Nominated by: Lewis
Music club: MNAC
MNAC playlist addition: Soul Rebel
The Gladiators' debut album in 1976 completely passed me by in 1976 and in the subsequent years until 2023!
I have a dozen or so reggae compilations and not one of them features The Gladiators. That's strange. They must be relatively obscure then.
While I enjoyed the experience of listening to it, I couldn't help but wonder why, of all the reggae albums out there by the heavy hitters, he chose this one as MNAC's debut reggae album.
To my ears it sounds older than it really is, as in - it wouldn't sound out of place on a compilation of sixties reggae recordings from Studio One. Maybe it's the decision to cover a couple of Bob Marley's older songs, or else it's the dated sound. Not sure. Maybe it's just that they didn't move on from their sixties sound.
In comparison, Bob Marley released Rastaman Vibration in 1976 - a modern reimagining of reggae.
I can't help compare the too, and The Gladiators invite the comparison by taking on Soul Rebel. Why? They don't change it at all and don't improve on the original.
Although there's nothing to dislike on the album, there's also nothing making me rush out and search for other Gladiators' albums. Believe I'll be sticking to The Heptones instead.
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