Learning to Cope with Cowardice cover

Learning to Cope with Cowardice

Released

Released in 1982, after the dissolution of postpunk/free-jazz/dub anarchists the Pop Group, vocalist Mark Stewart’s first album under his own name is a nerve-jangling collection of tracks that seem designed to disorient and unsettle the listener. His lyrics are dub-poetry-style rants about economic insecurity and how it fuels apathy and political disengagement, and the music owes a fair amount to jazz and reggae, including some surprisingly slick saxophone and female backing vocals (all uncredited) on “Liberty City.” Track titles like “None Dare Call It Conspiracy,” “The Paranoia Of Power,” and “Don’t Ever Lay Down Your Arms” posit endless conflict, but “Blessed Are Those Who Struggle” and the concluding, dubbed-out dramatic recitation of William Blake’s “Jerusalem” give the impression Stewart has at least some hope, even if it manifests as a mythical vision of a better England than the one in which he lives.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Ka cover

Ka

Excepter
Jazz at Massey Hall cover

Jazz at Massey Hall

Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie
The Veil cover

The Veil

Jim Black, Nels Cline, BB&C, Tim Berne
Webo cover

Webo

Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, William Parker
The Third Decade cover

The Third Decade

Art Ensemble of Chicago
Fish & Steel cover

Fish & Steel

Per-Åke Holmlander, Mats Äleklint, Paal Nilssen-Love
Street Talk cover

Street Talk

Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Saxophone Summit, David Liebman