The Drums Have Gone Silent

 

This morning, I received the sad news that Sly Dunbar has also passed away. This marks the end of the legendary rhythm section that played with almost every musician who needed a reggae rhythm in the 1980s. Both had enhanced numerous songs with their own drumming and bass playing. Here are a few examples of their work.

RIP Sly

Monday's Long Song

 

Bristol Archive Records is a record label dealing with Bristol post-punk, rock and reggae from 1977 onward. During the last years they released several superb compilations featuring local bands. What all the albums have in common is that they offer a good overview of the local music scene and that there are hidden treasures to be discovered. I have to admit that many of the bands are unknown to me and I'm all the more pleased that there has always been a scene in Bristol that wasn't dominated by trip hop and drum 'n' base. For the last Record Store Day the label re-released again their compilation Bristol Roots Explosion featuring British reggae from the 40 years ago. Mostly in the tradition of bands like Black Uhuru but this was the kind of reggae we used to hear and made me dive deeper into this kind of music. Talisman's Dole Age is one of the highlights on this compilation for me. 

Handsworth Revolution

 

As a side effect of the punk movement was that many bands included reggae sounds into their own music and a British version of reggae came with a big wave to my ears. One of those were Steel Pulse a band named after a place where they came from, Handsworth a district of Birmingham. They released their debut album back in 1978 and were together with Black Uhuru compatible to many of my friends in these days. Their sound is different to roots reggae from Jamaica and not similar to the sound systems and the music that was was produced in many studios in Kingston but their legacy is that they introduced me to dive deeper in reggae and explore many artists that I wouldn't know without their inspiration. They also got big with their political attitude and forcing anti-racism themes - necessary in the late 70's.

Steel Pulse - Prodigal Son

Steel Pulse - Ku Klux Klan

Jamaica The Right Way

After the last election in Germany a few weeks ago our politicians trying to built a new administration on the so called Jamaican coalition of Christian Democrats, Free Democrats and Greens. Named by the colours of the parties black, yellow and green. Since one week exploratory talks take place and in my opinion they are just talking like every time and there will be no final solutions for the problems we have in these times like climate, environment, retirement pay, poverty etc. So I take the chance to write about an artist that is new to me. Junior Natural is a 22 year old Swede and in music business for almost 10 years. When  he went to Kingston he almost drew attention in the local scene. There he met the legendary Robbie Shakespeare, who auditioned him the old-school way: in a parking lot, giving him one chance and one minute. The young singer blew Robbie away: 'Come back with 12 songs and we'll take care of you' was all he told to Junior Natural. The rest is history and the result you can hear on his latest record Militant. The songs are lead by Dunbar's drum sound and Shakespeare's driving bass. Listening to this songs it reminds me to Black Uhuru one of the leading reggae artists in the late 70's/early 80's.