Culture: Roots Reggae's Righteous Voice

Back in the early 90s, while attending college in London, Ontario, Canada, my buddy Aaron and I’d made the drive back and forth to Toronto on a regular basis, and it was on these numerous rides that we’d stack the pockets with our cassettes - road trip soundtracks, and one of our favourites was Two Seven’s Clash by Culture. Fire up the engine, insert the tape and kick off with See Them A Come, one of my all-time favourite cuts, and we’d be jacked up and ready to roll. During college, Aaron, I, and another buddy, Marcus, journeyed to Toronto to catch Culture at The Great Hall - to say this was a magical musical night would be doing it a disservice. We had balcony seats right above the stage, so we could catch everything up close. Seeing Hill with the backup singers, lock-step groove, sweet harmonies - it was an out-of-body experience, that could have been down to the little spliff that we’d partaken in beforehand, but whatever the reason, this concert, the countless hours of being on the road have left music of Culture indelibly marked in my musical consciousness. So today I shine the musical spotlight back to the early years of Culture in the mix

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Culture: Roots Reggae’s Most Righteous Voice

Jamaica in the mid-70s was a pressure cooker. Political violence, poverty, and a deep spiritual hunger for something beyond the immediate reality of Kingston’s yards and tenements all found a voice in roots reggae, and few groups channelled that voice more purely than Culture. The group came together in 1976, initially calling themselves the African Disciples: Joseph Hill on lead vocals, his cousin Albert “Ralph” Walker, and Roy “Kenneth” Dayes on harmonies. Hill had already put in his time as a percussionist with the Soul Defenders, the house band at the legendary Studio One, and had been working the sound system circuit for years before stepping out front. He knew the machinery of Jamaican music from the inside. They rebranded as Culture, found their producers in Joe Gibbs and engineer Errol Thompson, and cut a run of singles that crackled with urgency, among them “Two Sevens Clash.” The song predicted apocalyptic consequences for 7 July 1977. When that date arrived, large numbers of Jamaicans reportedly stayed home. Shops closed. People waited. The record had crossed the line from music into prophecy.

Those singles became the backbone of their 1977 debut album, also titled Two Sevens Clash — dense with Rastafarian theology, political fury, and some of the tightest three-part harmonies in reggae. Rolling Stone would later name it one of the 50 all-time coolest records ever made, the only reggae album to make that list. Not a bad debut. After the Gibbs sessions, Culture moved to producer Sonia Pottinger’s High Note label, one of the very few labels run by women in Jamaican music at the time. She brought in the best session players available: Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar in the rhythm section, Ansel Collins on keys, Cedric Brooks on horns, and percussionist Sticky. The result was a run of records that still holds up: Harder Than the Rest (1978), Cumbolo (1979), and International Herb (1979). Three albums in roughly two years, each one focused and fully realised.

The UK connection proved crucial. Two Sevens Clash had been finding its way into the hands of British punk fans as much as reggae fans, largely through John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show, and it charted at number 60 on the UK Albums Chart in April 1978. Virgin Records signed the group to its Front Line imprint, giving Culture international distribution just as their output was peaking. At the time of the first Rolling Stone Record Guide, Culture was the only act in any genre whose entire catalogue received five-star reviews across the board. The original lineup dissolved in 1981, but reunited in 1986 and returned with two strong albums rather than coasting on reputation. The 1990s brought further records on Shanachie and Ras Records, often with Sly and Robbie back in the rhythm section.

Joseph Hill died in August 2006 while on tour in Europe, collapsing mid-performance. What happened next became part of the Culture story in its own right. His son Kenyatta stepped up and completed the remaining nineteen shows of the tour. Critics and fans were stunned. The voices were eerily similar, the conviction just as real. The phrase that circulated afterwards said it plainly: magic, not tragic. Kenyatta has led the group ever since, alongside original founding member Albert Walker. Fifty years on, Two Sevens Clash still sounds like a warning.

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PLAYLIST

1. Culture - Iron Sharpening Iron - 2000 Digital Remaster

2. Culture - See Them A Come

3. Culture - The International Herb

4. Culture - Behold I Come

5. Culture - Two Sevens Clash

6. Culture - Them A Payaka

7. Culture - Stop The Fussing And Fighting - 2000 Digital Remaster

8. Culture - I'm Not Ashamed

9. Culture - Natty Never Get Weary - Remastered 2000

10. Culture - Addis Ababa

11. Culture - Baldhead Bridge

12. Culture - Zion Gate

13. Culture - Tell Me Where You Get It - 2000 Digital Remaster

14. Culture - Down In Jamaica - 2000 Digital Remaster

15. Culture - Love Shine Bright - 2000 Digital Remaster

16. Culture - The Shepherd - 2001 Digital Remaster