8.0 REVIEW ON PITCHFORK : Though 40 years have passed between albums, roots reggae legend Max Romeo's latest picks up right where the classic Lee 'Scratch' Perry-produced War Ina Babylon left off.
Max Romeo (born Maxwell Livingston Smith, 22 November 1944) is a roots reggae recording artist that has achieved critical acclaim and chart success worldwide, with a recording career spanning 50 years. From his humble beginnings in Jamaica with the Emotions harmony group, Max's distinctive voice was soon picked up by the island's top producers, and he began his career as a powerful solo artist.
His 1968 world smash 'Wet Dream,' the Bunny Lee-produced 'song that nobody wanted to sing,' propelled Max onto the global stage with the track reaching Number 10 in the UK charts, despite being banned by the BBC, and it also hit the Number 1 chart position in Jamaica.
In 1971, Max's Let The Power Fall album set the path for the renowned political and social commentary that make his songs so powerfully relevant. In fact, the Leftist People's National Party (PNP) chose 'Let The Power Fall' as their theme song for the 1972 Jamaican general election. Max had been working sporadically with innovative producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry during the same era, but things reached another level in 1975, when Max began working on the excellent concept album Revelation Time at Perry's legendary Black Ark studio. 1976 saw the pair collaborate on what is certainly Max's best-known album to date, the internationally successful War Ina Babylon. Pairing the Black Ark version of Perry's oft-changing Upsetters band, with Lee Perry's inventive production, Tony Wright's fantastic hand-painted cover, and Max's insightful lyrics; all produced what is rated as one of the best roots reggae albums ever released. The album included hit songs such as 'War In A Babylon' and 'Chase The Devil', the latter becoming the most sampled reggae song to date.
We now fast forward to contemporary times, to find that Max has teamed up with British producer Daniel Boyle, who had recently finished a long stint working with Lee 'Scratch' Perry on rekindling the Black Ark sound for a number of releases, which culminated in the acclaimed & award winning album ''Back On The Controls''.
Daniel's vision for the Max Romeo project was to take the rekindled Black Ark studio set up, which he and Lee had created at Daniel's Rolling Lion studio in London, and blend a mix of the old and new with it, to create a follow-on from War Ina Babylon. The idea was to make a truly heavyweight roots reggae album; driven by Max Romeo's powerful and conscious lyrics.
For this project, Daniel and Max rounded up some of Lee Perry's old Upsetters line-up, including Vin Gordon on trombone, Robbie Lyn on keyboards, and Glen DaCosta on saxophone, blending these veteran Jamaican studio legends with Daniel's ever evolving 'Rolling Lion All Stars' session band, to create a reggae super group, with some added input from Lee 'Scratch' Perry himself on percussion, effects and backing vocals.
To complete the concept, Daniel connected with Tony Wright, who was bought on to design and hand-paint the cover art. Tony was responsible for hand painting many famous album covers during the 1970s and beyond, including Bob Marley and the Wailers' Natty Dread, Lee Perry's seminal dub album Super Ape, Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves, Ijahman Levi's Haile I Hymn, and many more...
The album plan was now in place. Max and Daniel thus headed into the studio throughout 2015, to create a set of ultra-heavyweight deep roots reggae tracks, with Max penning all original lyrics drawn from events taking place in the world we are living in today. Unfortunately, many of the same issues that prompted Max to write his deep social commentary on War Ina Babylon, are as ever-present today as they were back in the 1970s. So the writing sessions focused on the problems the world is facing in the 21st Century. Therefore, the album title was born, because, in Max's own words, 'We as a human race, are living in a real horror zone...'
The music was written, and the rhythm tracks arranged. So Daniel decided to continue the 1970s theme that the music was demanding, and set about recording the songs, with a classic Lo-Fi approach - Raw, rough round the edges 'Roots' style recordings, tracked live; but utilising the best vintage equipment available in the present day. A heady mix of original Fairchild, Decca, Neve, RCA, Gates and Teletronix compressors, Decca, Pultec and Neve EQ's. RCA, Grampian and Telefunken microphones, and a vintage Neve console; were used to record the music. With a focus on capturing Lee Perry's classic Black Ark 'Lo-Fi' drum sound. Max's vocals were then recorded using a beautiful, original 1950's RCA 44-BX Ribbon microphone. The tracks were then taken to Daniel's Rolling Lion Studio, where Lee Perry arrived to add percussion, effects for the dub versions; and backing vocals. Using similar units to those that had been in the Black Ark, including the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase, Grampian reverb and the Roland Space Echo. Daniel then mixed the tracks and created a set of ultra-deep & heavy dub versions, all blended together on his vintage British, Trident 80B console. All culminating, with a true mix of veteran and modern players, working with vintage analogue equipment; recorded, mixed and dubbed in the present day — A real blend of the old and the new. The concept was then taken to Tony Wright, who designed the stunning artwork, hand-painted in oils, taking the woman he featured on the 'War Ina Babylon' cover; and bringing her into our modern day world—the real 'Horror Zone.'
ROLLING LION STUDIO 2016