"BLACK BRITISH PEOPLE HAD SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT"

Breaking new ground for black music in Britain from his teenage years in Matumbi in the early 70s, Dennis Bovell went on to become one of reggae's most highly regarded producers, helping popularise lovers rock. He also played a pivotal role in post-punk's experimental incorporation of dub influences on records like The Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y. As new compilation, Sufferer Sounds, reaches back to his early days to compile some of his best early dub plates, Lois Wilson gets the full backstory from one of British music's most enduring forces.

- Lois Wilson

Born in Saint Peter, Barbados in 1953 but living in London from the age of 12, Dennis Bovell helmed the Jah Sufferer Sound System at 1,5 then at 18 debuted his seven-piece funk reggae band, Matumbi, on their 1971 cover of Hot Chocolate's Brother Louie. By the mid-70s he was pioneering lovers rock, working on what is widely acknowledged as the genre's first release, Louisa Mark's Caught You In A Lie, and he enjoyed huge success with Janet Kay's Silly Games in 1979. At the same time, he brought musical militancy to Linton Kwesi Johnson's polemical dub poetry on such classic albums as Forces Of Victory and Bass Culture, and explored dub under a number of pseudonyms including Black Beard (Strictly Dub Wize and I Was Dub, both seminal releases) and The 4th Street Orchestra. He also bridged the gap between reggae and punk with productions for The Pop Group and The Slits and in 1980 he soundtracked the film Babylon, the climactic stand-off between the selecter and police in the film inspired by Bovell's own experience.

In October 1974, London's Carib Club, where Bovell was operating his sound system, was raided. A fight broke out and, although Bovell was not involved, he was charged with causing an affray. He spent six months of a three-year sentence in Wormwood Scrubs before his conviction was overturned. “I knew I was innocent, so I just kept my head down until the appeal date and used the time to write songs,” he tells Record Collector in his inimitably deep, resonant voice. “When I got out, Matumbi got signed to EMI on the strength of the songs so some good came of it.” However, he wound ++up his involvement with the sound system soon after. “I didn’t want any more trouble. I started concentrating on writing, producing and making music.”

With the arrival of