The Meditations
Jamaican vocal group comprising Ansel Cridland, Danny Clarke and Winston Watson. Clarke had previously been a member of The Righteous Flames, the group fronted by Winston Jarrett (who in turn had been formed from the ashes of Alton Ellis' Flames). He would go on to step out on his own in 1975, forming the Meditations alongside Cridland and Watson. The trio, a roots group closer to the Mighty Diamonds in style than anyone else, recorded a series of strong singles for producers Dobbie Dobson and Lee Perry: Running From Jamaica, No Peace, House Of Parliament and Much Smarter, songs which cast them as righteous Rastafarians who had no truck with the system. Further hits for a variety of producers revealed their pedigree: Wake Up, Fly Your Natty Dread and the massive Woman Is Like A Shadow (1978). Their first LP, MESSAGE FROM THE MEDITATIONS, was a minor classic. Resourceful beyond the limits of most bands, the Meditations rode out the dancehall era, cutting a series of strong, if hardly spectacularly successful albums for a variety of labels, including GUIDANCE and WAKE UP. Their 1986 set, NO MORE FRIEND, was favourably received, and they remain revered ambassadors of rasta reggae, and retain much goodwill in America to this day.