At least they said “please” which was very nice of them.

If you read the NME in the late 70s you’re probably familiar with the work of photographer Dennis Morris who, along with the likes of Pennie Smith and Anton Corbijn, took some of the most iconic pictures of the era — he also designed the famous tin-can packaging of Metal Box.

Morris was a black kid from Hackney which was something of a rarity in the world of pro photography at the time (being black that is, not coming from Hackney) and his personal work is collected in a new book called Growing Up Black which captures the lives of black people in London in the 1970s: the politics, the churches, the street life, and the sound systems.

It’s a bit pricey for my wallet (300 quid!) but there’s a nice gallery of photos from it here.

Download: Is It Because I’m Black? – Ken Boothe (mp3)

This is a fantastic cover of the Syl Johnson song which I think I prefer to the original, Ken Boothe’s vocal on it just kills me. From the album Darker Than Blue which is a must-have compilation if you likes the reggae music (and pretty bloody expensive now too it seems).

Hulk write nothing, want to listen to reggae instead.

Download: Sock It To Me – Derrek Harriott (mp3)

Make sure you stick around for the credits at the end.

Too busy at work to do anything here at the moment, talk amongst yourselves for while.

And enjoy this fine tune of course.

Download: Wat About Di Workin’ Claas – Linton Kwesi Johnson (mp3)

Download: Police On My Back – The Equals (mp3)

I’m not sure who or what this Johnny Reggae bloke was supposed to be, with the lines about how he’s “grown his hair a bit but it’s smooth, not too long” and his “two-tone tonic strides” I’ve always pictured him as a Suedehead, but they didn’t wear “big white basketball boots” far as know, so maybe this is some other offshoot of Mod that I’m unaware of. But English youth cults can be hard to pin down sometimes, especially the whole Mod-Skinhead-Suedehead continuum where the differences between them can be measured in the width of a Ben Sherman shirt collar.

Download: Johnny Reggae – The Piglets (mp3)

For those that don’t know this was a famous one-hit wonder from 1971 and “he’s a real tasty geezer” became a popular phrase for years, at least round my way.