Vanguards come of age

It has been 30 years since the release of two albums that marked a changing of the guard in reggae. In June, 1980, Island Records released Confrontation by Bob Marley and the Wailers and one month later the same label issued Sinsemilla by Black Uhuru.

Confrontation was the follow-up to Survival, considered one of Marley's finest efforts. It contained the songs Coming In From the Cold, Bad Card, Pimper's Paradise, Forever Loving Jah and the acoustic masterpiece, Redemption Song.

It was Marley's final studio album, he died the following year at age 36.

The posthumous Uprising was released by Island in 1983.

Black Uhuru enjoyed a banner year in 1979, scoring with songs like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Shine Eye Gal and Plastic Smile, all produced by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

Sinsemilla heard Black Uhuru at the top of their game. Again produced by Sly and Robbie at the Channel One studio, songs like Happiness, World is Africa and the title song established the Waterhouse group of Duckie Simpson, Michael Rose and Puma Jones internationally.

In 1985, their Anthem album won the first Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

- Howard Campbell