17 North Parade reissues the iconic release of Horace Andy’s In The Light and its Prince Jammy dub companion on all formats including vinyl, CD and digital. The collection was released on the legendary Jamaican Rastafarian singer’s 65th birthday (February 19) and includes never-before-seen photos in the packaging and newly commissioned sleeve notes written by reggae historian Harry Wise.
Originally released in 1977, In The Light is rightly regarded as one of Horace Andy’s strongest testaments. In 1977, Horace Andy recorded this legendary album for Everton Dasilva. The two forged a musical partnership, but it came to an erupt end two years later when Dasilva was murdered in NYC. In 1995, the revered label Blood & Fire reissued this classic for the first time.
Harry Wise discusses these key releases in more depth in this excerpt from set’s liner notes.
{The majority of ‘In The Light’ was recorded in Kingston and featured a selection of new songs and updates of two old favourites, ‘Fever’ and ‘Problems’. Horace set ‘Problems’ over a new cut to ‘Mr Bassie’ which was later versioned by Augustus Pablo as ‘Pablo Meets Mr Bassie’ for his Rockers label.
Everton DaSilva not only enjoyed a close working relationship with Augustus Pablo but also with a number of other top Kingston session musicians many of whom are featured on this set. Their sterling contribution is highlighted on the accompanying dub album entitled, naturally enough, ‘In The Light Dub’ and simultaneously released as a separate album. Mixed by King “Lloyd James” Jammy, while he was still Prince Jammy, at King Tubby’s Dromilly Avenue studio the set remains one of the handful of outstanding, if understated, dub albums of the seventies. Jammy’s mixing reveals higher heights and deeper depths to Horace Andy’s songs and is sufficiently sympathetic to allow the exemplary musicianship to stand proud. }
Currently, Andy is on the road with long-time collaborators Massive Attack for a mostly sold-out 30-city tour spanning Europe until the end of February. The final show is this Saturday (Feb. 27) in Paris, France at the Zenith. Andy forged a relationship with the English trip hop trio in the mid-’90s and recorded a number of hits together including “One Love,” “Angel” and “Five Man Army.”