The Ruts – Jah War (1979)

After posting a UB40 track from 1980 and referencing The Ruts, I feel obliged to replace allusions and text with concrete and sound (but not musique concrete …).

Just a fantastic track from 1979.

Punk/reggae crossovers were all the rage but few pulled it off like The Ruts. Better known for the chart rippling “Babylon’s Burning” their “The Crack” LP is one of the highlights of the whole UK punk era.

The lyricist and vocalist, Malcolm Owen, died of a heroin overdose only a few months after Ian Curtis’s suicide. The latter was a genius, the former not far behind. Time for a Malcolm Owen retrospective methinks ….

The original extended version then remarkable footage from French TV in 1980 – you just have to love Youtube!