Consumer Guide Album

Linton Kwesi Johnson: Bass Culture [Mango, 1980]
As if to dispel suspicions that he's an interloper, the poet emphasizes music--sometimes dubwise, sometimes jazzy, with guitarist John Kpiaye cutting the difference in a satisfying show of state-of-the-art support. But Johnson's command of the tonalities and rhythms of Jamaican English is the most musical thing about an artist whose musicality isn't in question, and the more room he gives his players, the less that leaves him. B+