Two of my favourite things. Together. In the
same place. Joining forces to create something new from something … well, relatively new. If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know I’ve raved a fair
bit about On-U Sound production maestro Adrian Sherwood. And you’ll know I’ve
raved a fair bit about Aotearoa dub legends Pitch Black. Now I (potentially) get to have a
rave about both in the same blogpost because Dubmission have just released
Echoes of The Night on Bandcamp (link here); four Pitch Black
originals re-purposed and re-energised by none other than Adrian Sherwood himself.
But look, rather than have me go over the same old fanboy ground, I’ll let Dubmission tell you all about it in
this blurb that hit my inbox earlier today:
They say you should never meet your heroes, but for
Mike Hodgson of Pitch Black, meeting the legendary Adrian Sherwood has been a
transformative experience, leading to creative collaborations that have
benefited both of them.
Nearly 30 years after first being mesmerized by On-U
Sound’s releases, a cheeky bit of radio ripping serendipitously led to Mike
helping Pats Dokter, the label’s official archivist, with his work restoring
master tapes, and eventually to him creating visual content for Adrian’s live
shows.
A while after this collaboration began, Adrian offered
to remix some of Mike’s music, either by his solo project Misled Convoy or his
work with Paddy Free as Pitch Black, and it’s four cuts by the latter that
grace this heavyweight platter.
From the dreamy dub of Transient Transmission to the
rolling rhythms of A Doubtful Sound, Pitch Black’s originals have been
re-arranged and dubbed to $%># in Adrian’s signature style, with fluid
melodies, pounding basslines and vocal samples awash in a wall of effects.
Trumpets by David “Ital Horns” Fullwood bookend the
release, haunting in the first track and celebratory in the last, while Doug
Wimbish (Living Colour/Tackhead) added an extra bassline to the heaving version
of 1000 Mile Drift, which now also features the voice of the iconic Lee
“Scratch” Perry.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Mike Hodgson says,
“the whole experience has been slightly unreal, from working on Adrian’s videos
to being in the On-U studio and watching him dub-mixing the tracks I’ve made,
something I could never have imagined happening!”
Mike isn’t the only On-U fan in Pitch Black, as a
pivotal moment for Paddy was “watching Adrian mixing Tackhead at the
Powerstation in 1995 and seeing the cause-and-effect of what he was doing and
hearing the unbelievable sounds coming out of the speakers. It was the first
time I’d ever seen somebody dub mix like that.”
The cover of Echoes of the Night is based upon an
original artwork by long-time Pitch Black collaborator (and fellow On-U
aficionado) Hamish Macaulay, while the vinyl has been pressed using a 100%
recycled compound known as eco-mix, making each record totally unique as the
colours change across the pressing run (most appear to be green-ish).
Craig Stephen runs the ruler over yet another Primal Scream classic …
Vanishing Point, the movie:
A cult classic released in 1971 which mirrors America’s obsession with cars and the open road, and the plight of the little guy against the authorities. It is essentially one long chase sequence as Kowalski (no first name), played by cult actor Barry Newman, commits to a bet to deliver a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. There are flashbacks to personal trauma, a radio DJ who eggs him on (“the last American hero, the electric centaur, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west”) and cops on his back. Of course, it doesn’t end well.
Vanishing Point, the album:
There was a country rock n soul soundtrack, featuring Kim Carnes, Jimmy Bowen and Delaney, Bonnie and Friends, but even by the 90s it was long forgotten and hard to find. The concept of doing an album for an imaginary film wasn’t new. But doing a soundtrack for one which had already been done … well that was a little bit leftfield. And the Scream did it because they wanted to. The resulting album sounds nothing like the original soundtrack; indeed, it contains some of most ambitious music the Scream ever made. Their soundtrack was based on a skewed and likely substance-filled take on the nature of the film.
‘Burning Wheel’, the opening track, sounds like an outtake from Screamadelica, something that may have been a little too Krautrockian for that swaggering composition to the days of new drugs and when indie music crossed into dance. Its Syd-era Floyd, Faust, and Primals c.1985 all wrapped up in one.
The album’s centrepiece, and the lead single, ‘Kowalski’, samples heavily from the film itself – all from the DJ’s magnificent diatribes that turn a cop chase into a road race: “Two nasty Nazi cars are close behind the beautiful, lone driver / The police know that they’re getting closer ... closer / Closer to our soul hero in his soul mobile / Yeah, baby, they’re about to strike / They’re gonna get him, smash him, rape / The last beautiful free soul on this planet.”
Bobby Gillespie’s own, sparse lyrics seem only to fill the gap between the dialogue-cum-verses; a drum sample from Can’s ‘Halleluwah’ is thrown in and the song cribs the bassline from a Funkadelic song. Ex-Stone Roses bassist Mani is on fire here, a valuable addition to the gang.
The instrumental ‘If They Move Kill ‘Em’ – a line from the bloodiest and baddest western of them all, The Wild Bunch, is driven by a constant drum backbeat, a hollering synthesizer and pounding bass. Following closely by is ‘Stuka’, its dub bass intro introducing the cacophony of noise of the German dive-bomber in full flow. The airplane included wailing sirens intended to smash their enemies into submission, something the Primals attempt to recreate. There’s almost two minutes of instrumentalism before the voice kicks in, a muted, low-fi drone, which comes across as Darth Vader singing Lee Hazlewood, and limited to such oblique snippets as “I got Jesus in my head like a stinger / He moves from tree to tree in the back of my mind / A ragged shadowy figure, I got him.” Is this even Bobby Gillespie singing? Seems so.
An intriguing inclusion is a cover of Lemmy’s ‘Motorhead’, initially released as a B-side in his final days with 70s prog-punks Hawkwind, and his metal monster band’s debut single. The two songs are somewhat different with the metal version, more, erm metally. Scream’s take on this rock anthem is to revert to Hawkwind’s original, retaining all its nastiness and throwing in a perverse opening verse, with Gillespie sounding like a gecko being mauled by a domestic cat, and various loops and layers thrown in for good measure.
There’s also a chunk of instrumentals, including a brooding update of ‘Trainspotting’ from the Scottish drugs and ... well more drugs degenerate movie of the same name, with about two minutes trimmed from the version that appeared on the official soundtrack.
Among all this dub’n’bass and dirty garage rock, it is a little surprising to hear ‘Star’, the second single to come off the album (as part of an EP), which owes a little to ‘Loaded’, with a horn section, snaky melodica played by Augustus Pablo, and a sincere and simplistic chorus: “Every brother is a star / Every sister is a star” as well as these killer lines that Gillespie throws in to the love-in: “The Queen of England, there's no greater anarchist / One man's freedom fighter is another's terrorist.”
After the Stones-devotional Give Out But Don’t Give Up (1994), the Scream really took a leftfield turn with Vanishing Point. Out went the Keef riffs and Jagger swagger, in came an industrial level melding of krautrock, dub, electrofreakery and Ennio Morricone. It’s magnificently experimental, and utilises all manner of distortion, fuzztones, tape delays, drum machines, and sitars. It’s a rampant adventure into the unorthodox, at a time when British bands were encouraged to go retro. But this was the backlash to Britpop, the Santa Claus of music scenes that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. And with the Super Furry Animals and Radiohead ramping up the weirdness and the outlandishness at the same time, there was only way for the future of so-called Cool Britannia: oblivion. It was the beginning of something new: the Scream followed it up with XTRMNTR and Evil Heat, both of which simmered with unadulterated Krautrock, post-punk, Millenium confusion and anti-capitalist anger.
De dub version: Echo Dek (1997)
Echo Dek was the logical dub and remix version of the album which was released just a few months later. Master knob twiddler Adrian Sherwood was at the controls, bashing and smashing eight of VP’s tracks – with ‘Stuka’ getting the double version treatment. These already mightily impressive tracks were cut up and reconstructed into an even further and abstract dub orbit. Sherwood sampled Prince Far-I on ‘Wise Blood’, one of the rejigs of ‘Stuka’. Some tracks merit the makeovers but the versions of ‘Star’ and ‘Kowalski’, if we’re being honest, remain pretty much honest to the originals. Remix albums tend to suffer from laziness and record company pushiness, but Sherwood has a free rein and the passion to carry out a good job.
There was no official new album release for Pitch
Black in 2020, but as ever, there was a bunch of “new” stuff to keep fans
satisfied. The duo celebrated the 20th anniversary of their Electronomicon
album with a remastering and a long overdue vinyl release. That reissue was
accompanied by an album of live cuts from the era, released digitally on
Bandcamp as Electronomicon Live (and as a name-your-price). And of course there
was the now obligatory remix project, with last year’s album Third Light
getting the makeover treatment to morph into The Light Within. That release
contained remixes by the likes of International Observer, Dubsalon, SUBSET, and
Bodie, amongst others, but I’m going to select Adrian Sherwood’s dub mix of ‘A
Doubtful Sound’ as my choice Kiwi cut:
When your all-time favourite producer remixes a track on the latest single from one of your all-time favourite local artists, it’s always going to be noteworthy enough to mention it on your otherwise rather inactive music blog, right?
In this case, that producer is On-U Sound guru and dubologist extraordinaire Adrian Sherwood, and that artist is the equally adored electronic-dub duo Pitch Black. The single is the title track from Pitch Black’s 2019 album Third Light, and it features three mixes of the track – the bass-tastic original, a mix from Portland producer Bodie, and the pick of the bunch, naturally, Sherwood’s Echoes of the Night Dub Mix.
It can be picked up on Bandcamp for less than the price of a cup of coffee … or £2 in regular currency. Grab it.
Annual list time.
If you’ve been here with me before you’ll know that my choices for the blog’s
albums of the year are strictly limited to the new albums I’ve got my sticky
mitts on during the year. Spotify doesn’t count, just purchased copies in
whatever format. Which tends to rule out the dozens or hundreds of really good
releases you’ll see elsewhere on year-end lists. I guess I could call it ‘best
additions to my collection’, etc, or the stuff I listened to most, but it
hardly matters, you know the drill.
10. Chromatics -
Closer to Grey
I’m not sure
whether Closer to Grey is the fifth, sixth, or seventh Chromatics album. Or
something else entirely. It rather depends on whether or not you count
re-released drumless versions of past work, and whether or not you count the
apparently completed but still unreleased Dear Tommy, a much hyped, long
shelved, full-length project from a couple of years back. Such are the
mercurial and mysterious ways of arch-perfectionist and key Chromatic, Johnny
Jewel. But whatever album number it is, Closer to Grey is the first Chromatics
outing I’ve picked up since 2012’s excellent Kill For Love album, and the most
important thing in all of this is that it ticks all the right boxes for long
suffering fans. Or, at least, this fan. Those boxes include Chromatics’ commitment
to a dreamy shoegaze aesthetic, Jewel’s devotion to creating widescreen
cinematic imagery, and a much loved predilection for oddball covers - in the
case of Closer to Grey, that means a reimagining of tunes like ‘The Sound of
Silence’ (Simon & Garfunkel) and ‘On The Wall’ (The Jesus and Mary Chain).
I do have a few reservations over the durability of Ruth Radelet’s voice across
multiple listens. On one hand her vocal is light of touch and weightless, while
on the other, it has a tendency to come across as a little thin and a tad too
bland. What works well in isolation, on individual tracks, can be less engaging
over the full course of the album’s journey. But that’s a minor quibble, and
Closer to Grey comfortably makes the cut for this year’s 10.
9. Beat Rhythm
Fashion - Tenterhook
2019 gave us the
chance to reconsider the too often overlooked legacy of early 80s Wellington
post-punkers BRF. There was a short national tour and, most unexpectedly, a
brand new album. Just like those autumn gigs, Tenterhook felt intimate,
personal, and heartfelt. A very welcome return, even if it does turn out to be
a temporary one. R.I.P. Dan Birch. My full review is here.
Speaking of the
scarcely anticipated, I really didn’t expect this one to feature on any
year-end list when I downloaded it early in the year. Curiosity led me to it,
mainly because I’d seen a few Bobbie Gentry TV “specials” when I was growing up,
and I knew a little bit about Mercury Rev already. As the title informs us,
it’s Mercury Rev’s take on the 1968 Bobbie Gentry release The Delta Sweete,
with an alt-country meets modern day Americana crossover spin. Guest vocalists
include luminaries such as Nora Jones, Hope Sandoval, Vashti Bunyan, Phoebe
Bridgers, Beth Orton, and Lucinda Williams. Although Gentry’s best known track,
the chart-topping ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ didn’t actually feature on the 1968
original, Mercury Rev include it here, and Williams’ interpretation of it is
one of the best (of many) versions I’ve heard. On the surface, Bobbie Gentry’s
The Delta Sweete Revisited was an easy listening affair, and it got a lot of
workplace airtime as a result, especially across the first six months of 2019,
but scratch below that surface a little and you’ll find Gentry’s themes were
often anything but easy listening. A revelation.
7. The Specials -
Encore
More Tales of the
Unexpected. Anyone noticing a theme here? New work from a band that first
emerged some 40 years ago. A blend of just about everything you could possibly
want from the three remaining Specials (plus friends) ... ska, funk, straight pop,
social commentary, and political activism. My full review is here.
6. Pitch Black -
Third Light
I’m not sure what
more I can say about my love for Pitch Black. I’ve written so much about the
duo’s music already - on this blog and for NZ Musician (here) - that it
almost feels indulgent and a touch fanatical to offer more words. Given the
lengthy gap between 2007’s excellent Rude Mechanicals and 2016’s equally great
Filtered Senses, official album number six (excluding a plethora of fantastic
remix releases), Third Light, arrived a lot earlier than many of us had
anticipated. All of the usual Pitch Black touchstones are present and accounted
for; dubby techno drenched in atmospheric electronic wizardry and bassy
production genius, but if there is a slight departure on Third Light it’s that
this work feels a little more chilled out and ambient than any past release.
‘One Ton Skank’, ‘Artificial Intolerance’, ‘A Doubtful Sound’, and the title
track itself are all up there with the best work Pitch Black has done.
5. Minuit Machine -
Infrarouge
Infrarogue ticked
so many boxes for me … a little bit retro, a little bit synthpop, and large
helpings of the melodramatic dark stuff. Something close to perfect, and I
couldn’t get enough of and Helene De Thoury and Amandine Stioui’s unique take
on the complexities of modern life. My full review is here.
4. Nick Cave &
The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
Nick Cave has
always skirted around the periphery of a lot of music styles and genres I’ve
been into over the years, but I’ve never really considered myself a fan. I
liked the obvious Murder Ballads-era stuff, and I’ve enjoyed some of his other
work over the years, but he’s never really been high on my radar whenever new
music has been released. I picked up a copy of Ghosteen just because it was
there, and I’d read a lot of mostly positive social media commentary about it. To
say that death is the primary theme of Ghosteen would be an understatement, and
that’s hardly surprising given Cave’s personal journey and the still obviously
raw tragic loss of a teenage son. Words about Jesus, ghosts, the king of rock n
roll, stars, horses, and (even) the three bears have never before sounded so
vital and fresh. And what a terrific voice that man has … “I’m just waiting now
for my time to come, I’m just waiting now for my place in the sun, and I’m just
waiting now, for peace to come ...”
3. Antipole - Radial
Glare
Antipole topped
this list in 2018 with Perspectives, and Karl Morten Dahl returned this year
with yet another fine post-punk album in the form of Radial Glare. The
retro-fuelled music of Antipole is intoxicating in every way and there’s not a
single moment on Radial Glare where I’m not fully engaged. Quite possibly the
best thing to come out of Norway since a youthful baby-faced assassin Ole
Gunnar Solskjaer started terrifying Premier League defences and banging them in
for fun at Manchester United in the mid to late 90s. My full review is here.
2. The National -
I Am Easy To Find
I think I must
have read or heard just about every criticism possible over the past half dozen
years or so when it comes to The National ... you know how it goes: “boring, bland,
colour by numbers, white-bread boomer rock” that trades on the reputation of a
couple of fine early albums made by the band. Music made by middle aged white
men for a fanbase not too far removed from that precise demographic. I’ve heard
it all, and yep, critics are entitled to those opinions, whatever their
starting point. But they’ll never convince me that’s all there is to it, and
every National album across that same period has, to one degree or another, had
plenty going for it. Which probably makes me a fan. I certainly fit the
aforementioned notional demographic. Unashamedly so. In fact, I Am Easy To Find
is the third of three post-2013 National albums to make this blog’s year-end
list, and I’d go so far as to suggest it’s the band’s best full-length work
since 2010’s High Violet. A fastidiously crafted set of tunes that took me on a
warm and familiar journey with each and every listen. The addition of female
voices (including choral elements) was a major point of difference from past
work, although Matt Berninger’s compelling and emotionally charged baritone
remains a highlight, particularly on standout tunes like ‘Oblivions’, ‘The Pull
of You’, ‘Hey Rosey’, ‘Light Years’, and ‘Not in Kansas’. With so much going on
across its near seven-minute trip, the latter track was something close to the
blog’s song of the year ... if there was such a thing (don’t encourage me).
1. VA/On-U Sound -
Pay It All Back Volume 7
Oh no! A
compilation album! … how can that be? It breaks just about every unwritten rule
of year-end reflecting to list a various artist/compilation label sampler as
your blog’s album of the year. But who really cares about rules that aren’t
written down? This was outstanding. Every bit worthy of the long wait. 23 years
after the last release in the renowned Pay It All Back series, Volume 7
exceeded my own expectations in every way. All hail the production virtuosity
of the dub master himself, Adrian Sherwood. My full review is here.
Close, but no funny
cigar (another ten):
There’s no room on
this list for one of my favourite bands, Iceland’s Of Monsters And Men, who
released Fever Dream. Each of the band’s two previous albums have featured on
this list in past years, but Fever Dream was a disappointment for me, with OMAM
having abandoned the mystical and magical in favour of a far more generic
stadium-ready sound.
Had Dead Little
Penny’s Urge Surfing been released earlier in the year it probably would have
made the cut because right now, as at mid-December, it feels like a real grower.
Certainly, it’s one of the best local albums of the year in that dark
shoegaze-y vibe I love so much.
The Radio Dept’s
2019 “album” I Don’t Need Love, I’ve Got My Band is decent, and I’m a fan of
Sweden’s finest, but it’s not really a “new” album, merely a compilation of
past work, clumping together two previously released EPs from 2003 and 2005.
Worth a listen if The Radio Dept is new to you.
I listened to
Ladytron’s self-titled return a fair bit, and loved a lot of it, but it just
fell short on account of it not really breaking any new ground. New Ladytron,
just like old Ladytron, which, most years, is not a bad thing to be.
Angel Olsen’s All
Mirrors is another of those albums that would just as likely have featured more
prominently here had it been released earlier in the year. I probably haven’t
listened to it enough (yet) but I suspect it’ll be well represented on year-end
lists elsewhere. Olsen is one to watch.
Underworld’s Drift
series was an ambitious undertaking. I downloaded a job-lot 40-track version
which clocks in at nearly six hours. There’s some truly great stuff in there,
but that’s a hell of a casual listening exercise, and Drift wasn’t really an
album in any traditional sense of the word.
The Raconteurs’
Help Us Stranger was a throwback to a far simpler time. A time when classic
rock dinosaurs roamed and ruled. Help Us Stranger showcases Jack White and
Brendan Benson’s love of all things 1970s, and it was mostly an enjoyable
listening experience. The odd cringeworthy moment excepted.
Prince is no
longer with us, but his musical legacy lives on. Originals is a collection of
Prince performing songs he wrote for other artists, or at least, those he allowed
other artists to release. It cements his status as not only one of his
generation’s most underrated songsmiths, but one of the greatest vocalists of
the past 40 years.
Foals released two
albums in 2019. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 & 2. Released
months apart. The earlier release is probably the one to savour, if only for
the way it veers into an unlikely synthpop realm, but both are worthwhile efforts
and I’m surprised Foals aren’t gaining a lot more commercial traction.
Finally, in terms
of albums, Marvin Gaye’s You’re The Man was an interesting release. Recorded between
1969 and 1972, it was originally intended as a follow-up to Gaye’s acclaimed
What’s Going On (1971) but was shelved by Motown and remained unreleased until
early 2019. I’m a little unclear about whether it was Motown boss Berry Gordy
or Gaye himself who pulled its initial release but the fact is, despite some of
the content being a little patchy, fans of Gaye, or classic soul, will find a
lot to love on You’re The Man.
Which brings me
nicely to reissue of the year: I just can’t go past the 25th
anniversary deluxe release of R.E.M.’s Monster (1994). The original album, a
remix of the original, a bunch of unreleased demos (mostly instrumentals), and
live versions from its era. Monster has always been regarded as something of a
black sheep within the band’s canon, but this reissue - especially the remixed
album and even some of the unreleased work - brings into clear focus just how
good the music of R.E.M. was during the band’s pomp.
EP of the year:
Contenders by Contenders. Punk rock out of Hamilton. Everything about this
release is short and sharp. Must be played loud, preferably with copious
amounts of beer at the ready. A shout out too for the young Wellington electronic
artist Miromiro, who released two fine synthwave-y EPs during the year, Toucan
and Andreev Bay. I was a big fan also, of Kool Aid’s Family Portrait EP.
Gig of the year:
Blam Blam Blam at St Peter’s Hall, Paekakariki. No question. I waited 38 years
to see the reformed band play live after seeing a much more youthful version as
a youngster myself back in 1981. It’s hard to go past bucket list events like
that.
In a similar vein,
Beat Rhythm Fashion at Meow was quite special too. Other locals who rocked my
world included The Beths at San Fran and Miss June at Meow. Of the international
artists who visited these shores, Gang of Four at San Fran was surprisingly
good, and a less well attended set at the same venue by the Dub Pistols got my
2019 gig-going year off to a flyer. Herbie Hancock in Wellington was the
biggest “name” I saw live, but that particular night was less enjoyable for me,
for a number of reasons that I simply don’t have room to expand upon here …
I’ve kept you long
enough. Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting everythingsgonegreen in 2019. Wishing you
merry festivities and happy holidays. Play safe, and don’t get arrested.
Producer,
artist, and all-round reggae superstar Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry isn’t one to live on
his weighty legacy. Now well into his 80s, Perry has produced two studio albums
in less than two years as he continues his journey into the new sounds of
Jamaica. Craig Stephen takes a closer look: Rainford (2019)
Perry’s
umpteenth studio album was co-produced with dub reggae producer extraordinaire
Adrian Sherwood. Perry as ever provides the vocals, sounding, yes, like an
elderly man, but a man with fire still burning in his belly.
Some tracks
have a freestyle, go-with-the-flow format, with Biblical allusions that veer
into babbling chants, snarls and shrieks.
The final
track, perhaps ominously but appropriately, is ‘Autobiography of the Upsetter’,
and while I expect Perry to continue for a few more years yet there will
naturally be a point at which the book is closed. This feels like some sort of
career-capping memoir as Perry reminisces on his life in music.
Unfortunately,
the vocals ebb and flow and there are words that are hard to comprehend. He
begins by saying he was born Rainford Henry Perry in Jamaica in 1936, informing
the listener that his father was a freemason, his mother an Eto Queen (no, I
don’t know either) … “They shared a drink together, they then go on to make a
Godly being/ Just look at me.”
Among his
reminisces are how, he says, he made the Wailers, and in particular its
frontman:
“Bob Marley come to me saying ‘my cup is overflow, my cup is overflow,
and I don’t know what to do. Can you help Mister Perry?’ Yes I can, I give you
Punky Reggae Party.”
He later reminds listeners of his work with Susan Cadogan, who had a
number of big reggae hits in the UK including the Perry-produced ‘Hurt So Good’.
A couple of
tracks, if we are honest, don’t quite continue the quality but ‘Makumba Rock’
partially makes up for such slackness – it is an unhinged jam where Perry
alternately cries like a baby, bleats like a goat, and whines “I want my mommy,
I want my daddy” as heraldic horns blast forth and a hardcore dub rhythm
transports the listener back to 1974 and near the end warns Britons: “Prince
Charles will not be King.”
As found in a $5 bargain bin somewhere near
you … (to be fair, this is yet another one of those “classic albums” specific only to
your blogger’s definition of “classic”, obviously). Despite getting by with a little help from
highly influential friends such as Adrian Sherwood, Keith Le Blanc, and Doug
Wimbish, among others, the chronically underrated Japanese outfit, Audio
Active, remain a largely unknown quantity when it comes to exposure in the
mainstream. Having long been a fan of their unique blend of reggae, dub-hop,
and electronica, I’m continually astounded to discover multiple copies of their
2001 album Spaced Dolls priced down and left to sit unloved in the bargain bins
of practically every music store I’ve ever frequented. It might be just me, but
… hello! … WHY!? Whatever the reason for that is - and it probably has something to do with their challenging and
hard-to-categorise sound - had Spaced Dolls been released as the work of a rather
more high profile artist (such as: ??? - insert populist and trend-orientated
electronica collective of choice), then I’m fairly certain it would have met
with some amount of critical acclaim, and may have even been sold to an
unsuspecting public as “ground-breaking” … and it would just as likely have sold
by the truckload.
Spaced Dolls contains a mix of all three
aforementioned genres, but even those descriptions barely cover the wide range
of material on offer. Throw in some hip hop, a touch of ambience, and large
portions of innovative spacey trance-like stuff and you get a rough idea what
Audio Active is all about. Some of it may not be accessible enough for
Audio Active to achieve what might be called “commercial success” but that
doesn’t account entirely for their inability to gain exposure to a wider
audience. Anyone familiar with the output of Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound label
will already know a little bit about the band however, and much of its best
output has been released on that label. Although this is ultimately a Sony
release, Sherwood is once again on hand to assist with production. Best bits on Spaced Dolls include:
‘Cosmos>Chaos’, ‘Basspace’, ‘As The Wind Blows’, and ‘Back From The Black
Hole’. Check out the tasty looking buds on the CD
inlay. “… special thanks to Tha Blue Herb” … indeed.
I’ve got to be honest: I’m generally such a
committed fanboy of just about everything the On-U Sound label releases, I fear
I can’t really review this album objectively. I’m concerned that my love for
the work of (producer) Adrian Sherwood - across something close to four decades
now - will blind me to anything other than its most obvious flaws or
shortcomings. But I’ll do my best ... and if I can’t be totally objective, then at the
very least I can offer some information about what you can expect from Pay It
All Back Volume 7.
The main thing you need to know that it’s
the latest release in a long-running series of sampler compilations for the
On-U Sound label. It was released in late March, some 23 years after the
release of Pay It All Back Volume 6. Yet, even after such a lengthy period, many
of the same artists who graced the first six volumes - which covered work from
the early 80s to the mid 90s - feature again on Volume 7. See, for example,
offerings here from label stalwarts like African Head Charge, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry,
Mark Stewart, Little Axe, Doug Wimbish, and Sherwood himself. But it’s far from retro-centric; it’s not a
nostalgia document. It’s a sampler to showcase new, recent, or forthcoming On-U
Sound releases, Sherwood mixes of material not exclusive to the label, and/or
previously unreleased stuff that never found a home elsewhere. As such we get a genuine hybrid of musical
styles (except generic rock and pop) with the one common denominator being that
everything here has, to one degree or another, been touched by the hand of
Sherwood. That’s the glue that binds. Highlights include: the Play-Rub-A-Dub mix of Horace Andy’s classic ‘Mr
Bassie’, Neyssatou and Likkle Mai’s version of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ (see clip below), Denise
Sherwood’s ‘Ghost High’, Congo Natty’s ‘UK All
Stars in Dub’, Sherwood & Pinch’s ‘Fake Days’ (featuring LSK), Little Axe’s
‘Deep River’, Ghetto Priest’s ‘Slave State’, plus the Coldcut/Roots Manuva
collab, ‘Beat Your Chest’, which closes the album … and of course, there’s the
understated magnificence of ‘African Starship’, which is a typically eccentric
taster from the now 83-year-old Lee Perry’s 2019 album, Rainford ... climb
aboard with “Pilot Perry” if you dare! The aforementioned flaws and shortcomings
are few. Only a couple of tracks (of 18) leave me feeling a little cold, but I
guess that’s the nature of sampler compilations. And, in my experience, so far as
On-U Sound compilations are concerned, those tracks are just as likely the ones
I’ll be listening to most this time next year. My own purchase was a rare foray back into
the world of the compact disc - my OCD preventing me from deviating from the
format I collected the first six volumes in. The supplementary booklet not only
offers a plethora of information about the tracks included on the album, it
also provides a comprehensive year-by-year guide to the label’s entire back catalogue.
One of many
exceptional politically charged dub albums from Adrian Sherwood’s most
excellent On-U Sound stable of artists, End of The Century Party brings
together a wide and diverse array of talent. From the ex-Sugarhill house band
trio of bassist Doug Wimbish, guitarist Skip “Little Axe” McDonald, and the
beats programmer/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Keith Le Blanc
(collectively aka Tackhead), to ex-PiLsters Jah Wobble and Keith Levene, to roots
merchants such as the late Bim Sherman and Style Scott’s Dub Syndicate, plus a
host of other label luminaries. Throw in an ex-roofer (allegedly) from Bristol
with a loud hailer voice, one Gary Clail, have Sherwood himself take care of
the mixing and production, and well … you’ve got an irresistibly potent brew.
Who cares that
they decided to celebrate the end of the century a decade or so early?
Clail and Tackhead
had worked together before, most notably on an album called Tackhead Tape Time
(1987), but also when Clail was employed as a ranting/chanting/toasting MC with
a live/touring version of the band. On End of The Century Party however, it’s Clail
who takes centre stage, and this album to some extent acted as the launching
pad for an otherwise sporadic “solo” career which included four more
full-length releases – Emotional Hooligan (1991), Dreamstealers (1993), Keep
The Faith (1995), and Nail It To The Mast (2014). Rumour has it another one is
due in 2019, but I can’t be sure about that.
End of The Century
Party combines helpings of techno, dub, funk, sampling, and spoken word (though
not necessarily rap), with large chunks of social commentary and a set of
highly politicised lyrics. Themes include vegetarianism (on ‘Beef’), corporate
corruption (on ‘Two Thieves And A Liar’ – with specific targets being
Stockbrokers, Accountants, and Lawyers – you decide who’s what), dreaded
privatisation (on ‘Privatise The Air’ – parts 1 and 2), and of course, football
(a particular passion of Sherwood’s as expressed on ‘Leroy Leroy’).
‘Beef’, later
released as a single and given a bpm boost, and also included on Clail’s
Emotional Hooligan album, is probably the best known track for non-On-U Sound
devotees, but the rootsy dub of ‘Two Thieves’ and the quite phenomenal ‘A Man’s
Place On Earth’ are the stand-out moments for me.
If you’re a fan of
Adrian Sherwood and/or Gary Clail and/or Tackhead, or the On-U Sound label
itself, you’ll likely already have this album. If you’re not yet a convert, but
keen to learn what all the fuss was about, then this is a great place to start.
It’s fair to say
that one of my most anticipated album releases of early 2019 is the seventh
instalment in On-U Sound’s Pay It All Back series.
Earlier this
month, some 23 years after the release of the volume six, the label announced a
March 29 release date for the unveiling of a mouth-watering volume seven. Here’s
the blurb from the On-U Sound Bandcamp page (where you can also pre-order, here):
“An 18 track showcase of new Adrian
Sherwood productions featuring previews of several forthcoming On-U releases,
unique mixes, deep cuts, and unreleased tracks from Roots Manuva, Lee “Scratch”
Perry, Coldcut, Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band), Mark Stewart,
Horace Andy and more. The long-awaited latest instalment in the legendary On-U
sampler series that first emerged in 1984. In the classic tradition of the
series the tracks are stitched together with a number of special pirate radio
style segueways, making for a unique journey through the modern world of On-U
Sound! Both vinyl and CD editions come with a fully illustrated and annotated
On-U catalogue, track exclusive to physical formats and is presented in a
gorgeous colour-printed kraft board sleeve.”
The full Pay It
All Back set, volumes one through six, is the only long running compilation
series - on any label - I’ve managed collect in its entirety in the same format
… only on CD, sadly, although I had at least one, if not two, of the early
volumes on vinyl back in the day.
With the first six
volumes having provided an in-depth overview of the label’s first decade, and
nothing since 1996, volume seven is more than just a little overdue.
There have, of
course, been many other Adrian Sherwood and On-U compilation releases during that
period, but the Pay It All Back series remains the most definitive. Up until
1996, at least.
In anticipation of
the forthcoming addition, I’ve compiled a How to Buy On-U Sound (collections)
guide, and although every On-U devotee would add and delete as applicable to
create a completely different set of favourites, the ten releases listed below
all take pride of place in my own collection, roughly in order of preference.
How to Buy On-U
Sound …
15 Years in an
Open Boat (1997)
Although each Pay
It All Back volume comes with its own unique set of charms, 15 Years in an Open
Boat is perhaps the only collection to trump them all, and it currently ranks
as the most comprehensive On-U Sound overview to date, covering off the label’s
first - and surely most important - 15 year period. 29 tracks across two CDs
and/or LPs. As such, we get everything from Prince Far I’s seminal ‘Virgin’ (of
1982), through to Sherwood’s mid-90s work with the likes of Little Axe, Audio
Active, and 2 Badcard. It also ticks boxes for the hugely significant Tackhead
(‘What’s My Mission Now?’), Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry (‘Jungle’), Dub Syndicate (four
tracks), and many others along the way. 15 Years in an Open Boat is an absolute
essential for any self-respecting On-U collector.
Pay It All Back
Volume Three (1991)
My pick of the Pay
It All Back bunch. Just. It opens with Strange Parcels’ ‘Disconnection’ and it doesn’t
relent across 17 FX-drenched Sherwood masterpieces. Perry and Dub Syndicate again
feature, the latter with another three gems, but there’s also arguable career
highpoints on this one for key Sherwood sidekick Gary Clail with ‘False
Leader’, and the much loved Little Annie, aka Annie Anxiety, with ‘I Think of
You’. Naturally there’s some Barmy Army (two tracks), African Head Charge, Mark
Stewart, and the late, always missed, never forgotten, Bim Sherman, who closes
proceedings with ‘Nightmare’. This one is pretty much the equivalent of an On-U
“Who’s Who” of the label’s roster as things stood at the end of its first
decade.
Pay It All Back
Volume Two (1988)
Where it all
started for me, on vinyl, and while the On-U Bandcamp page appears to insist that
Volume Two is short and sweet at just nine tracks in length, the album in hard
copy form (CD) consists of 16 tracks, most showcasing Sherwood’s love of reggae
at the rootsy end of the spectrum; opening with Perry & Dub Syndicate’s
‘Train To Doomsville’, and closing with Dr Pablo’s melodica-driven ‘Red Sea’. Everything
in between is a genuine On-U classic. Highlights include two Bim Sherman
collaborations, with Singers & Players on ‘Run Them Away’, and Dub
Syndicate on ‘Haunting Ground’. Singers & Players back Prince Far I on two
tracks, and Far I’s own, immortal, ‘Bedward The Flying Preacher’ is another obvious
stand-out. There’s two great contributions from African Head Charge, and three
Mark Stewart/Maffia offerings across the second half.
Sherwood At The
Controls Volume 2 1985-1990 (2016)
A recent raiding
of the On-U archives from just a couple of years back. I thought the most
important aspect of the two recent Sherwood At The Controls releases - will
there be more in this series? - was the way each one highlighted the label’s evolution
from its earliest post-punk roots, and this volume serves to showcase
Sherwood’s early forays into a fledgling form of industrial EDM with tracks
from the likes of Mark Stewart (with ‘Hypnotized 12 Mix’), Tackhead (‘Mind at
the End of the Tether’), Keith Le Blanc (‘These Sounds’), Ministry (‘All Day
Remix’), and KMFDM (‘Don’t Blow Your Top’). But the dub/reggae staples - Perry,
Dub Syndicate, Sherman, and AHC - also feature prominently enough, and At The
Controls Volume 2 at its best presents a hybrid mix of all of the genres Sherwood
found himself tinkering with across the late 80s. Which means this one is
perhaps the most eclectic of all the albums featured on this list.
Pay It All Back
Volume Four (1993)
The importance to
Sherwood and On-U Sound over the years of key individuals like bassist Doug
Wimbish and guitarist Skip McDonald can never be overstated, and their
omnipresence is the most immediately obvious thing about the material found on
Volume Four: collectively, individually, or as key members of Strange Parcels -
effectively Tackhead in disguise - with that collective contributing five out
of the 14 tracks on offer. Elsewhere, we get McDonald, aka Little Axe, in a
“solo” guise with ‘Hammerhead’, and in partnership with Wimbish on ‘Stop The
Clock Part 2’ ... all of that before we even start on the duo’s involvement
with various other On-U projects - see Barmy Army, Dub Syndicate etc. And
McDonald is credited with co-production on ten tracks here. Curiously enough
though, my choice cut from Volume Four has to be the Norman Grant-produced
Twinkle Brothers dub-with-strings extravaganza that is ‘Don’t Betray Me’. A
shout out, also, to the mournful social commentary of Jalal’s ‘Mankind’.
On-U Sound - Dub
Xperience: The Dread Operators (1996)
Given that it was
released on Cleopatra Records, and includes material lifted from the Cherry Red
imprint, pesky purists might insist this one’s not authentic to the On-U label,
but one quick glance at the track-list should be enough to quell the concern of
any sceptic; things don’t get much more early On-U Sound than Creation Rebel - Eskimo
Fox, Style Scott, Sherwood, et al - with five tracks, including two co-credits with
New Age Steppers, or Singers & Players, with four tracks, including ‘Autobiography
(Dread Operator)’, which serves as an opener and title track. Prince Far I
features with ‘Quante Jubila’, and Voice of Authority, effectively Sherwood
himself, is there with ‘Middle East Power Station’. However you wish to frame
it, Dub Xperience: The Dread Operators, is pure foundation-era On-U Sound, and
a few years after its release as a standalone document, compiler Matt Green saw
fit to include it as one third of a wider On-U Sound box set, also released on
Cleopatra.
Pay It All Back
Volume One (1985)
The first release
in the Pay It All Back series, yet one I was forced to work my way back to
after buying all the rest, given its relatively rare status for the decade or
so after its release (here in New Zealand, pre-internet, at least). A couple of
tracks featuring here would resurface again on Volume Two - it probably depends
on what release/version/format is being discussed - but obviously Volume One was
crucial in that it meticulously covered off the label’s earliest output. Which
means it contains some of Sherwood’s most rudimentary and experimental
production work. The sort of stuff fans of the label would later come to know
(and love) as easily identifiable signature moments - his explorative use of space,
echo FX, and sampling, being at its most raw and cutting edge during this
phase. Highlights include Dub Syndicate’s ‘Must Be Dreaming’, and African Head
Charge’s ‘Timbuktu Express’, but there’s state-of-the-art work too from Singers
& Players, New Age Steppers, and Mark Stewart’s Maffia.
Sherwood At The
Controls Volume 1 1979-1984 (2015)
At The Controls
Volume 1 was all about excavating some of the super early Sherwood stuff that
might otherwise have been forgotten about. Again, as with the template or
formula explored further on Volume 2, it brings into sharp focus Sherwood’s
links with punk, new wave, and post-punk; bands like The Fall (with ‘Middle
Mass’), The Slits (‘Man Next Door’), and Shriekback (‘Mistah Linn He Dead’)
take pride of place, all blending seamlessly with the obligatory portions of
dub on offer here - see work offered by the usual suspects, Prince Far I,
Singers & Players, and African Head Charge. Naturally, Mark Stewart’s
seminal ‘Learning to Cope with Cowardice’ is right at home, and Vivien
Goldman’s album closer, ‘Private Armies Dub’, will doubtlessly be of some interest
to trainspotter types. For my money, this one is not quite as listenable as
Volume 2, but it’s a hugely important document all the same.
Pay It All Back
Volume Six (1996)
From a personal
listening/consumer perspective, Volume Six was all too quickly overshadowed by
the release of the more expansive 15 Years in an Open Boat set (see above) the
following year. Had I known at the time that it would be the last Pay It All
Back release for nearly quarter of a century, I might have been inclined to
give it a little more ear/air time and love. I did, however, give Audio
Active’s ‘Paint Your Face Red’, and Bim Sherman’s ‘It Must Be A Dream’, plenty
of long-term love, and although it probably won’t be a universally popular
choice amongst hardcore On-U devotees, I think ‘Japanese Record’ is something
close to the best track Dub Syndicate ever recorded. They’re all highlights
here. At just 12 tracks, in relation to other releases in the series, Volume
Six was a relatively brief offering.
Pay It All Back
Volume Five (1995)
Hmmm. Keen
observers will note the album cover I’ve posted above is rather different to
the more widely recognised/official On-U cover for Volume Five. That’s because,
in order to stay true to my own collection, I’ve posted the Restless Records
(US) version. And while I’ve always been vaguely aware that my Restless Records
Pay It All Back was a black sheep in terms of sleeves, it was only in the
course of writing this blogpost that I became aware of the inconsistencies
within the track-listing for each version … I’m not sure of the issues
surrounding licensing, but the Restless Records release includes 2 Badcard’s
‘Rock To Sleep’ instead of ‘Weed Specialist’, Gary Clail’s ‘Another Hard Man’
instead of ‘One Flesh And Blood’, and Tackhead’s ‘Laws Of Repetition’ rather
than Doug Wimbish’s ‘Life In Arena (version 1)’ … all of that said, this
volume’s highlights come in the form of Dub Syndicate’s ‘Roots Commandment’,
and Bim Sherman’s ‘Can I Be Free (From Crying)’, which are among the ten (of
13) tracks included on both editions.
Of course, this is
a far from complete “how to buy On-U” guide, and with a focus only on
collections or compilation releases, I’ve ignored so many gems within the wider
catalogue - terrific albums released by Perry, Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, Audio
Active, African Head Charge, and Sherwood in a “solo” guise, to name just a few
- but I may yet cover off a few of those in a future blogpost … for now it’s all
about looking forward to Pay It All Back Volume Seven, and an appreciation of just
how we got here in the first place ...
