Heart of the Congos

We said that we had another suggestion as to how you can all Caribbeanise your lives for the summer. Our suggestion is Heart of the Congos by The Congos.

This record. Is fantastic.

We originally bought Heart of the Congos because we knew that Lee 'Scratch' Perry had produced it. We've always liked Lee Perry because he writes songs about 'public jestering' and buying fried chicken. He's a man who insisted people call him 'Pipecock Jaxxon' for a period.

But Heart of the Congos isn't like that at all - although Perry did wire a rake and do some furious gardening to record the rhythm track on one song. But don't let that put you off. We couldn't even tell you which track it was and we've heard the album a thousand times.

It's beautiful. It's slow and echoey, like all dub records, but it's got none of the quirky touches of Lee Perry's music (bar the raking). The songs are all great, but the album as a whole's even better.

Quite simply, nothing else like it has ever been recorded. We mean that literally. We don't mean it's the best record ever - maybe you won't even like it - we mean it's unique.

We could try and describe it better, but it's pointless. It's got a feel and the feel's the main thing.

Buy Heart of the Congos (if you're in the UK)

Buy Upsetter: Essential Madness From The Scratch Files for Lee Perry performing, not producing - including classics such as 'Cow Thief Skank', 'Bathroom Skank' and 'Bionic Rats'.

Or maybe get Super Ape, which is a proper Lee Perry album and not a best of.

Heart of the Congos is the main one though. That's the real recommendation.