Steel Pulse - Peel Session 1977 

Steel Pulse's first Peel session is gold! I'm sure there are still many of you out there not familiar with Steel Pulse. Let's recount the scene back in the mid 1970's. First off, this is a BRITISH band, not Jamaican and their audience at the outset was largely black youth born in England. They loved Bob Marley and the Wailers and embraced Rastafarianism. This new music in Britain was fueled mostly by self contained bands, not by individual singers and these bands found great success not only in England but in other countries like Germany, France and USA. Birmingham's Steel Pulse was the most successful of all these UK bands, touring extensively. (They are the reggae band I have seen more than any other since they frequently toured with punk bands here in America.) They were formed in 1975 by three friends in the Handsworth area of Birmingham. Originally a trio with a couple of singles, they expanded to a septet and that is what gives their music such a unique, layered sound. When they signed to Island Records (Bob Marley's label) they were exposed to a much larger audience and their debut LP Handsworth Revolution, delivered the goods in spades. This is a CLASSIC ROOTS REGGAE ALBUM and left little doubt that a non Jamaican band could play reggae with the best of them. Got to big up the man John Peel again. This session was recorded about 10 months BEFORE the release of Handsworth Revolution. So once again he had the foresight to champion a band way before anyone else. All four of these Peel session songs appeared on that album so these are early versions of very famous songs, and as such are fascinating to hear. Steel Pulse were joined by Aswad, Cimarons, Misty In Roots, Black Slate, Matumbi, Capitol Letters, and Black Roots in the flowering of reggae in England. These bands proved beyond a doubt that first class reggae could be created outside Jamaica. (The excellent Vibracobra channel also has other reggae Peel sessions such as Culture, The Wailers, Prince Far I and Aswad.)

What a gem! My favourite British reggae band erver and Reggae Fever is one of my all time favourite reggae songs. It has to be about 40 years ago, now: Handsworth Revolution.

Wha!? Very clean recording and classic performance by the band. What a great surprise!

So great...I saw Steel Pulse in Berkeley, Houston, and Maui in the early to mid 1990s

Great band, saw them at Reading, must be 40 years ago

Wow💪🏽💙

TREMENDAS estas Peel Sesion!!

Nice!

superb

Bad man

Righteous. Dred.

What a surprise !! 😳 Where did this gem spring from?

Is the Cobra hibernating??