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THE CONGOS with A-Team Band
March 4, 1997
SOB's
New York City
The
Congos rolled into New York on March 4th still flush with the high critical
praise being doled out for the reissue of their classic album HEART OF THE
CONGOS.This was their second visit to the area in the past few months and
though Congo Ashanti Roy was conspicuously absent for this performance,
the rest of the group worked hard to continue their reputation for strong
performances. The set list was mostly culled from that previously mentioned
twenty-year-old album with a few songs thrown in from NATTY DREAD RISE AGAIN,
their newest release on RAS Records. While I think it's sad not to hear
a broader range of material from a group that has been around for such a
long time, especially by reggae standards, from the moment The Congos hit
the stage to the off-kilter skank of "Congo Man," all thoughts
of that nature were tossed from my mind. As soon as the group began assailing
the audience with their trademark unearthly harmonies, I was lost in the
sounds of one of the most unique groups in reggae.
I
had always thought a lot of the success of HEART OFTHE CONGOS was due to
the production of Lee Perry. Seeing the group live, however, made me realize
that the real force behind the music (and perhaps its most important aspect)
is not Perry's studio tricks, but the vocal blend of the singers. Though
they were missing Roy's strong tenor voice in the mix, Cedric Mylton and
Watty, along with backup singers Kim Miller and Bunny Brissett, managed
to create a hypnotizing blend that carried the show all night. Cedric, in
fact, had to keep switching from his falsetto to the tenor parts in an attempt
to compensate for Roy's absence. Watty's deep, deep bass voice rattled the
speakers throughout the set, and anchored the sound. The music was provided
by the esteemed A TEAM Band, who sounded most powerful during a brief dub-out
on "Ark Of The Covenant." The material from HEART OF THE CONGOS
came across the best live-- "Sodom and Gomorrow," "Children
Crying," and "Row Fisherman Row" were all highlights of the
evening and sounded as fresh as the day they were recorded.The whole set had such an inspirational effect on the audience that one young dread took to the stage after the encore, grabbed the mike and praised Jah until host Simon Templar had to cut him off. At times during the evening, I think each of us in the audience had a moment like that, where the relentless throb of the music and wailing of the singers drove us to praise the most high and thank him for letting us have the Congos on stage once in a while. And while the entire performance was not at that high peak throughout, it featured so many great moments that it became a show I won't easily forget.
By Lem
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::
Sanchez :: Sugar Minott Dec 3, 2002 New York City ::
Jr Kelly ::
Frankie Paul ::
Sugar
Minott ::
The Meditations
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