During the latter half of the seventies very few came close to emulating the success of the productions of Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson. ‘The Mighty Two’ took the greatest of Kingston’s musical and technical innovations and transformed the cutting edge into a commercial proposition that crossed over to the rest of the world. ‘Under Heavy Manners” was an essential purchase as well as a defining statement on the sombre mood of the times in the year that two sevens clash and forty years after its original release, the raw reality of ‘Under Heavy Manners’ continues to hit home.

Produced by Joe Gibbs, engineered by Errol Thompson and backed by Joe Gibbs’ house band, The Professionals. A sense of urgency commands the entirety of the album, a vibe befitting of its namesake, as ‘Under Heavy Manners’ refers to the state of emergency declared in Jamaica in 1976 by the island’s Prime Minister, Michael Manley