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Tough UK digi. Shaka-business from the Waan You veteran, who came through with Light Of Saba in the seventies, and sparred in Ijahman Levi’s breakthrough. Aka Kick The Hobbit because of a typo on the original label.
Soulful, enraptured excursion on God I God I Say, with a lovely melodica dub.
Gorgeous roots. Seemingly sardonic and above-it-all but utterly trenchant. All the singing is sublime, including the back-up. The gentle nyabinghi percussion and keyboard stabs are beautifully restrained, as Sylvan Morris brings his genius to the mix. Same dub as the original 45. A stone classic. We could listen for days.
Plus the 12 Tribes launch a two-headed-shark attack on the flip, featuring maestro Pablove Black. No less than an instrumental cut to George Beaufort’s insurgent Reaching Our Goal, and a sick synth excursion on the revered Black Star Liner rhythm.
A September 1989 performance at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in New York City, with Brian Eno mixing live.
‘During this period Hassell was inspired by the increasingly innovative production techniques being used in hip-hop, in particular the hyper-collaged sampledelic barrage of the Bomb Squad’s work with Public Enemy, hearing it as a kind of extension of the tape splicing that Teo Macero brought to his work with Miles Davis. He began to incorporate more of this aesthetic into his own music, playing over loops of his own performances and riffing on angular juxtapositions of noise, rhythm and melody.’
First time on vinyl.
Billie Jean UK-dubwise. A police-shoot-out scenario, with gunshots, sirens and a daft vocal interjection — Book im, Danno — plus burning horns. Original copies.
The US singer dropping a little sass at Treasure Isle in 1968. Same session as Angel Of The Morning, but previously unreleased.
Also Tommy McCook & The Supersonics doing over Ode To Billy Joe in fine style.
Evergreen rocksteady reading of Chip Taylor’s pop-country paean to illicit sex.
The former Flair and Leiber and Stoller go-to is a rock ‘n’ roll hero. A charged, witty, extrovert guide to its glory days — from doo wop through blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll… into soul. Terrific stuff.