Today I’m sharing the original, unreleased recording of the Grammy Award-winning ‘Anthem’ album by Black Uhuru.  The album that Island released in 1984 contains these same tracks, however, the tracks on the Island release were substantially edited in order to make the album more appealing to the rock/pop listener.  The original mix of the album – which is presented here – is the Anthem album just the way Duckie, Michael, and Puma envisioned and recorded it.  All tracks are in their original, full-length, un-edited mix.

The Anthem album was the very first reggae album to win a Grammy Award – the pinnacle of music awards in the U.S.  The album, composed primarily by Derrick “Duckie” Simpson, describes the difficulty of righteous living, anger at the state of the world, and calls down blessings upon children around the world. The track “Black Uhuru Anthem” is the closest to a manifesto the band would ever get, encompassing the members’ religious devotion, militant politics, and cultural concerns. Sly & Robbie, sympathetic to Uhuru’s aim, keep the arrangement and production relatively straightforward, creating a rootsy backdrop with Darryl Thompson’s lovely, almost jangly guitar leads accentuating the song’s melody. It’s a lovely piece and one of the highlights of the group’s Grammy-winning Anthem album.

My personal favorite, and without a doubt my favorite Uhuru tune of all time, is the thumping and dreadful “Bull In The Pen,” which describes something that every human being can relate to in this crazy, unjust, and evil world – contained rage. 

“Fence cyan hold, too much bull inna de pen…”

Interesting nugget:  Steven Van Zandt AKA Little Steven of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band and HBO’s Sopranos fame wrote and produced the hit “Solidarity.”