Reggae In Babylon has just been reissued by MVD Entertainment and is an amazing historical document. In it, the director went around and interviewed various key figures in the British reggae scene in 1978, when it was just beginning to take off. He not only talked to bands like Steel Pulse, he took footage of them playing both live and in the studio. The majority of the interviews focus on the history of reggae, both in and outside of England, and its inter-relation with Rastafarianism. While there are no direct references to any of the troubles experienced by the black community of the time, one of the interviews takes place in front of a bulletin board upon which is hung a sign denouncing the National Front.
While Steel Pulse are probably the most familiar group of those interviewed for the film, the members of Aswad, are more of a Rastafarian band in terms of their religious convictions, and look more like what we have come to expect a reggae band to look like. For in these young days of British reggae, folks like the members of Steel Pulse had yet to grow their hair in dreads and are dressed in their street clothes when performing. The music however is pure reggae with all of the characteristics of the sound firmly established.
Lyrically, Steel Pulse music reflects the tenor of the times more than any of the other groups interviewed. In fact, there are a couple of songs sung by Jimmy Lindsay, "Ain't No Sunshine" for instance, that aren't much different from most R&B or soul song in terms of content. The only real difference was that the lyrics were sung with a slight Jamaican accent. Interestingly enough, as most of the musicians were born in England, and some are even second generation English, very few of them speak with the thick accent we've come to associate with reggae musicians. The guys in Steel Pulse all sound pretty much like anybody their age born in urban England.
As for the other major characteristic of Rastafarianism (the use of marijuana as a sacrament) there are some shots of people smoking while listening to Aswad playing, but there is little made of it. In fact, it receives only the briefest of mentions by one person when asked to define Rastafrianism. It doesn't appear to have been as important to these people as a whole as it might have been for reggae players elsewhere.
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