Saturday, December 18, 2021

RIP Robbie Shakespeare

Here's an odd record whose existence I forgot about (or did I ever really know it - hearing it felt faintly oh so faintly familiar), a Simon Price reminder, and this was a big hit in the UK, almost Top Ten, but '87 was a year when I was out a lot, going to gigs, not watching TOTP very often so probably I missed its chart run altogether. 



I'm not sure I would pick that as their finest hour or representative track

What would be though? 

Well, nearly everything on Warm Leatherette and Nightclubbing, but especially 



and also 




interestingly both Jones songwriting credits or co-credits 

and songs that both in their warmth and sensuality trouble the shall we say Fisher-ian reading of GJ


then there's 


and this


and this


but now I'm thinking about it - and for sure, foundational role / iconic status of S&R fully granted - but for some reason that '80s funki-reggae / reggaematic funk / Taxi sound doesn't do that much for me

like, I'm listening to Rhythm Killers right now and the grooves sound oddly inelastic

it feels like someone might listening to a click track

like some gating might be going on

the grooves aren't breathing 

it's sort of neither one thing nor the other 


yeah prefer them earlier on the whole



and this mighty one, suggestion of Jim in the comments





that's in Steve McQueen's Lovers Rock isn't it? 











2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Black Uhuru’s Dub Factor is really great 80s LP, have to agree on the whole though earlier is better. Not forgetting their finest hour, Kunte Kinte https://youtu.be/-lly7-Ehlzk greatest dubplate of all time? Gets my vote anyway, Jim.

SIMON REYNOLDS said...

yeah i did like the Dub Factor when I listened to it, which was actually quite recently, oddly - earlier this year in fact

Uhuru as a whole I have not found anything I like nearly as much as "Guess Who's Coming"

adding Kunte to the post, cheers