Life of Contradiction (Macola, 1995 [orig. released 1976])

Joe Higgs is mostly known as a mentor to Bob Marley & The Wailers, the iconic John the Baptist-type figure who honed not only the group's vocal harmonies but also Marley's guitar playing skills.  His voice has a deep gruffness that should certainly appeal to Peter Tosh fans (He even wrote Tosh's signature "Stepping Razor."), although it's tempered by a less militant stance and a likeable, old-fashioned, vaguely Dennis Brown-like quality (as on "Song My Enemy Sings" and "Come on Home").  Although he had been recording music since around 1960, 1976's Life of Contradiction was his first full-length album.  As with many of The Wailers' sets, this one contains several covers of his own hits from the '60s, the biggest and best-known being the evocative classic "There’s a Reward" (covered recently by Freddie McGregor on his Anything for You album).  Also re-worked are "Song My Enemy Sings" (AKA "I Am the Song") and "Come On Home" (AKA "Change of Plan").  There’s a general '70s rural soul and even folk/country (see the title track) edge to this album that again echoes many of Tosh's solo efforts.  While its sound won't blow you away (the sound quality itself, by the way, is a bit muddy and distant), Life of Contradiction grows on you with its sharp melodies, its homespun lyrics, and its sincere delivery. Six tracks -- "More Slavery," "Ram Bam Bam," and "Sincerely," plus their dub versions -- were added to the original 1976 10-song set for this 1995 re-release, but they do precious little to improve the album, and in fact detract from the core material.  "More Slavery" might be the best of these three, but it oddly just re-works Burning Spear's "Slavery Days" with different lyrics, while "Sincerely" has a cheesy '50s-style doo-wop vibe, and "Ram Bam Bam" just isn't very noteworthy.  As such, this release of Life of Contradiction is a classic, 4-star album diluted by 6 mediocre add-ons.