things and time will tell.

Horace Andy + Sly & Robbie – Zion Gate Tropical Dubwise – TD12001 Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Maxi-Single, Stereo, France, 2021 info A modern Horace Andy follow up to my last post, on this re-cut of his 1973 song  Zion Gate . His voice is in great form as he delivers this reminder to live righteously before it's too late. I appreciate the spiritual clarity at a moment when the world seems pretty dedicated to handing me complication. Andy has released some quality records in the last few years, especially two brilliant LPs for On-U Sound. As much as I like his reinvention in the 90s and 2000s through his work with Massive Attack, it's been great hearing such successful new reggae recordings from this veteran, 50-odd years into his career. Horace Andy teamed up with Sly and Robbie on this single, released just a few months before Robbie Shakespeare sadly passed away in December, 2021. Sly & Robbie lead their classic Taxi Gang band on the backing track and don't disappoin...

Grace Jones – Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions Island Records – 314 524-501-2 2 x CD, Compilation, US, Jun 16, 1998 info In my last post I said that Sly & Robbie's work with Grace Jones "sounded like the future." Seemed like that made it a fitting post for a new year... Happy New Year, everyone. Wish everyone peace, health and strength as we head into 2022. _______________________________ In 1979 and 1980, Island Records completed construction on their new Compass Point recording studios in Nassau. Label chief Chris Blackwell was worked to pull together his dream band of in-house musicians to work with the stars he'd soon begin flying to the Bahamas to record. Blackwell had lived in JA in his youth and had some success promoting the reggae artists he'd signed to Island abroad (especially some guy named Marley), so it's not completely surprising that he'd decided that he wanted a Jamaican rhythm section for the new house band. Sly Dunbar and Ro...

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 s...