Bass Culture is an album by the Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, released in 1980 on the Island Records label. It was produced by Linton Kwesi Johnson and Dennis Bovell (credited as Blackbeard). Bovell, Lloyd "Jah Bunny" Donaldson and Webster Johnson were members of Matumbi.
| Bass Culture | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 9 May 1980 (UK) | |||
| Studio | Gooseberry Sound Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Dub poetry | |||
| Length | 31:28 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | Linton Kwesi Johnson Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell | |||
| Linton Kwesi Johnson chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+[2] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [3] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 7/10[4] |
The track "Reggae fi Peach" laments the death of Blair Peach, an activist who was killed in London during a clash with police officers while protesting with the Anti-Nazi League against a British National Front meeting in 1979.
Track listing
editAll tracks written by Linton Kwesi Johnson
- "Bass Culture" – 6:04
- "Street 66" – 3:43
- "Reggae fi Peach" – 3:09
- "Di Black Petty Booshwah" – 3:36
- "Inglan Is a Bitch" – 5:26
- "Loraine" – 4:08
- "Reggae Sounds" – 3:09
- "Two Sides of Silence" – 2:13
Personnel
edit- Linton Kwesi Johnson – vocals
- Floyd Lawson (tracks: 1, 6), Vivian Weathers (tracks: 2–5, 7–8) – bass
- Lloyd "Jah Bunny" Donaldson (tracks: 1, 3–8), Winston Curniffe (track: 2) – drums, percussion
- John Kpiaye – guitar
- Dennis Bovell, Webster Johnson – keyboards
- Dick Cuthell, Henry "Buttons" Tenyue – flugelhorn, trumpet
- Julio Finn – harmonica
- Clinton Bailey, Everald "Fari" Forrest – percussion
- James Danton – alto saxophone
- Henry "Buttons" Tenyue – tenor saxophone
- Rico – trombone
- Technical
- Dennis Bovell – engineer, mixing
- John Caffrey, Mark Angelo Lusardi – engineer
- Dennis Morris – sleeve concept and design
References
edit- ^ Dougan, John. "Bass Culture – Linton Kwesi Johnson". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1990). "Linton Kwesi Johnson: Bass Culture". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- ^ Sherlock, Dev (2004). "Linton Kwesi Johnson". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 436–37. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. 1995. p. 202.