There are a great many disparate ideas that go into defining the career and legacy of Joe Higgs. While ostensibly a forgotten figure in the development of JA music, Higgs may have actually been one of the most indispensible figures on the scene. No, his records didn’t sell a great deal. And he never got into producing or engineering records. He can’t even be said to have been a musical innovator. But the way that he acted as an intermediary between artists as well as the genre and the world can’t be understated.

Having become friendly with Bob Marley during the younger man’s formative years, the Wailers actually met as a result of each member taking lessons in some capacity from Higgs. And even if Higgs, again, can’t be figured as a guitar giant, his playing is easily distilled and extended through the work of Tosh and Marely. As the group was amidst infighting, Higgs can even be figured as a mediator, even filling the spot vacated by Bunny Wailer during an early tour of the States. The role that he served with and around the Wailers, though, still isn’t his most enduring contribution to reggae music.

He repeatedly described reggae music as music of the ghetto. And even as ska and rock steady were mutating, Higgs can be figured to be one of the first figures to address social problems and life as part of the down trodden in his work. Again, that doesn’t mean he directed Marley and the Wailers in their song writing, but Higgs’ influence can be seen pretty easily. After the brief explosion in popularity during the ‘70s, Higgs made a move to Los Angeles, where he would spend the rest of his life. Performing and being an omnipresent figure in the pages of The Beat – a magazine focusing on the island’s music and culture – still didn’t bring him the attention that he deserved.

Only having released a handful of discs it can’t be all too surprising that he never became a house hold name, but Life of Contradiction, which was released last year via the Pressure Sounds imprint, can be figured to be a sign post of mid ‘70s reggae. Even as there aren’t any songs that have become standards of the genre, the disc is made up of competent, if not stunning reflective reggae workouts.

At the time that the disc was initially released, ’75, the studio bands that would make their mark on reggae were fully formed. But instead of relying on them, for whatever reason, Higgs utilized a group that went by the name of the Now Generation. And I can’t say that I’m too familiar with any of those players – apart from the lead guitarist. Somehow, jazz and fusion player Eric Gale was led into the group, perhaps pointing towards the reverence that some displayed towards Higgs. Or maybe it was a fluke.

The inclusion of this jazzbo didn’t stilt the recording -  there wasn’t an overt jazz influence. Instead, Higgs choose to create a disc even in it’s delivery of a message as well as its music – an unfortunately and confusingly ignored effort.