Barack Starliner--Culture-Two Sevens Clash

Alone In The Wilderness
2077 Right Around The Corner

Two Sevens Clash is one of my favorite reggae albums. Simply put, a beautiful spiritual record with soaring harmonies and passionate testifying. All the Rastafari themes are here, being thrown out of Zion, being trapped in Babylon, the possibility of future redemption, fighting injustice, and other references to biblical prophecy. Also songs called for allegiance to Rastafari and defiance to those who opposed their beliefs. There was a feeling something portentous was going to happen the year when the "sevens clashed" in 1977. Apparently on July 7 of that year there were many apprehensive people in Jamaica who spent the day in their homes. For me 1977 is also a strong reference to the explosion of the British punk rock movement, which also embraced reggae.

This was the first album by Culture, led by lead singer Joseph Hill and Albert Walker and Kenneth Dayes.
First off is Get Ready To Ride The Lion to Zion, referring to Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, who stood fought to maintain the independence of his nation against colonialism. He became a messianic symbol for the Rastafari movement and is revered as such. Black Starliner Must Come is a reference to the boat that would return the lost tribe back to Mother Africa and the repatriation movement of Nationalist Marcus Garvey. The main song on the album is of course the title track the ominous Two Sevens Clash, Joseph Hill's prophetic vision of a pending judgement day. The song was a huge hit in Jamaica. Because the music connects on a personal level, coming from the perspective of an ordinary individual.

Of course recommending this album is a little silly, like me putting my 2 cents in for Rubber Soul, or Highway 61 Revisited. It's one of the greatest reggae discs ever, hope and joy mixing with sadness, suffering, and perseverance. The album is almost like a philosophical treatise or just a state of mind. I'm Alone in the Wilderness is another standout here, as is the defiant See Them A Come, the spirituality of Calling Rasta Far I, and the concluding track I'm Not Ashamed. Of course having Joseph Gibbs is singing lead is a huge recommendation in itself. You will be well rewarded by having this powerfully moving album in your personal collection.

I don't pretend for a second to be an expert in Rastafari or Reggae, but I do wonder whether Barack Obama's election as President would someday wind up as part of the tenets of the movement. After all, back in the thirties, Selassie fought off colonialism and oppression. Now the biggest power in the Western World has a man of African descent in charge, the first time this has happened in any First World nation. He's a guy working from the inside. I guess maybe we will just see how things play out. I consider him to be an intelligent man of high principles. This could all be a new omen. If he has the time, the opportunities, and good fortune, who knows, someday our President could one day become a revered figure in the Rastafari pantheon, from Hawaiian to Zion.