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Winston Rodney, a.k.a. Burning Spear, has been making highly political and personal reggae music since the early 1970s. Noted as one of the very first artists to make overtly Rastafarian/Marcus Garvey-centric music, Rodney is an elder statesman of the music. This live album starts with one of his earliest hits, "Pick Up the Pieces," and the rock-steady rhythms and lovingly punctuated horn riffs are remarkably fresh. Likewise, the two tunes from Burning Spear's breakthrough 1975 album, Marcus Garvey--"Old Marcus" and "Slavery Days"--are as magnificently intense and uplifting as ever. The only drawbacks are an occasional '80s-cheesy keyboard run and a few too many rock guitar licks. A spoken-word cover of "Oh Happy Day" reveals one of the music's unspoken influences, gospel music, while the majority of the disc rarely strays from a levitational, tranced-out, riff-heavy mix of flawlessly executed reggae and dub. --Mike McGonigal