Hailing Taxis (3x7")

I'm not exactly sure why it felt so shocking a few weeks ago to hear that Robbie Shakespeare, the great Jamaican bassist, had died. Shakespeare was the "Robbie" of Sly & Robbie with his musical partner of four decades, drummer Sly Dunbar. The two of them were probably the most important rhythm section in the last 40 years of popular music. If you scoured the liner notes of my records, I think you'd find that the two of them played on more music that I've listen to than any other musicians. Their legendary status is not just because of tens of thousands of sides they played on, it's the influence they had over and over again as their music continued to evolve. Demand for them as backing musicians and producers expanded far beyond reggae circles starting in the early '80s and they went on to play with everyone under the sun, from Bob Dylan to KRS-ONE. Their 1980s work with Grace Jones still sounds like the future to me. They've teamed up with pop stars, released jazz albums, and played on experimental electronic music, but always kept creating for home as well, never coming off pretentious, never really leaving reggae behind, and never losing the work ethic that made them so prolific.

I realize it's been decades since rockers rhythms the Revolutionaries kicked up reggae's militancy a notch; or since the Taxi Gang helped bring reggae to a new era, new technologies and new audiences; or since the Compass Point All Stars melded dub and island riddims with new wave, disco and more... But Robbie and Sly both seemed so alive- iconic, foundational artists who could still do their thing, keeping the old styles alive one day then experimenting with new collaborators the next. I still get a little thrill realizing they played on a record I just grabbed, whether it's from 1976 or 2021. It's hard to believe that there won't be any new surprises getting recorded, no more new songs built around one of those brilliant, deceptively simple and clear basslines. 

Here are rips from three very different singles from the first decade or so of Sly & Robbie's Taxi label. They're all a little noisy, mostly rough Jamaican pressings that have seen a lot of play, but this music is special to me. The world's music will be poorer in 2022 for having lost Robbie Shakespeare and his roots, creativity and that bass. I hope my little tribute is a treat for someone.

Tamlins – Baltimore
Taxi – RIC 110
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Promo, UK, 1980

Tracklist
A Baltimore
B Laying Beside You

The Tamlins never broke through with the recognition or international LP sales that of the other reggae harmony trios of the day saw, but they popped up regularly as backing vocalists and released some solid singles throughout the 1970s and 80s. The A side of this record was one of their biggest hits, a wonderful version of Baltimore produced by Sly and Robbie. Baltimore was written by Randy Newman, but the Tamlins' take (wisely) pulls more from Nina Simone's cover over a backing track from the Riddim Twins. The B side is also a cover tune, this time a song by Eugene Record, front man from the great Chi-Lites. It's easy for me to think about a record like this as if the group was covering some classic soul material, losing sight that it was actually contemporary, modern pop music to them. The song was on Record's first solo album in 1977, performed by Etta James on her 1978 LP, then given this treatment by Sly, Robbie and the Tamlins, recording in 1979.

I really think their take on Baltimore is a beautiful thing, a song that sticks in my head for days whenever it circles back into my playlist. Of course, forcing me to think of (and miss) a son who's currently lives far away in that city piles onto the song's haunting qualities for me these days... I ran into a good short piece about the song (and a few of its many covers) from a few years ago, in both article and podcast form if you're interested.

Ini Kamoze – World A Music / Call A Taxi
Taxi Oldies – TXI 867282, TAX 065
Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Jamaica (Original release 1984, unknown date repress)

Tracklist
A World A Music
B Call A Taxi

A couple years later Sly & Robbie's productions have launched into a new era. Influences from their listening and performing outside of Jamaica become more prominent; syn drums, synthesizers and soon samplers will hit the scene; but it's still clearly reggae on this early hit from Ini Kamoze (that you also might recognize from the nice sample in Marley son Jr Gong's biggest hit, Welcome To Jamrock). Unusual for a Jamaican single, the B side of this 7" is not the typical instrumental or dub version, but a different cut also featured on Ini Kamoze's self titled first album. Released on Island Records years before he became "the Hotstepper" and started playing with hip-hop beats, the whole album is backed by Sly & Robbie and very worth your time. I think even more than the records with Black Uhuru that they became so well known for in the US and internationally, Ini Kamoze nicely shows off the innovative rhythms and productions they were building as JA sounds went international and moved away from roots reggae in those years after Bob Marley's death.

Pliers – Bam Bam
Taxi – TXI-0875
Vinyl, 7", Repress, Jamaica (Original release 1993, repress from late 90s?)

Tracklist
A Bam Bam
B Bam Bam (Version)

On this single, Pliers reworks Toots & The Maytals' 1966 classic, Bam Bam, over a rhythm that highlights another leap forward from the Taxi Gang. Reggae and dancehall were key building blocks for hip-hop and other musical styles coming up outside Jamaica, but here Sly & Robbie experiment with bringing some of those influences back to the island. Examples of hip-hop production styles and the influence of American rappers in dancehall are easy to find, but on Bam Bam you can definitely catch the impact of the bhangra rhythms that they had to be hearing in South Asian clubs while working in London.

Taxi's Bam Bam rhythm became a classic in its own right, versioned scores of times and sampled many more. Pliers would work this rhythm again with partner Chaka Demus on Murder She Wrote, an even bigger international hit for duo (a snatch of which you can catch in the B side dub). Either track still fills a dancefloor without fail and I definitely contributed to the crackles you might hear by playing this record out at many parties. What I really love though is the musical map your mind starts drawing when listening to this... JA meets Punjab via the London Desi dance scene, then the music goes "back a yard" before visiting Puerto Rico to seed reggaeton, pops up in American R&B and... I imagine pretty much anyone bothering to read this already knows the track and, even if you think you don't, you'll probably find it to be pretty damn familiar once you listen.

________________________________________________

Hard time in the city... in FLAC (download zip file):

https://mega.nz/file/BHw0ALpI#C0CEADDC_h8HkMZ-c-b8U0_Vvr1lxxL9Kx1U9HxoRpc

In a hard town by the sea... in MP3 (stream or download):

https://mega.nz/folder/YWxSiRaD#9AvmzYLNHy_YjywSoI6oXQ

________________________________________________

Another long delay between posts behind me and another year jacked up by COVID around the corner... I hope everyone has been safe, stayed healthy and was able to squeeze some peace out of the holidays. Please enjoy and let me know what you'd like to hear. I'll try to get this a little more regular again in the new year.