Dillinger - Bionic Dread 1976

Although recorded during the same Channel One sessions as its predecessor, CB 200, Dillinger's second international long-player, Bionic Dread, is comparatively uneven. Once again the Revolutionaries -- Channel One's house band -- supply the "rockers" approach. Much in the same way that Western culture would be influenced by the social and political aspects of rap music, at the heart of Dillinger's clever rhymes is the toaster's ability and finesse when combining hip or otherwise "underground" street lingo and cultural references into his talkin' verse. Bionic Dread failed to produce a breakout track on par with what "Cokane in My Brain" had contributed to the CB 200 album. Still, there are several significant updates and reworkings of melodic motifs liberally borrowed from the magnificent Mighty Diamonds -- a trio of roots reggae vocalists whose "Why Me Black Brother Why" is converted into "Combination Two" and whose "Poor Marcus" was the obvious inspiration for the paean to Ethiopian King "Selassie I." [In 2004, both Bionic Dread and CB 200 were officially released on a limited-edition single-CD compilation from Hip-O Select, with newly remastered audio courtesy of Grammy-winning engineer Gavin Lurssen.] AMG.

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