True Democracy (1982)
14 tracks, 62 minutes (2005 CD reissue)
(This album seems to have disappeared off any streaming or digital download services for some reason, but you can still listen to it on YouTube and buy a well cheap second-hand CD copy on Amazon.)
Honesty time. You’ll find a few video game soundtracks on this blog over the year. This ain’t one of them, but even though Steel Pulse are one of the most exquisite reggae groups ever (certainly to come out of the UK), I first came to them via the PS2 skating game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, which featured one of the tracks from their album African Holocaust on the soundtrack. I sort of feel ashamed at that, but that’s bullshit – it doesn’t matter how you hear about great music, only that you do. So in the spirit of loving my life, I dedicate today’s post to Tony Hawk and the music supervisor of the game that bears his name, Brandon Young.
Non-musical things first: Steel Pulse is a wicked band name. Don’t get what it’s supposed to mean, but it sounds cool anyway (a quick Google tells me it’s from the name of a racehorse, which is boring. Ignorance is bliss, I guess). The cover is also groovy – and it tells you that you’re gonna hear some truth when you stick the record on.
Obviously, it’s top-notch, musically. Steel Pulse were already notorious by the time True Democracy came out; it’s their fourth album, and their first releases included the legendary Handsworth Revolution. But this is the one for me. The themes are rather serious and political for most of it, but the music is still a fun listen, good for bounce-skanking around a dancefloor. It’s quite bluesy and there’s occasional rocky bits, but in the most part it’s just sublime roots reggae.
The top track is definitely ‘Worth His Weight in Gold (Rally Round),’ an anthem for Garveyism and Black liberation. It’s just a perfect reggae piece, really. Angry and insightful lyrics, a bunch of really catchy hooks, and a groove that feels like it could go on all night. Which is good, because the track comes around twice, at the end of both sides if you’re listening on the LP: the original finishes Side A, and its dub ‘Dub’ Marcus Say’ at the end of Side B. Lovely.
The copy that I have, the remastered CD version from 2005, also contains a handful of extended 12” and dubbed-out versions of album tracks. I’m always up for a dub version of pretty much anything (the heavier the better), and with such a high-quality album of reggae to work off, this additional material slots perfectly in place.
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