Heart of the Congos is a roots reggae

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...

 album by The Congos

The Congos

The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica active on and off from the mid-1970s until the present day. They are best known for their Heart of the Congos album, recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry.-History:...

, produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry at his Black Ark

Black Ark

The Black Ark was the recording studio of reggae and dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, built in 1973 and located behind his family's home in the Washington Gardens neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica...

 studio with a studio band including Boris Gardiner

Boris Gardiner

Boris Gardiner is a Jamaican singer, songwriter and bass guitarist.-Career:Gardiner performed on the tourist circuit for much of the 1960s and was a member of Carlos Malcolm & the Afro Caribs and Byron Lee's Dragonaires...

 on bass and Ernest Ranglin

Ernest Ranglin

Ernest Ranglin O.D. is a Jamaican guitarist and composer. Best known for his session work at the famed Studio One, Ranglin helped give birth to the ska genre in the late 1950s...

 on guitar. The album was released in 1977. It is noted as being one of Perry's masterpiece productions of the Black Ark

Black Ark

The Black Ark was the recording studio of reggae and dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, built in 1973 and located behind his family's home in the Washington Gardens neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica...

 era.

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

Track listing

All tracks written by Cedric Myton

Cedric Myton

Cedric Myton born in Jamaica is a Reggae musician and Rastafarian. Myton played with Prince Lincoln Thompson in The Tartans in the early 1970s until they apparently fell out. Cedric Myton claims he was one of the backing harmony vocals on Prince Lincoln's Humanity album recorded in 1975, but he is...

 and Roydel Johnson

Roydel Johnson

Roydel Anthony Johnson , better known as Congo Ashanti Roy is a Jamaican reggae singer best known as a member of The Congos but who also recorded solo and as a member of Ras Michael's Sons of Negus.-Biography:...

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

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"
   12-inch single
   The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
   
    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

Black Ark

The Black Ark was the recording studio of reggae and dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, built in 1973 and located behind his family's home in the Washington Gardens neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica...

 1976–77, Cardiff Crescent, Washington Gardens, Kingston

Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

, Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

• The Congos - Cedric Myton
  Cedric Myton
  Cedric Myton born in Jamaica is a Reggae musician and Rastafarian. Myton played with Prince Lincoln Thompson in The Tartans in the early 1970s until they apparently fell out. Cedric Myton claims he was one of the backing harmony vocals on Prince Lincoln's Humanity album recorded in 1975, but he is...
  
   and Roy "Ashanti" Johnson
• Bass - Boris Gardiner
  Boris Gardiner
  Boris Gardiner is a Jamaican singer, songwriter and bass guitarist.-Career:Gardiner performed on the tourist circuit for much of the 1960s and was a member of Carlos Malcolm & the Afro Caribs and Byron Lee's Dragonaires...
  
  , Geoffrey Chung
  Geoffrey Chung
  Geoffrey Chung was a Jamaican musician, recording engineer, and record producer.-Biography:Chung was born in 1950 in Kingston, Jamaica...
  
   (on "Fisherman")
• Drums - Lowell "Sly" Dunbar
  Sly Dunbar
  Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
  
  , Mikey "Boo" Richards, Paul (on "Fisherman")
• Rhythm guitar - Robert "Billy" Johnson
• Lead guitar - Ernest Ranglin
  Ernest Ranglin
  Ernest Ranglin O.D. is a Jamaican guitarist and composer. Best known for his session work at the famed Studio One, Ranglin helped give birth to the ska genre in the late 1950s...
  
  
• Organ - Winston "Brubeck" Wright (bass on "Congoman")
• Piano - Keith Stewart
• Percussions - Noel "Skully" Simms
  Noel Simms
  Noel Simms , often known by his nickname Scully, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae percussionist and singer.-Biography:...
  
  , Uziah "Sticky" Thompson
  Uziah Thompson
  Uziah "Sticky" Thompson is a Jamaican percussionist, vocalist and deejay active since the late 1950s. He has worked with some of the best known performers of Jamaican music and played on hundreds of albums.-Biography:...
  
  , Lee Perry
• Backing vocals - The Meditations
  The Meditations
  The Meditations are a reggae vocal harmony group from Jamaica formed in late 1974. They have released several studio albums and are still performing in the 2000s and today.-History:...
  
  , Watty "King" Burnett
  Watty Burnett
  Watty Burnett, also known as King Burnett is a reggae artist who had a long association with Lee Perry.-Biography:...
  
  , Gregory Isaacs
  Gregory Isaacs
  Gregory Anthony Isaacs was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in the New York Times, described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae". His nicknames include Cool Ruler and Lonely Lover....
  
  (on "La La Bam-Bam"), Earl Morgan and Barry Llewellyn (on "La La Bam-Bam"), Candy McKenzie (on "Children Crying")

External links

• List of different versions of the album