Burning Spear: Winston Rodney (vocals); Michael Wilson, Devon Bradshaw (guitar); Bobby Ellis (horns, percussion); Herman Marquis (horns); Richard Johsnon (piano, Clavinet, organ, synthesizer); Aston "Family Man" Barrett (Clavinet, organ, bass, background vocals); Anthony Bradshaw (bass, percussion, background vocals); Nelson Miller (drums, octoban); Elias Rodney (percussion).
Recorded at Tuff Gong Studios, Kingston, Jamaica in 1982. Includes liner notes by Roger Steffens.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Though Burning Spear will probably always and forever be known for his 1975 classic MARCUS GARVEY and its astonishing dub version, GARVEY'S GHOST, he's had one of the longest and most artistically fruitful careers in reggae history. FAROVER, a 1982 session, is one of his most powerful albums, combining his one-of-a-kind vocals with some of the strongest compositions of his career.
The brooding title track sets the tone, with Aston "Family Man" Barrett's impossibly deep, dread-filled bass and pulsating clavinet moving the track along under Burning Spear's passionate declamations. It's a true reggae classic. Though perhaps not all of the songs are quite up to that opener, the no-nonsense "Education" and devotional "Jah Is My Driver" are also Burning Spear classics. Throughout, Richard Johnson adds tasteful synthesizer to the usual clavinet-and-organ grooves, foreshadowing the instrument's eventual domination of reggae, but FAROVER is pure roots-reggae all the way.
