Wednesday, March 11, 2009

TVD Victory Lap | Steel Pulse

Before we begin this morning, a few words to 99% of the audience at last night’s Fleetwood Mac concert at the Verizon Center:

Please. Just. Stop.
(Thank you.)

...Steel Pulse!

“In the mid-'70s, this young British sextet from Birmingham — inspired into existence by Bob Marley's Catch a Fire — found an affinity with the righteous rebellion of white new wavers and built its early reputation largely by touring punk venues (as documented on live anthology records from Manchester's Electric Circus and London's Hope and Anchor). Steel Pulse's crossover appeal derives in large part from its young, modern thoughtfulness, but even more so from the group's incredible strength as one of the world's very best self-contained reggae units.

Steel Pulse's virtues include a gorgeous, multi-textured musical palette (especially on the first album and much of Caught You), intelligent lyrics (most notably on Handsworth Revolution, but also on Tribute to the Martyrs), a wondrous, sinuously propulsive beat and sweet lead vocals by (David Hinds), who also has a nice quasi-scat style."

Couldn’t have said it any better than the Trouser Press quotes above. Oh, wait—maybe I can: outside of The (original) Wailers — best reggae band ...ever?


Steel Pulse - Soldiers (Mp3)
Steel Pulse - Sound System (Mp3)
Steel Pulse - Babylon Makes the Rules (Mp3)
Steel Pulse - Ku Klux Klan (Mp3)
Steel Pulse - Your House (Mp3)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I caught these guys in Montreal one summer night, playing in a tucked-away memorial hall of some sort. Tight band. They were great entertainment & full of energy onstage. Outside The Wailers, though, the best reggae band was The Roots Radics.

annalene said...

Saw this band at Outside Lands over the summer in SF, they were great, pretty much blew me away

davyh said...

Lovin' it, especially given the reggae tip I'm on right now. No coffee fogging my screen, but I think I'll go make a cheese and pickle sandwich.