Rough, wild slide-guitar blues. “He couldn’t play shit, but he sure made it sound good,” was the guitarist’s verdict on himself.
Halfway through Sadie, his ex tells him straight: ‘Hound Dog, I can’t use you any more.’ Taylor cries his heart right out into three solos. Terrific.

Legendary ska destroyer. Frankenstein passing through Rome, riding West. All the Byron you need (except maybe Childe Harold).

Beautiful mento sufferers for Ronnie Nasralla in 1966. ‘I am the man who fights for the right, not for the wrong.’
People say that’s the first deejay recording on the flip — the wonderful Lord Comic, and his cowboys. ‘Music is real sweet… For your dancing feet.’

‘With a new lineup including multi-instrumentalists Kwake Bass and Wu-Lu, who are also the producers and arrangers. Horns, played by Soothsayers’ founders saxophonist Idris Rahman and trumpeter Robin Hopcraft, are included on just two of the ten tracks…
‘McFarlane’s spellbinding, crystalline voice continues to be acoustically recorded and reproduced and the primary focus of attention. Her lyrics, as before, are strong on message and relate to the experience of being a black person in Britain, touching on race, identity and the legacy of colonialism.
‘McFarlane’s performances aside, what binds Arise and Songs of An Unknown Tongue together is her embrace of her Jamaican heritage. What makes them distinct from each other is how that heritage is referenced in the material, lyrically and instrumentally. Born and brought up in London, McFarlane made an extended trip to Jamaica in 2018, when she penetrated further into the country’s folk culture and spiritual traditions than she had been able to do on previous, shorter visits. She devoted much of her time to researching the African-derived rhythms that shape the country’s folk music. On her return to London she worked with Wu-Lu and Kwake Bass to present them in a modern electro-acoustic context…
‘It looks forward to a brighter future while acknowleding the past and confronting present. It is deep, immaculately crafted and beautiful.’
(Chris May, All About Jazz).