PRESSURE DROP - Reggae in the Seventies
John Masouri
(Omnibus Press)
Published 5th September
Pressure Drop - Reggae in the Seventies by John Masouri will be published by Omnibus Press on September 5th. I won’t lie, you’re gonna need muscles for this one, for the physical and intellectual heft of this body of work. An adaptive neuropsychological capacity and integrity will be required. Or you can just read 624 immersive pages mapping the territory of 1970s reggae in Jamaica and Britain. Halcyon days of course. But of course people would want to tell you that. That way no one will talk about Protoje or Koffee (billions of viewers worldwide) when they can slip ‘Two Sevens Clash’ onto the radio, comfortable in the knowledge that that is no longer uniquely unsettling at all. That’s not a criticism of Culture or this book. Documentation, endless archiving is important and I can’t think of a music book this year I am more excited about. I’m just enervated by the constant looking back in music and culture, the deifying the past and when I dream, I dream of someone’s, the someone’s who can take my hand and help onwards on my way on. I guess before we do that we need to know how we got here.
What you gonna gets? Well those 624 pages are incredibly researched. Beginning in 1970 and following a tumultuous decade during which reggae was the soundtrack on the frontline of change. The backdrop is political upheaval, gang warfare, Black Nationalism, race and class discrimination and grinding poverty.
The class discrimination and the raging forces that wrought is where John Masouri and Jon Savage (England’s Dreaming) stand some comparison.
Pressure Drop provides an indubitable insight into the 70s major artists and their unforgettable recordings. Burning Spear are here. Witness Chris Blackwell, Gregory Isaacs, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, U-Roy, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Augustus Pablo, Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, Sly & Robbie, Dennis Bovell and Don Letts all bear witness. With first hand anecdotes about Bob Marley and Peter Tosh and a sideways slide to ska revival superstars, The Specials too. I need to catch my breath after that, so let’s let John Masouri explain, “I decided to write the story of 70s reggae in the way I did - as it unfolded - because that's how I and fans of the music first experienced it. We eagerly awaited each new release or tour and read about the latest developments in the music press or news reports from Jamaica, thanks mainly to The Voice and Daily Gleaner.”
“Nailed in great detail, Pressure Drop is a testament to bass - Jamaica’s gift to the world and the culture that came with it.” Don Letts
“That all the artists mentioned in the book were able to achieve what they did in a time of such political turmoil, economic hardship and growing social unrest was nothing short of miraculous." John Masouri says, "Their hard work, courage and imagination turned the Caribbean island they proudly represented into one of the most enduring centres of musical influence the world has known, lauded by fans, creatives, academics, and UNESCO who, in 2018, designated reggae as an 'intangible cultural heritage of humanity.'"
John Masouri is an author and music journalist with an international reputation specialising in reggae and dancehall. His music journalism has been published, chiefly in Echoes Magazine in the UK; in Mojo, Music Week, The Guardian, Observer and NME and throughout Europe. John’s previous books include a trilogy centred on Bob Marley and the Wailers, Steppin’ Razor: The Life Of Peter Tosh, Simmer Down: Marley-Tosh-Livingston and Wailing Blues, an authorised biography of Marley’s backing group the Wailers. He has recently worked on the autobiography of Marcia Griffiths (looking forward to that).
Pressure Drop is a must have book for anyone who switched on a pop radio station or streamed a song in the past 50 years. It is a clear path cut through the bracken of music and politics, and is alive with what you don’t know yet. A book like Pressure Drop, is essential if we are at all going to keep the pressure on. Joan Didion might say, “Information, information, information…” Information is what we need. This honours the superstars and changes the game.
Essential Information
Main Image: Patti Smith and Winston Rodney by Ted Bafaloukos
Pressure Drop – Reggae in the Seventies
John Masouri
Published 5th September
ISBN: 9781913172848
Pressure Drop can be ordered/pre-ordered here→
