African Head Charge is a

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

dub ensemble active since 1981, when they released their debut album, recorded at

Berry Street Studio Berry Street Studio was a recording studio in Clerkenwell, Central London. Established in 1970, Berry Street is built along traditional lines, having a large live area, incorporating acoustically live and dead zones, together with isolation boo ...

in London, which was, at the time, run by

Dennis Bovell Dennis Bovell (born 22 May 1953) is a Barbados-born reggae guitarist, bass player and record producer, based in the United Kingdom. He was a member of a progressive rock group called Stonehenge, who later changed name and became the British r ...

. The group was formed by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, and featured a revolving cast of members, including the original members of Creation Rebel, Undivided Roots, Carlton "Bubblers" Ogilvie and Crucial Tony Phillps of Ruff Cutt,

Style Scott Lincoln Valentine Scott (29 April 1956 – 9 October 2014), better known as Style Scott, was a Jamaican reggae drummer, famous for playing in the Roots Radics and, later, with Dub Syndicate. He also recorded and performed with Prince Far I, Bunn ...

of The

Roots Radics The Roots Radics Band is a Jamaican reggae group, formed in 1978 by bass player Errol "Flabba" Holt, guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont and drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott. The nucleus of Holt and Lamont had previously worked together in the ...

and The

Dub Syndicate Dub Syndicate is a British dub band, formed by Adrian Sherwood, which became a showcase for Adrian Sherwood's collaboration with Lincoln "Style" Scott, former drummer with the Roots Radics, Suns of Arqa and Creation Rebel. Dub Syndicate init ...

, George Oban, (bassist who had played with

Aswad Aswad are a British reggae group, noted for adding strong R&B and soul influences to the reggae sound. They have been performing since the mid-1970s, having released a total of 21 albums. Their UK hit singles include the number one "Don't Tu ...

and

Burning Spear Winston Rodney Order of Distinction, OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian movement, Rastafarian and one of the ...

Headley Bennett Felix Headley Bennett OD (29 May 1931 – 21 August 2016), also known as Deadly Headley, was a prolific Jamaican saxophonist who performed on hundreds, possibly thousands, of recordings since the 1950s. Biography Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Ben ...

, Prisoner, Crocodile, (both pseudonyms for

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms ...

), Nick Plytas (originally from 1970s pub-rock

proto punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock genre and movement. A retrospective label, the musicians involved were generally not originally associated with each other and came from a variet ...

band

Roogalator Roogalator was a pub rock band formed in London in 1972, by the US-born guitarist Danny Adler. Earlier that year, Adler recorded demos with 10cc's Graham Gouldman at Strawberry Studios. Prior to Roogalator, Adler had also played with Smoot ...

), Junior Moses, Sunny Akpan of

The Funkees The Funkees were a Nigerian afro-rock group formed in the late 1960s. They moved to London in 1973 and quickly gained prominence in the expatriate West African and West Indian music scene, but fragmented four years later. They specialized in funk ...

Steve Beresford Steve Beresford (born 6 March 1950) is a British musician who graduated from the University of York He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, suc ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Portsmouth Sinfonia The Portsmouth Sinfonia was an English orchestra founded by a group of students at the Portsmouth School of Art in 1970. The Sinfonia was generally open to anyone and ended up drawing players who were either outsider music, people without musica ...

Bruce Smith (musician) Bruce Neal Smith (born 14 December 1960 in California) is an American musician best known as the drummer for post-punk band The Pop Group. He has also been a member of The Slits and the New Age Steppers and is currently performing with Public ...

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band formed by lead vocalist John Lydon (previously, as Johnny Rotten, lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene (a founding member of the Clash), bassi ...

, Evar Wellington of British Roots Reggae band, The Makka Bees,

Skip McDonald Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, September 1949) is an American musician who also performs under the stage name Little Axe. Career Early career Grounded in blues music learned from his father, a steel worker who played blues guitar at w ...

, Gaudi and

Jah Wobble John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...

. Martin Frederix, sound engineer and live-mixer for

This Heat This Heat were an English experimental rock band, formed in early 1976 in Camberwell, London by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward (drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Willi ...

also contributed to the band, playing bass and mixing some of the tracks on ''Songs of Praise.'' The group released most of its albums on

's label,

On-U Sound On-U Sound Records is an English record label known for releasing its own unique flavour of dub music since the 1980s. The label was founded by Adrian Sherwood in 1979/1980 and is home to acts such as Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, African Head Ch ...

, with much of the iconic sleeve-design artwork provided by noted photographer, Kishi Yamamoto, who also played keyboards,

Guzheng The zheng (), or guzheng (), is a Chinese List of Chinese musical instruments#Plucked, plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a Major scale, major pentatonic scale. It has a large, reson ...

Chinese Harp and

Pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rangi ...

Chinese lute on some of the compositions. Journalist

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early 1980s was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of fellow journalist Simon Reynolds. The two were par ...

, writing in ''The Wire'', said, "The notion of African Head Charge was hatched when Adrian Sherwood read

's comment about his vision for a 'psychedelic Africa'". All of their early work has been re-released as

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...

s on vinyl and CD.

Discography

*''My Life in a Hole in the Ground'' (

, 1981) *''Environmental Studies'' (

, 1982) *''Drastic Season'' (

, 1983) *''Off the Beaten Track'' (

, 1986 Anthology Recordings, 2006) *''Great Vintage Volumes 1 & 2'' (

, 1989) (compilation) *''Songs of Praise'' (

, 1990) *''Live:Pride and Joy'' (

, 1991) *''In Pursuit of Shashamane Land'' (

, ON-U LP65, 1993) *''All Mighty Dread'' (

Beat Records Beat Records was an independent record label started by California night club promoter Stephen Zepeda (a.k.a. Steve Zepeda). Beat Records had record releases by Gary Lachman, Gary Valentine (of Blondie (band), Blondie), The Furys (new wave band), ...

, 1994) (compilation) *''Touch I EP'' (

, 1994) *''Akwaaba'' (

Acid Jazz Records Acid Jazz Records is a record label based in East London formed by Gilles Peterson and Eddie Piller in 1987. The label is the namesake of the acid-jazz subgenre of jazz music for which it is most famously known for producing. Background The l ...

, 1995) *''Sankofa'' (Bonjo I, 1997) *''Drums Of Defiance: African Head Charge Versus Professor Stretch '' (

, ON-ULP93, 1998) *''Noah House of Dread'' (Bonjo I, 1998) *''Live Goodies'' (Bonjo I, 2001) *''Shrunken Head'' (

, 2003) (compilation) *''Vision of a Psychedelic Africa'' (

, 2005) *''In Charge:Live in Japan'' EP (

, 2005) *''Voodoo of The Godsent'' (

, 2011) *''Return Of The Crocodile'' (

, 2016) *''Churchical Chant Of The Iyabinghi'' (

, 2020) *''A Trip to Bolgatanga'' (

, 2023)

References

External links

African Head Charge Official Website
* African Head Chargeat Allmusic.com {{Authority control British dub musical groups British reggae musical groups On-U Sound Records artists Musical groups established in 1981