Black Uhuru - Red

While Sinsemilla found Black Uhuru in transition, the follow-up Red, finds the band completely assured and sounding just as legendary as the golden-age of reggae it subsequently replaced.
With Bob Marley in the throes of cancer during this time, many reggae supporters were looking for the heir to the throne and Black Uhuru’s leader, Michael Rose, sounds ready for the challenge. An album of overly political themes, it surpasses some of the landmark albums that reggae contributed in the seventies, and that includes some of Marley’s own work.
In the classic “Youth Of Eglington,” Rose slyly nods to The Clash’s “Guns of Brixton,” pleading for an end to Jamaican violence (“The youths of Eglinton/Won't put down their Remington/The youth of Brixton /They brave their 45 Smith & Wesson pistol pistol”).
“Sponji Reggae,” probably the album’s most well-known track, documents the distracters that Rose faced during the pursuit of his music dream.
Again, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare are the pair that bring Red to a higher level entirely. Not only are the rhythms precise (as usual), they incorporate some additional electronics that served as some of the same production strategies for the rest of the decade.
Not only does Black Uhuru meet the expectations set forth during Sinsemilla, they exceed it. Red is perhaps the band’s pinnacle achievements and one of reggae music’s most essential records in history.