Word Soun Ave Power (reggae Poetry) – Heartbeat Records

Heartbeat Records’ 1983 Word Soun’ Ave Power pulls dub poetry into a sharp, one-sided conversation with reggae rhythm, and the lineup leans hard into voices that know how to carry a phrase like a rallying cry. Jean “Binta” Breeze opens the set with “Aid Travels With A Bomb” and “To Plant, ” while Glenville Bryan’s “Blood Shout” and Malachi Smith’s “Victim” keep the mood tense and plainspoken. Mutabaruka is the central presence here, turning up twice with “Out Of Many One” and “Set De Prisoners Free, ” both of them delivered with the clipped urgency that made his early work so magnetic. The compilation also folds in Navvie Nabbie, Oliver Smith, and Tomlin Ellis, but it’s Breeze’s opening run and Mutabaruka’s pair of cuts that give the record its clearest shape.