Heartbeat
1988
African Soldier
About This Album
Appalled by the famine in Ethiopia and the continuing brutality of South Africa's apartheid regime, Sugar Minott began composing songs in direct response, a project that eventually evolved into this full-blown concept album. There's no arguing with the DJ's passion, and here he delivers up a vocal tour de force of such heartfelt power, he will rarely equal it again, and certainly never across an entire album. Emotions quiver across the tracks -- compassion, anger, heartbreak -- and alongside them all is an unwavering faith that underlines every word. Lyrically, too, the album is a masterpiece. Inspired by overwhelming world events, Minott put pen to paper and conjured up words to match the emotions and situations, at least once he got going. The opening lines of the opening song, "Mandela," is a real clunker -- "Dear Mr. Mandela, I think you're a jolly, good fella" really is abysmal -- but he quickly hits his stride a few lines down, and then there's no looking back. Sometimes a single line reverberates across an entire track; "Africa is calling for its people," for example, echoes down the grooves of one track, until in the distance one can almost hear the continent beckon its far-flung children back home.
Track List

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