With the "Al Capone" single soaring into the U.K. Top 20 in March 1967, a new
Prince Buster album was not far behind, although anybody searching for the hit therein was in for a surprise. Chicago's favorite gangster was nowhere in sight; instead, Bluebeat reached back into the vault and not only hauled out
Buster's other greatest hit, 1963's "Ten Commandments of Man," but also retrieved "Words of Wisdom," a chilling indictment of modern Kingston life, set to a ska-ified reinvention of the 23rd Psalm: "...poverty and hunger shall follow them all the days of their life, and they shalt fight with the landlord forever." One of
Buster's most powerful yet sorely overlooked creations, "Words of Wisdom" virtually blueprinted the spiritual thrust of the entire roots movement, three full years before it was even formulated.