Not just the best live reggae album but arguably the best live album of all time, Live At Counter Eurovision 79 captures Misty In Roots at their devotional,  political and philosophical finest

“If you’re not conscious of the present you’re like a cabbage in this society” I like the spoken introductions as much as the seen sprawling songs on this album, which I love more than any other album by a UK reggae band… if not any other band.

With their devotional mantras, Misty In Roots sound like Rastamen from a tenement yard in Kingston but were a socially conscious collective from Southall. The distinctive organ sound that carries the songs makes them unique.

I first saw them at the Hope & Anchor in 1978, the year this album was recorded live in Belgium, and a year or two later at Camden Town Hall for a Rock Against Racism benefit. One of the collective, Clarence Baker, had been savagely beaten by the notorious thugs of the police SPG – ironically at an anti-racist march – in Southall.

I also saw them with The Ruts, who recorded a song about that example of police brutality called Jah War. Misty had loads of members, as I recall, including about half a dozen singers. I’m pleased to learn that they are still performing, and still recording for Peter Gabriel’s Real World label.

This is the opening song of the set, Mankind; I especially love that spoken beginning, easing the listener into their conscious world. Some of the album was played at the funeral of DJ John Peel, who championed them in the early days, which may well be how I first heard them on his nightly Radio 1 show.