Music

Freedom City - August 1981

A recording of the first performance of Freedom City at St. Barnabas School Hall has miraculously survived thanks to Rob Pearce.

Freedom City (3:25)
African Opportunity (3:25)
Babylon The Fire (Extended for Dance) (7:34)
Flower Shop (Ben Down Girl) (2:45)
Slip Slide (3:25)
Twelve Tribes Of Israel (4:59)
Over The Hill (3:19)
Rasta Man (3:07)
Loving You (3:51)

In addition to the shows, this line up of the Zion Band recorded three studio tracks at Cave Studios under the supervision of Leroy Forbes.

Freedom City (3:14)
Babylon Fire (5:05)
Warrior Charge (7:26).

Freedom City - December 1981

Mark took over the bass guitar role, and the programme spelt his name correctly this time.

I don't have the back page to the programme which is where Clive probably got mentioned.

Freedom City Cassette

Thanks to Karl Williams for finding a copy of the 'Freedom City' cassette. 7 tracks in lovely quality.

This cassette was put together during the first half of 1982 and sold at shows including the trip to Germany in May and June.

I'm not sure where these tracks were recorded. They sound like studio recordings. The cassettes are mentioned being sold in an Analysis book from May-June 1982 (43798/F/Ac/4), and a Marketing report from July 1982 (43798/Mgt/Pro/5).

The 7 tracks are -

1) Freedom City (2:35)

2) African Opportunity (2:37)

3) Babylon The Fire (6:44)

4) Twelve Tribes Of Israel (3:03)

5) Twelve Tribes Dub (4:41)

6) You Are The One I Love (5:34)

7) Rasta Man (3:08)

Freedom City - June 1982

Thanks to Nathan Lewis, there is video from two shows at the Little Theatre, including one in front of the Mayor of Bristol. Basil is playing the keyboards, although he's not mentioned in the programme.

Babylon Fire (part) (3:11)
Flower Shop (2:22)
Brown Girl In The Ring (2:26)
Loving You (part) (1:10)
Worried Mind (3:25)
To See You Smile (2:36)
Where Is My Man? (4:30) (Chips' song)
Punk Jump Reggae (4:08) (Black Sam Cherokee's song)
Disco Joe (2:32) (Eddie's song)
Loving You Can't Be Wrong (2:27)
Freedom City (2:33)
Finale Toasting (6:07)

Freedom City 12" Single

Four songs plus two dub versions recorded 4 May 1982 at Right Track in Redland by Liam Henshall, and officially released on 28 January 1983.

The 12" single came in a picture sleeve with an insert reproducing a great collage designed by Reynold, Rob and Judith.

Side One

Freedom City
Babylon Fire - Babylon Dub

Side Two

Twelve Tribes - Twelve Tribes Dub
To See You Smile

A 7" single was also pressed up.

Freedom City (2:38) b/w Babylon Fire + Dub (6:27)

Postscript

in recent years, a couple of the tracks from the 12" single have been re-released by Bristol Archive Records on compilation CDs and records.

The Bristol Reggae Explosion 2 - The 1980s (ARC228CD). Track 4 - Twelve Tribes
The Bristol Reggae Explosion 3 - The '80s Part 2 (ARC249CD). Track 6 - Babylon Fire / Babylon Dub
The Bristol Roots Explosion (ARC279V). Side 2 Track 3 - Twelve Tribes
The Bristol Reggae Explosion – Best of the 70’s and 80’s (ARC329CD). Track 7 - Twelve Tribes

Below is a sampler of the Bristol Roots Explosion album, produced by original Zion Band keyboard player Chris Potter (Compendulum). Other tracks on this album also featured AOT-related people including Restriction, Talisman, Bunny Marrett and Joshua Moses (RIP).

Black & White in Colour - 1983

A completely new line up of musicians for the new show.

Recordings are proving elusive. A cassette of live recordings from early 1983 was assembled but then lost. The picture to the right shows the track listing.

A short video has been found by Nathan of a performance of Black & White in Colour in May 1983 at the Little Theatre. Three music tracks are included:

One Love Unite (8:01)
Black & White in Colour (1:55)
The Two Jays (featuring Jacqui and Jendayi) (3:13)

The band did record a couple of studio tracks later in 1983 or maybe 1984. More thanks to Nathan for finding the recordings.

Lovers Rock (Jackie vocal) (3:28)
Walls Of Babylon (Karl vocal) (2:31)

Arts Freedom Theatre & Singers 1984-

AFT continued to perform Freedom City and also produced new works such as Romeo & Juliet in Dub.

The Arts Freedom Singers who were also called 3J Harmony or The 3J's, consisting of Jackie, Jacqui, Jessica and Jendayi, provided the backing vocals for Hazel O'Connor's 1986 single 'Fighting Back'. It was tied in with a TV series of the same name which featured many familiar faces, as did Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer video.

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