The legendary UK roots reggae band Capital Letters is happy to announce the reissue of their 1982 album Vinyard, available May 25, 2015 on Greensleeves Records. The deluxe reissue features new artwork with extensive liner notes as well as seven previously unreleased bonus tracks.

Vinyard is the follow up album to their 1979 debut album Headline News and captures the sound of the golden age of UK reggae. In anticipation of the release, the band has reunited and is currently rehearsing for shows to support the album release in the UK.

There are only ten tracks on Vinyard, but every one of them counts. On “Bagga Wolf” they accuse politicians of “robbing from the poor and giving to the rich” and then indulge in wry humor by opening “No Jobs” with a snippet from the “Funeral March.” This song continues where “Unemployment,” from their debut album, left off and it cuts across all racial divides. Black-on-black violence is the subject of songs like “Murdering Style” and “How Far.” The band then ask why people have to “fuss and fight over Jahoviah” on “Africa Bound,” as they pinpoint another source of division within the black community. This insistence on speaking the truth has long been a major hallmark of their work. “Fi Wi Parents,” which is one of the strongest tracks on Vinyard, even chastises certain older folks for putting money before spiritual or political concerns, instead of leading the youths by example.

As far as the seven bonus tracks, four of them are previously unreleased outtakes from their debut album Headline News and the remaining three are from a live studio session with the influential BBC Radio One John Peel recorded on January 16th 1979. The mesmeric songs resulting from that session are the standout track “Smokin’ My Ganja” and “Fire” (both off  Headline News) as well as the never-before-released “Rasta Seh.”