Outside of the Caribbean, England was one of the first places to embrace roots reggae in the early 1970s when acts like Bob Marley and Burning Spear were leading the pack. Wolverhampton's Capital Letters were among the wave of talented reggae bands to emerge from Britain during the mid-to-late seventies that absorbed the sounds of Jamaica and created their own unique strain of roots reggae music that articulated the black British experience like never before. A majority of them had Caribbean parents, or had spent part of their childhood there before moving to Britain. Their music was grounded in honesty, which is why their songs remain so relevant almost forty years later. The had a successful run with their breakthrough single "Smoking My Ganja" and were the first band to sign a deal with Greensleeves Records late 70's.
Now on the 21st century, Greensleeves Records are happy to announce the reissue of the 1982 album, "Vinyard" by the legendary UK roots reggae band Capital Letters.

"Vinyard" is the follow up album to their debut album "Headline News" and captures the sound of the golden age of UK reggae.
This deluxe reissue (on CD) features updated artwork by Tony McDermott inspired by the original album sleeve and in-depth sleeve notes by renowned reggae journalist, John Masouri.

There are ten tracks on Vinyard and every one of them counts. On Bagga Wolf they accuse politicians of "robbing from the poor and giving to the rich" and then indulge in wry humour by opening No Jobs with a snippet from the Funeral March. This song continues where Unemployment, from their debut album left off and it cuts across all racial divides. Black-on-black violence is the subject of songs like Murdering Style and How Far. The band then ask why people have to "fuss and fight over Jahoviah" on Africa Bound, as they pinpoint another source of division within the black community. This insistence on speaking the truth has long been a major hallmark of their work. Fi Wi Parents, which is one of the strongest tracks on Vineyard, even chastises certain older folks for putting money before spiritual or political concerns, instead of leading the youths by example.

The deluxe CD format includes seven bonus tracks. The first four bonus tracks are previously unreleased recordings from the original sessions during which their 1979 debut album, "Headline News" was recorded.
The final three bonus tracks are from a live studio session with the influential BBC Radio One John Peel, recorded on January 16th 1979. These include live versions of two tracks from "Headline News" as well as a mesmeric live version of "Rasta Seh", a track that is previously unreleased.
“No Jobs” is definitely one of my favourite classics from Capital Letters !
Superb Pressing, Superb Sound Quality !
7 Stars !

"Vinyard" Vinyl Track-listing:

Side One
1. Muss Muss
2. Murdering Style
3. No Jobs
4. Why
5. Vinyard
Side Two
1. How Far
2. Baggawolf
3. Old Old Owl
4. Africa Bound
5. Fi Wi Parents

"Vinyard" CD Track-listing:
1. Muss Muss
2. Murdering Style
3. No Jobs
4. Why
5. Vinyard
6. How Far
7. Baggawolf
8. Old Old Owl
9. Africa Bound
10. Fi Wi Parents
11. Oh Politician (Headline News Session)
12. What Would You Do (Headline News Session)
13. Fall In Love Forever (Headline News Session)
14. How Far Can A Man Run (Headline News Session)
15. Rasta Seh (BBC John Peel Session)
16. Fire (BBC John Peel Session)
17. Smoking My Ganja (BBC John Peel Session)

PS: Also not to be missed Greensleeves 2015 reissue of Capital Letters album debut “Headline News”, and also their brand new 2015 album “Wolverhampton” on Sugar Shack Records.