Headline News

Capital Letters mashed up the U.K. sound systems in 1978 with "Smoking My Ganja," a punchy rockers styled single with a distinctly British flavor. The irrepressible song wafted straight up the reggae chart, prompting the Greensleeves label to send the group into the studio with Chris Cracknell to record a full-length. Headline News arrived in the new year, immediately garnering critical acclaim and sending reggae fans running to the shops. Hailing from Wolverhampton, the Letters were a big band, eight-strong (adding another guitarist/vocalist for their 1979 John Peel radio session), and boasting four vocalists, two drummers (one the conga player) and two percussionists, among their ranks. In Jamaica, brass and/or organ filled out the arrangements, the Letters, however, used percussion, giving the band a surprisingly fleshy, rhythm driven sound. And then there's keyboardist Earl Lynch, a decided jazz fan, who unlike his Jamaican counterparts didn't provide atmospheres to the songs, but a snazzy flare instead, a predilection best heard on "Rumours" and "Run Run Run." However, it's the album's opening track, "Fire," that best epitomizes the band at their bubbly roots reggae best, a song driven by a plethora of propulsive beats and percussion, a compulsive bassline, sharp reggae guitar, bouncy keyboards, and infectious vocals. Elsewhere, bass player Junior Brown shines on "Daddy Was No Murderer," while the entire band swaggers across the more free-form styled roots reggae instrumental "Buzz Rock."