Once touted as the Anglo-Irish answer to
Public Enemy, revolutionary socialist rap group
Marxman never quite achieved the same level of notoriety as
Chuck D. & co., but it wasn't through lack of trying. Unceremoniously banned from BBC Radio upon the release of protest single "Ship Ahoy" -- which featured MC Hollis Byrne tastelessly uttering the phrase "tiocfaidh ár lá," the motto of the Irish Republican Army -- their star would continue to shine only in the underground, where
33 Revolutions Per Minute would rightly be regarded as one of Bristol hip-hop's most accomplished and original efforts. MCs Hollis Byrne (an Irish-born emigrant) and Phrase (a Bristol-born Jamaican), driven by a quest for social justice, were brutally honest in their depictions of racism ("Ship Ahoy"), malignant colonialism ("Sad Affair") and domestic abuse ("All About Eve"), issues that few in the mainstream before or since have been willing to tackle honestly. Talented rappers though they are, the mastermind behind
Marxman was Dublin electronic artist Oisín Lunny, combining elements of the soon-to-be "Bristol Sound," gloomy electronics and Northern soul, with traditional Irish musicians, enlisting the help of
Sinéad O'Connor to sing "Ship Ahoy"'s moving chorus, and
Davy Spillane, whose flute sounds underpin "Dark Are the Days,"
Gang Starr supremo
DJ Premier guest-produced "Drifting." Nevertheless, it's Lunny's stunning arrangements that make
33 Revolutions Per Minute such a unique experience. ~ Dave Donnelly