1976 The Abyssinians “Satta Massagana” on Jam Sounds

When I reach for the irie action these days, I pretty much on some level always want it to sound like Abyssinians, which is to say all the fantastic musicianship and praise to Zion you could ask for, with the addition of gorgeous three-part soul harmonies. Which, you know, really is very specific to this incredibly influential band, but rare on the whole in many similar musical forms. Bernard “Jah Satta” Collins plus Donald and Linford Manning (Calton of Carlton & The Shoes is their brother) provide such an unusual and enveloping spiritual and vocal tunnel to descend into you almost get the feeling that The Louvin Brothers are on the other side. It’s interesting, and did not occur to me until I just typed that, but I used to have a Jamaican pressing of “Satan Is Real” which I always thought was cool and funny and weird, but also sounded like shit, and now I wonder if there was indeed some cross-pollination going on.

​Anyway, a question you often have to ask yourself as a vinyl obsessive is, “Just how great do I want this record to be?” And in terms of “Satta Massagana, the only real answer is “This would be dangerous if it were any greater.” And we haven’t even gotten into the insanity of the band itself, chock full of, as they say in 17th century novels about class structure, “Persons of quality.” Yeah, only Robbie Shakespeare and Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace (+uncredited Sly) as your drums n bass engine, plus Earl “Chinna” Smith on guitar, producer Clive Hunt joining Geoffrey Chung and Tyrone Downie in a wash of keys, and producer Clive Hunt joining Herbert Chang and Jerome Francique as the three-dreaded horn section. This is ROOTS, baby, and pure classic action. Also worth noting that not only is Satta Massagana Amharic for “He Gave Praise”, Joe Strummer name drops it on “Jimmy Jazz”! Beyond top action, this album simply IS.