Founded in the mid-70s, Black Uhuru truly burst onto the reggae scene in the early 80s when Sly & Robbie took over the band's artistic direction and produced crucial albums such as Showcase, Sinsemilla, Red, Chill Out, and Anthem (a magnificent collection of their singles for Sly & Robbie's TAXI label is available on TAXI TRAXX, released by TABOU1 last year). Not only were the albums artistically groundbreaking, but the live shows were formidable. An avalanche of heavy, leaden drums and bass, augmented by guitars bordering on metal-rock thanks to the late Darryl Thompson, provided a foundation of rhythm and energy for Michael Rose's lead vocals and the backing harmonies of Duckie Simpson and Puma Jones. Black Uhuru's first US tour took place in 1982. At the time, reggae was in its infancy in the United States, and there were only three reggae radio shows in California: Doug Wendt in San Francisco, Roger Steffens in Los Angeles, and Lance Linares in Santa Cruz. In addition to his radio show on KUSP, Lance booked artists in Santa Cruz and worked with Soledad Prison to help inmates acquire vocational skills that could be used once they were released from prison. Lance contacted the Black Uhuru organization and offered to arrange a concert inside the prison itself. To his surprise, his idea was enthusiastically accepted, and the band performed to a packed house at Soledad Prison. What we hear on this double LP is the entire concert, which was broadcast live on KUSP. Its historical significance is enormous and can be compared to the reggae equivalent of American legend Johnny Cash's legendary live recording at Folsom. The concert was also video-recorded. We have restored the video using state-of-the-art technology and preserved key moments from the concert. Each of these videos can be viewed on a smartphone using the Artivive app. Once the app is installed, users can watch the videos by pointing their phone at the album cover photos (by Bruno Tilley) that are marked with the Artivive logo. TABOU1 is proud to be the first label to offer this augmented reality feature.
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