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Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution (Deluxe Edition)

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Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution (Deluxe Edition)

Steel Pulse - Handsworth Revolution (Deluxe Edition)

By Norman Darwen on Thursday, July 9, 2015 - Comment

The original 8 tracks augmented by 22 bonus tracks.

Sampler

Steel Pulse It is a little difficult to write about a release like this – the original album was such a ground-breaking event, a hard-hitting reggae album written from a Black British perspective, drawing on Jamaican Rasta roots reggae but subtly adding other more cosmopolitan influences.

After a couple of singles for small reggae labels, the Birmingham group announced their arrival nationwide in 1978 with the chart success of the single Ku Klux Klan (which allowed the group to appear on national television in full Klan robes, causing something of a storm), prefiguring the debut LP – Handsworth Revolution, one of the great albums – in any genre - of the 70s.

This two CD set presents the original album on the first CD, augmenting the original 40 minutes running time with rarer material originally issued on singles and one previously unissued dub. This related unissued material continues on the second disc, offering the listener six titles recorded for BBC disc jockey John Peel’s show, and almost a complete dub version of Handsworth Revolution, with Karl Pitterson acting as producer. In short then, this is a classic album that fully deserves this “deluxe” treatment. Even if you already have the original release or a more recent reissue, the bonus material makes this well worth investigating.