Social Living

Social Living, Burning Spear's sixth new studio album, first saw limited release under the title Marcus' Children in Jamaica in 1978. The retitled, resequenced, and remixed version heard here was released internationally on Island Records on July 11, 1980. The album represented a reversion by Winston Rodney, who, as of 1977's Dry & Heavy, was the sole member of Burning Spear, to the overtly political concerns of his masterpiece, 1975's Marcus Garvey. That meant more praising and expounding of the theories of Jamaican black nationalist leader Garvey (1887-1940), who emphasized ties to Africa, as well as the religious beliefs of the Rastafarian religion, including the conviction that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was God, a notion cast in doubt by the deposed emperor's death in 1975. Rodney dealt with this problem in the original album's concluding song, "Marcus Say Jah No Dead," a new version of a tune he had sung to his drummer, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, in the 1978 film Rockers to comfort him. Another song making a second appearance on the album was "Institution," which had been called "He Prayed" when it was first released as a single in 1972. The disc's most forward-looking track was the title song, which was widely interpreted as an endorsement of socialism. "Do you know, social living is the best," sang Rodney, and "social living," in his patois, sounded a lot like "socialism." In the liner notes to this reissue, however, Rodney denies that interpretation, saying he only wants people to be social. In any case, the music supported Rodney's sentiments, making for another outstanding album. This reissue adds both sides of a 12" remix single containing extended versions of "Social Living" and "Civilize Reggae," originally issued by Island in 1978.