Mighty Three's

Mighty Three’s - Africa Shall Stretch Forth Her Hand - Makasound

The French Makasound label emerged in

2002 with the release of Winston McAnuff's

cd "Diary Of The Silent Years" and since then

they have released some real good vintage

cd's including The Meditations' "Guidance",

Hugh Mundell's "The Blessed Youth", Delroy

Williams' "I Stand Black" and the obscure, but

excellent "Straight Outta Trenchtown" by

Knowledge. Now they have dug deep again

and brought to surface another obscure

gem from the past... "Africa Shall Stretch Forth

Her Hands" from a Roots vocal trio called The

Mighty Three's. This group was formed in the

mid-70s and consisted of Carlton Gregory,

Bernard Brown, and Noel "Bunny" Brown.

The latter is probably the best known name

as he was the founder of the Chosen Few,

before he co-founded The Mighty Three's.

However, it was Bernard Brown who

launched the group, using The Kingstonians

or The Mighty Diamonds as a model.

Although the vocal trio scored some hits in

Jamaica - with "Backyard Movement" being

their biggest - they split up after a few years

because of lack of funds. The Mighty Three's

left their mark with only one album, "Africa

Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands", and the dub

set of the same name, both originally

released on April Records. For their latest

release Makasound have combined the two

albums "Africa Shall Stretch Forth Her Hand"

and "Africa Shall Stretch Forth Her Hand In

Dub", and also added "One Black People", the

Mighty Three's first song that only came out

as a single at the time, as well as its dub

version. All tracks included on this cd are

produced by Noel and Bernard Brown in

1979 and recorded at the little known

Concert Studio in Kingston, Jamaica.

Musicians that laid the rhythms (all fresh

originals and no remakes of familiar

backdrops) are the totally unknown Bernard

Snow, George Subraite, Merick Dyer, Clinton

Rowe and the now well-known

singer/drummer Glen Washington. The

Rockers style rhythms are great and the

'dread'-sounding vocal harmonies of the

three singers superb. Vocally and lyrically the

Mighty Three's are strongly reminiscent of

renowned Roots groups such as The

Meditations, Israel Vibration and The Royals,

to name a few from the heydays of Roots

Reggae. Each tune featured here has its own

merit and is a gem in its own right, so we

don't want to talk about standout tracks, but

simply mention our personal favourites

which are "Rasta Business", "Sinking In The

Mist", "Backyard Movement", "Nearer To

Africa" and "One Black People". It sounds like

the dubs are taken from vinyl, but that

doesn't matter at all as they are awesome

workouts, truly a worthwhile addition to the

vocal tracks. This is a must-have cd for any

Reggae devotee.