any shelf - as essential as they come.

It’s hard to overstate the classic status of ‘Heart of the Congos’, which was recorded at Lee Perry’s legendary Black Ark in 1977, and has endured as a staple of the reggae canon ever since. The trio of “Ashanti” Roy Johnson (tenor), Cedric Myton (falsetto) and Watty Burnett (baritone) harmonise heavenly - notably backed by likes of Gregory Isaacs, The Heptones, and The Meditations - on rhythms laid down by crack players including Sly Dunbar, all spangled with Perry’s signature production and mix magick, hailing the wee madman at a crest of his creativity. Then fresh from massive success with Max Romeo and Junior Murvin for Island Records, Perry’s legal wrangling with Island meant The Congos’ album was issued via his Black Ark, limiting its global reach, and as such it was a cult burner until constant reissues assured its place in the reggae pantheon by end of the century.

Fair to say we were properly bitten by The Congos circa Blood & Fire’s ‘Fishermen Style’ album of versions by Horace Andy, Big Youth, Sugar Minott and many more in 2006, largely due the fact they were our office neighbours and you couldn’t get in to work without hearing it, accompanied by a waft of bush weed, during that year. As such, the beatific harmonies of its swaying lead cut are hard imprinted on memory, and gave us a lil shiver when hearing it mixed in the air over the rooftops of Whalley Range during recent carni. Together with the peppery, machine-driven lilt of ‘Congoman’ (also available on deadly Carl Craig edit), the sublime stepper ‘Can’t Come In’, and Lee Perry leaning into the deepest vein of spooky roots reggae soul on ‘Ark of Covenant’, the whole thing is a best in class example of Jamaican songcraft and dance innovation in the late ’70s, finely balancing groove, mood, and some Xth factor of psychedelic, soul-tingling brilliance that hits like little else.