Sly & Robbie - Leaving Dub (Going For A Song - 2002)

I  left you in july with a Sly & Robbie post and guess what, I'm back in september with a Sly & Robbie post. Don't be afraid by the ugly cover of this bargain CD, probably one of the shittiest ever produced by the recorded music industry since its creation . It's the cheapest way to acquire Sly & Robbie's Dub Rockers Delight album, released here under another name, Leaving Dub. Dub Rockers Delight is the dub version of Lacksley Castell's Morning Glory LP (thank you Roots Archives http://www.roots-archives.com/release/1655/?highlight=20469). It was recorded in Studio One and Tuff Gong studios in 1982 and produced by Robert Flacko Palmer. In fact, this album is heavy on reggae instrumentation and not that much in dub effects which are very light. It's not exactly at the same level than the masterpiece of the genre but it's difficult for me to be objective when Sly & Robbie are involved and I found the overall album pretty good. There's enough drum and bass here to satisfy any head.

Download=> Sly & Robbie - Leaving Dub (aka Dub Rockers Delight)

Sly & Robbie - Taxi Fare (Heartbeat - 1987)

Reggae is probably one of the music the most cherished by die-hard fans. It's even the music that has the most fetichists in Western world, the kind of guys that spend monthes and massive amount of money to track down rare 7". Posting about reggae can consequently be a double edge sword: it's curiously the posts that have the most success and drag trafic on this blog but it's pretty hard to find something really interesting and rare that has not been posted elsewhere on hundreds of musical blogs like this one. You'll probably find posts about Taxi Fare at other places but this record is so good it would be a crime to omit it. Jamaican music most famous rythms duo, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Skakespear probably hold the bass and the drums on the best reggae releases of the last 40 years. They released Taxi Fare under their own name with the help of the Channel One All Stars (Bongo Herman, Carlton "Santa" Davis, Eric Lamont, Errol "Flabba" Holt, Gladstone Anderson, Noel "Scully" Simms, Sky Juice, Winston Wright) and Jamaican best vocalists of the time. It's not a proper album but more a compilation of their best production works of the previous years for their own Taxi Records label. It all starts out with the instrumental track Triplet and its slowed down and dubbed out interpolation of Don't Go by Yazoo. Sugar Minott then holds the vocals on Devil Pickney, Struggle on Rock Music, Jimmy Riley on Pure & True, Junior Delgado on Fort Augustus, Dennis Brown on Sitting & Watching, The Tamlins on Baltimore, my favorite track of the record, Jimmy Riley again on Bang Bang and Carlton Livingston on Those Tricks. The bass and the electronic drum are mixed above the vocals and the other instruments and the result just kick you in the chest. In a time when digitalized reggae was starting to dominate Jamaica, Taxi Fare succeeds to be a roots release with a modernized flavor. A must.

























Download => Sly & Robbie - Taxi Fare

Attila Zoller/Lee Konitz/Albert Mangelsdorf - Zo-Ko-Ma (MPS - 1968)

MPS(for Musik Produktion Schwartzwald) can be a tricky label for break hunters like myself. Most of its releases are made for true jazz heads and are sometimes a bit annoying for common ears, especially when it ventures into free jazz territory. A similar experience happened to me when I read an article about Mainstream Records in Waxpoetics and discovered that Mainstream Records was anything but mainstream. But sometimes you find that magical moment on a record, the magical moment you're digging for and that makes you want to write a post about it. I found that magical moment with the 4th tracks of Zo-Ko-Ma, At Twighlite. It begins with a perfect guitar loop and when the alto sax and the trombone come over the guitar, things go sweet and smooth with a pretty cool laidback but arty feeling. The other Zo-Ko-Ma tracks are good as well but it definitely deserves to be possessed for At Twighlite alone.

Download=>Attila Zoller/Lee Konitz/Albert Mangelsdorff - Zo-Ko-Ma