Road to Freedom

Another album from 1991 — Massive Attack’s Blue Lines — has gone down in history as capturing the interface between soul, hip hop and reggae soundsystem culture in the UK at the start of the ’90s. But Road to Freedom, released just a few months later, is almost as great, and every bit as important. Dub space, Native Tongues hip hop collage, the soul power of Carleen Anderson’s gospel-jazz vocals, even the irresistible shuffle of new jack swing are all there. Its midtempo party groove is the perfect midpoint between the slower, smokier contemporary Bristol beats of the time and the ever-accelerating rave breaks of Shut Up & Dance and 4 Hero — but there’s a depth to the song structures and incorporation of live instruments that speaks to something older and deeper in the culture too. Its only downfall is the MCs’ voices straining to escape the gravitational pull of American vowels — where Massive Attack confidently found the rhythms of their own vernacular — but it’s easy to let that slide when a record is as joyous and powerful as this.

Influential album from 1991 by The Young Disciples, the only album they recorded. A near-perfect combination of Carleen Anderson’s unique, haunting voice and superb funk beats and breaks, the album was made up of samples and live instrumentation and set the template for other acid jazz acts to follow, blending ’70s rare groove rhythms with UK hip hop and soul. Released on Gilles Peterson’s Talkin’ Loud label with appearances from the JB horns, Mick Talbot, Paul Weller and Steve White formerly of The Style Council, it was a bold, ground-breaking debut.