Even the Rock Cries Out

We return to Bim Sherman for Reality, his 1992 album backed by Style Scott's Dub Syndicate. 

Bim Sherman & Dub Syndicate - Reality

Century Records - Century 1700

Vinyl, LP, Album, UK, Nov 1992

More info on Discogs

Tracklist
A1 Over The Rainbow
A2 Brother And Sister
A3 Keep On Moving
A4 Fire
A5 Rock Crys Out
B1 Wake Up Reality
B2 Take Me
B3 Go To The Mountain
B4 Best Of Love
B5 Too Hot

The album isn't an official "On-U Sound production," being one of the few records credited to Dub Syndicate without having Adrian Sherwood at the controls. Instead, Mad Professor contributes the mix with the great Skip McDonald as "engineer" for the actual recordings. Skip McDonald is the former Sugarhill guitarist mentioned in my last post, who not only played on pivotal funk and disco recordings and helped invent the sound of recorded hip-hop, but went on to be a central figure in the On-U orbit of artists. His guitar (and production work) became defining for Tackhead and in his blues/dub project Little Axe, along with other On-U regulars including Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge and Mark Stewart.

This album might lack the experimentalism of Adrian Sherwood's productions and suffer from some of the common shortfalls of early 90s reggae production, but its strength far outweigh those flaws. Drummer Style Scott is always reliable, whether pounding out dancehall with the Roots Radics in his native JA or leading the more experimental Dub Syndicate in the UK. The tabla workouts from Talvin Singh, backing vocals from Akabu and McDonald's guitar are all highlights on Reality. Of course, Bim Sherman's vocals are wonderful and sweet as always, but for me his song writing strength really shines on songs like Over The Rainbow, Wake Up Reality and (my favorite) Rock Cries Out. Several of these songs would be revisited with great success just a few years later for Sherman's masterful Miracle album (again working closely with both McDonald and Singh).

I was lucky to recently score a pristine (potentially un-played?) copy of Reality from someone who had stashed the album away since her days working for the record distributor and studio where this was recorded. This one was easy to prep and joy to record and listen to. Very excited to share it.

And as a bonus for the dub heads...

Bim Sherman & The Syndicate - Lion Heart Dub
Century Records - CENTURY 1800 CD
CD, Album, UK, 1993
More info on Discogs

Tracklist
1 Too Hot Dub
2 Fire Dub
3 Rock Dub
4 Love Dub
5 Moving Dub
6 Dub Rock Me
7 Brother And Sister
8 Wake Up Dub
9 Rainbow Dub
10 Zion Dub
11 Can't Let Go Dub
12 Lion Dub

Lion Heart Dub is the dub companion to Reality, released the following year with credit now strangely being given to just "The Syndicate." It includes stripped down dub mixes (most or all by UK reggae producer Mad Professor) for the songs above. This is taken from my CD copy, which includes a few additional tracks that were not on the vinyl. (Meaning you don't have the vocal versions included above as they were only on the CD edition of Reality. Sorry, I'd throw that one in also if I had it handy.) I took the liberty of renaming tracks 10 and 11, which were swapped on the album art.

Links below, let me know if they give you trouble!