Max Romeo Horror Zone

It's nearly impossible to summarize the 50-year career of Jamaican legend Maxwell Livingston Smith in a single paragraph. His track "Chase the Devil" is the most-sampled reggae song in history (by Jay Z and The Prodigy, among others), while Joe Strummer regularly played "A Quarter pound of I'cense" in his live sets. Romeo's first brush with authority came in 1968 when hit single "Wet Dream" was banned by the BBC and, as the 70s arrived, he proceeded to develop into one of reggae's most political voices. In this respect, not much has changed: His new album is being billed as a "follow-on" to the 1977 landmark War Ina Babylon, a heavyweight roots classic produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry (and considered part of the Black Ark "holy trinity" alongside The Heptone's Party Time and Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves). As it happens, Horror Zone producer Daniel Boyle worked with Lee Perry over the last few years rebuilding a version of the original Black Ark Studio. It was in this vintage setting that Romeo (along with both young players and older past members of The Upsetters original lineup) recorded the album, which finds the singer as socially and politically on-point today as he was 40 years ago

I
01. Max Romeo – What If (4:07)
02. Max Romeo – Fed Up (4:37)
03. Max Romeo – What Is Life? (4:07)
04. Max Romeo – Scammer Jammers (4:11)
05. Max Romeo – The Sound of War (4:17)
06. Max Romeo – Horror Zone (4:05)
07. Max Romeo – Cigarrett (3:39)
08. Max Romeo – Give Thanks To Jehovah (3:57)

II
01. Max Romeo & Lee "Scratch" Perry – What If Version (Dub) (4:07)
02. Max Romeo – Fed Up To My Dub (Dub) (4:37)
03. Max Romeo – What Is Dub? (Dub) (4:07)
04. Max Romeo – Scamjam Dub (Dub) (4:11)
05. Max Romeo – The Sound of Dub (Dub) (4:02)
06. Max Romeo & Lee "Scratch" Perry – Dub Zone (Dub) (4:07)
07. Max Romeo – Cigarrett Version (Dub) (3:40)
08. Max Romeo & Lee "Scratch" Perry – Give Thanks Version (Dub) (3:57)