Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Heart of the Congos

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Released
  
1977

Artist
  
The Congos

Label
  
Black Ark Studios

Genre
  
Roots reggae

Heart of the Congos (1977)
  
Congo (1979)

Release date
  
1977

Producer
  
Lee "Scratch" Perry

Heart of the Congos httpsimagesnasslimagesamazoncomimagesI6

Recorded
  
1976–1977, Black Ark, Kingston, Jamaica

Similar
  
The Congos albums, Roots reggae albums, Other albums

Heart of the Congos is a roots reggae album by The Congos, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry at his Black Ark studio with a studio band including Boris Gardiner on bass and Ernest Ranglin on guitar. The album was released in 1977. It is noted as being one of Perry's masterpiece productions of the Black Ark era.

Contents

The first issue of the LP in Jamaica was a very limited release said to consist of only several hundred copies. This first release has never been officially re-issued on either LP or CD (although an 'unofficial' CD release, sourced from the original LP, was released in 2004 by CORN-FED Productions, based in Amsterdam). All editions subsequent to the first Jamaica release feature a 2nd, substantially different, mix by Lee Perry.

The album was listed in the 1999 book The Rough Guide: Reggae: 100 Essential CDs.

Pitchfork Media ranked the record at #46 on its "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s".

The congos heart of the congos 01 fisherman


Track listing

All tracks written by Cedric Myton and Roydel Johnson, except tracks 1 and 2 written by Cedric Myton, Roydel Johnson and Lee Perry.

Side one

  1. "Fisherman"
  2. "Congoman"
  3. "Open Up the Gate"
  4. "Children Crying"
  5. "La La Bam-Bam"

Side two

  1. "Can't Come In"
  2. "Sodom and Gomorrow"
  3. "The Wrong Thing"
  4. "Ark of the Covenant"
  5. "Solid Foundation"

CD one

  1. "Fisherman"
  2. "Congoman"
  3. "Open up the Gate"
  4. "Children Crying"
  5. "La La Bam-Bam"
  6. "Can't Come In"
  7. "Sodom and Gomorrow"
  8. "The Wrong Thing"
  9. "Ark of the Covenant"
  10. "Solid Foundation"
  11. "At the Feast"
  12. "Nicodemus"

CD two

  1. "Congoman" (12" mix)
  2. "Congoman Chant"
  3. "Bring the Mackaback"
  4. "Noah Sugar Pan"
  5. "Solid Foundation" (Disco Cork Mix)

Personnel

Produced by The Congos and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Recorded at the Black Ark 1976–77, Cardiff Crescent, Washington Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica.

  • The Congos - Cedric Myton and Roy "Ashanti" Johnson
  • Bass - Boris Gardiner, Geoffrey Chung (on "Fisherman")
  • Drums - Lowell "Sly" Dunbar, Mikey "Boo" Richards, Paul (on "Fisherman")
  • Rhythm guitar - Robert "Billy" Johnson
  • Lead guitar - Ernest Ranglin
  • Organ - Winston "Brubeck" Wright (bass on "Congoman")
  • Piano - Keith Stewart
  • Percussions - Noel "Skully" Simms, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson, Lee Perry
  • Backing vocals - The Meditations, Watty "King" Burnett, Gregory Isaacs (on "La La Bam-Bam"), Earl Morgan and Barry Llewellyn (on "La La Bam-Bam"), Candy McKenzie (on "Children Crying")

    • Songs

    1Fisherman5:18
    2Congo Man4:51
    3Open Up the Gate4:30

    References

    Heart of the Congos Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA