Heart of the Congos

Made at the Black Ark over 1976 and 1977, with the Congos' three voices over a band of Boris Gardiner, Sly Dunbar, Ernest Ranglin and Winston Wright, backed by a choir of the Meditations, Gregory Isaacs, Barry Llewellyn and Earl Morgan of the Heptones, and Roy Cousins and the Royals. The first two songs were written by Myton, Johnson and Perry, the rest by Myton and Johnson. Perry's dispute with Island kept it on his own Black Art label, whose first pressing had a drier mix with fewer effects. The 1978 Congo Ashanty edition carried a new mix, and it is that mix, with the cow added to Children Crying and Ark of the Covenant, that every reissue followed until 2017.

Blood and Fire's 1996 reissue, remastered from the Black Ark tapes with notes by Steve Barrow, sold about 80,000 copies in ten years. VP's 40th anniversary set of 2017 was the first official release of the original 1977 mix, alongside the remix, dubs and Don't Blame It On I, a song found in 1997. Rolling Stone placed it 82nd among the best debut albums, and NME 99th among the best albums of all time. Songlines heard some of the best vocal harmonies on any album, reggae or not. Burnett said he was not impressed with it at the time. Johnson calls it one of the greatest albums ever to come out of Jamaica.