Burning Spear Aims to Stay True to Roots Reggae

THERE IS no more pure exponent of roots reggae than Burning Spear. Reggae has gone through a number of permutations in the 15 years since it came out of Jamaica and began making inroads on the international pop scene. But Spear, who appears with his nine-piece Burning Band at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight, has remained faithful to his equation of hypnotic bass-driven rhythms, flashing horns and studio-enhanced "dub" instrumental sections.