It’s interesting to consider the fact that inherent in reggae music, regardless of where it comes from, there are certain lyrical tropes that remain the same. It could be considered a part of the genre incapable of being separated from music, but it’s beyond that. The ideas, concepts and concerns related through the music are a cultural gift bestowed on each subsequent generation if not from a parent then from a parents record collection or found sounds on the grooves of a disc. The British crop of reggae bands isn’t any different. And while there were some that worked to better effect than others – and some that just stunk – Aswad should be kinda high up on the list.

Often compared to Steel Pulse, Aswad’s first album was able to completely eschew the cheese ball theatrics of that other group in lieu of slow roots, some dub and hugely competent group vocals. Springing from the London reggae scene, the band is often cited as one of the groups to more adroitly add a soul element to its singing. It’s true that the band included that influence, but so did almost everyone else – Burning Spear, Toots Hibbert, the list goes on and on.

If there is something that sets this group apart from its peers it’s the persistence in style that the band exhibited. While the first, self titled album is surely its strongest, a few other Mango issued albums were almost as dense in politics as each was in quality of music. Taking its name from the Arabic for the word black, Aswad went in on a polemic unloosed on the public during 1976. It wasn’t quite the height of reggae’s popularity, but it was getting there. And as the nascent two tone scene was gaining momentum, Aswad must have seemed like some authentic artifact from a far of island. It was kinda.

Difficult, though it was to tell that this group hailed from the UK, its music didn’t deal with ideas strictly tied to any island. The lyrical content here deals with widely felt problems. “Back to Africa” might have been a specific call for a segment of the population to examine its roots to the continent, but the song could have just as easily worked coming from the States as the UK. Moreover, “Can’t Stand the Pressure” addresses the problematic economic issues felt by any and every man and woman on the earth during the ‘70s. It’s funny to think how another band would have addressed this same subject just a decade later and the musical gap that would separate it from the Aswad track.

Regardless of that, the first effort from Aswad should rightly be considered the high water mark of Brit reggae musics – from the ‘70s or otherwise. The group hasn’t maintained its renown in the same fashion that Steel Pulse has. But that latter group still toured pretty regularly up until the early aughties in the States and elsewhere. By that point, though, some electronics had supplanted the gritty roots that the group once worked with.