The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Two-Sevens-Clash-Culture/dp/B000000DXK/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-1514635-5264950?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1187552539&sr=8-2

Normally I don't listen to reggae. Despite the fact that I may or may not have enjoyed the company of Mary Jane in the past, dreadlocked rastas never peaked my interest much. Yes, I understand Jah, and yes they should legalize it, but to repeat that over and over and lean heavy on the backside of the downbeat have never really my cup of Red Stripe.

And then 7/7/07 rolled around and the mysticism of the sevens reared it's strangeness. One of the odder beliefs about the date actually happened thirty years ago on 7/7/77 and it involves the Rastafarian religion. More correctly, it is derived from the Rastafarian prophet Marcus Garvey who believed the day would bring chaos. From what I understand, that day in 1977 scared Rastafarians so much that they wouldn't dare leave the house. Believe it or not, Rastafarianism is actually a religion, not a reason to smoke pot as most here in America have been led to believe. I actually believed that too, but it turns out that the religion is much more involved than just that. It doesn't mean it's not a slightly odd religion since most religions don't worship a mortal man and refuse to believe that the mortal man is actually dead. (Yes, I know. The cult of Elvis.) Here's a quick lesson on Rastafarianism. It's actually quite interesting and has a surprisingly larger following than one idiotic American suburban dweller might expect.

Obviously, 7/7/77 passed without incident unless you count the fact that Styx's Grand Illusion was released on that date. For lovers of reggae and Rastafarianism, that might actually qualify as chaos. Gearing up for the date, Dennis DeYoung aside, was a band called Culture. They released the album Two Sevens Clash which was an amalgam of songs written about the Rastafarian religion and the impending doom of the two sevens. Or put more correctly, the impending doom of the two, two sevens. Quite different than most of the reggae that seems to filter towards my suburbia, this release has nary a cannabis reference. I guess I should qualify that. Since I'm not schooled in the rasta dialect, there are no overt references to spliffs, blunts, or amnesia cigarettes. Instead the majority of the songs prepare the Rastafarians for the end of the world and the afterlife that awaits them. None is more evident than the first two songs, Get Ready To Ride The Lion To Zion and Black Starliner Must Come. The former comes replete with lion growls in the background; long before Ratatat even thought about it.

So, thirty years later, Culture's pioneering album is being re-released and I was lucky enough to stumble onto it. Quite frankly, this album has changed my whole perspective on reggae music and culture. (real culture, not the band, although I do agree the band is very good ... this is confusing isn't it?). The merits of reggae music have been raised several levels since my introduction to this, although I don't think I'll ever get used to that highly reverberated dub stuff. Hopefully I'll stumble onto more bands that raise the reggae bar and for those that don't quite reach that bar, maybe I'll have a better understanding of where they are coming from.

Unless you are a giant reggae fan, you can probably stick to just a couple of songs here. Definitely the lead track and definitely I'm Alone In The Wilderness are the highlights, but most all the others are solid too. Overall it's a very good (and significant) album. I just wish I could have understood and appreciated it when it was originally released. Hey, give me a break. I was eleven.