This three track CD from UK band The Amharic will appeal to fans of the crafted rootsy sound of UK groups of the late Seventies such as Matumbi and Steel Pulse. Those who remember Matumbi's 'Bluebeat & Ska' from that era, which looked back affectionately to an even earlier stage in the music's development, will love this band.

However The Amharic are more than an exercise in nostalgia. They don't just evoke the best UK groups of the roots era but prove themselves worthy to stand beside them. There's a steel and craft in the production that makes them very much a band of the moment. This is mature reggae with real crossover appeal.

Track One, the title track False Prophets, features sweet-voiced vocalist Danny Amharic singing regretfully of "false prophets that mistook the Lord's name for a gravy train' over a full horns section, group backing harmonies and a rhythm closely allied to the classic 'Operation Eradication'.

The band's affection for a gentler, more melodic age of reggae music is right there in the lyrics of Track Two, Irie Feelings. Danny Amharic recounts a car journey 'in a place which was not my own', tuning into a reggae show on the radio, hearing the sounds of Burning Spear, U Roy and Fred Locks and remembering 'that is the feelings that we get, that irie feeling, no trouble or fret.'

Track Three, Dancehall Days, likewise looks back to 'when rockers was young, and being a rootsman was fun' and when 'sound clash was nice, certain tune for certain hours of the night', a nostalgic look back to the days when you could go out for a night raving without fear of violence and aggression.

The core of The Amharic is Danny Amharic on vocals, Jazzbo Victor Downes on keyboards and Ronnie Lion on bass. The Amharic are a ten piece Brixton based band who have been performing and recording since the early nineties. They have toured extensively all over Europe, in Brooklyn and in Jamaica. They have released three previous albums and can be contacted through the Pharos Records website at www.pharosrecords.com

November 2002