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SLY & ROBBIE
Theirs is the
ultimate musical marriage, a
partnership that, once formed,
re-etched the very landscape of
not just Jamaican music, but the
entire world’s. Such hyperbole
is oftentimes rolled out by
publicity machines whenever two
musical talents come together,
but in the case of drummer Sly
Dunbar and bassist Robbie
Shakespeare, it really was an
earth-shattering union. Their
rhythms have been the driving
force behind innumerable songs –
one statistician estimated that
together they’ve played on
approximately 200,000 tracks,
and that doesn’t count remixes
versions and dubs. As a
production team, the pair has
been the equivalent of a
creative storm, the cutting edge
of modern dub, ragga and
dancehall.
Dunbar and Shakespeare linked in
1975, but by then they’d already
become established figures on
the Jamaican scene. Lowell
Charles Dunbar was nicknamed Sly
for his adoration of Sly Stone,
and in his teens had begun his
career in the late ‘60s playing
in studio bands. For a while, he
was a member of the RHT
Invincibles, a group led by
Father Good’un which included
such talents as Lloyd Parks,
Bertram McLean and Ansell
Collins. The group cut several
singles, but none were
particularly successful. Dunbar
would have better luck with his
studio work and made his
recorded debut with the
Upsetters on the single “Night
Doctor.” Producer Lee Perry was
obviously impressed with the
young drummer and consistently
used him in the studio. Even so,
Dunbar continued with his
outside interests, joining Skin
Flesh and Bones, a group led by
Al Brown that boasted the
drummer’s old compatriot Lloyd
Parks. In 1974, the drummer and
fellow band member Ranchie
McLean launched a short-lived
label, Taxi, which focused
mainly on the group and its
members’ own material.
Meanwhile, Shakespeare was
making a name for himself. He
too had launched his career as a
sessionman in his teens and, by
the early ‘70s, was a member of
producer Bunny Lee’s house band
The Aggrovators.
Inevitably, the two youths had
crossed paths during this period
– both were Kingston born and
bred and were only a year apart
in age (Dunbar is the elder).
Over time, both had worked with
virtually all the major (and
minor) artists on the island. It
was producer Jojo Hookim who
eventually brought them together
when the two separately joined
his studio band The
Revolutionaries in 1975. Their
partnership grew slowly and
their first work together was on
Jimmy Cliff’s Follow My Mind
that same year. The duo then,
oddly enough, was also asked to
produce the established French
singer Serge Gainsbourg’s new
album, Aux Armes Et Cetera, in
1975. It was a bizarre pairing
for all concerned, but the
sessions went so well that they
duo not only produced the
singer’s next album, they also
agreed to accompany him on his
French tour.
1976 was even more dramatic. Sly
and Robbie oversaw Culture’s
seminal Two Sevens Clash album,
one of the greatest albums of
the roots age. The pair’s
productions were slowly
beginning to gain international
acclaim, and joining superstar
DJ U-Roy’s backing band for his
U.K. tour brought them further
recognition. Before the year was
out, the duo had also appeared
on Peter Tosh’s Natty Rebel
album, inaugurating a four-year
relationship that saw them
accompany the former Wailer on
tours around the States and
Europe. Meanwhile, their session
work back in Jamaica with Hookim
continued apace, while
Shakespeare also continued
playing with The Aggrovators.
However, their rising prominence
is made clear by Leroy Smart’s
1977 Super Star album, whose
musician credits proudly boast
Robbie Shakespeare & The
Aggrovators and Sly Dunbar & The
Revolutionaries. The Heartbeat
label had released two
compilations that feature The
Revolutionaries’ phenomenal work
for Hookim’s Channel One label.
1989’s Hitbound! The
Revolutionary Sound of Channel
One features some of their most
legendary work with artists like
Horace Andy, Junior Byles, The
Mighty Diamonds, The
Meditations, and Black Uhuru.
The Mighty Two, ostensibly a
compilation of Errol Thompson
and Joe Gibbs’ greatest
productions, also features the
group at their best, backing the
likes of Peter Tosh, Dennis
Brown, Prince Far-I, Culture and
many more. 1978 brought the
legendary One Love Peace
Festival where The
Revolutionaries accompanied
Tosh’s electrifying performance.
The set was recorded for
posterity and released in 2000
by the JAD label.
Having worked ceaselessly over
the last couple of years, Sly &
Robbie had carefully put aside
every penny they could. Now they
finally had enough to open their
own label, Taxi, the name nicked
from Dunbar’s long-defunct first
co-effort. A studio needs a
house band and the men built it
logically enough around members
of The Revolutionaries. The Taxi
All Stars (aka the Roots Radics)
included guitarist Rad Bryan,
percussionist Sticky Thompson,
and keyboardists Ansel Collins
and Winston Wright. The label
was inaugurated with Black
Uhuru’s “Observe Life,” the
start of another crucial
relationship. Taxi quickly
garnered its first hit with
Gregory Isaac’s classic “Soon
Forward.” From thereon out, Taxi
was an unstoppable force on the
Jamaican scene. The Island
compilation Present Taxi
showcases a dozen of the label’s
early singles and includes
Junior Delgado’s masterpiece
“Fort Augustus” and the hit
“Merry Go Round.” The Wailing
Souls’ “Sweet Sugar Plum” and
“Old Broom”, alongside crucial
cuts from Dennis Brown, Gregory
Isaacs, The Tamlins, former
Unique Jimmy Riley, DJ General
Echo and more. Notable omissions
include the duo’s work with Max
Romeo and Prince Far-I.
Sly & Robbie weren’t content to
merely produce other artist’s
work, however, and the pair
continued their outside session
work. Before the decade was out,
the Riddim Twins, as they were
now being called, were providing
the pulsing rhythms for albums
from such legendary vocalists as
Bunny Wailer, The Mighty
Diamonds, Jacob Miller and a
myriad of DJ stars including
General Echo, Ranking Dread and
Barrington Levy. And this still
wasn’t enough for Dunbar, who
also released several solo
singles and a pair of solo
albums, Simply Sly Man and Sly,
Wicked and Slick. However, their
most crucial work was in
conjunction with Black Uhuru,
who, throughout this period, had
recorded a stream of seminal
singles for Taxi -- “Shine Eye
Gal” and “Plastic Smile” amongst
them – which would be gathered
up for the group’s Showcase
album. Across the group’s
powerful albums – Sinsemilla,
Red and Tear It Up Live –
Dunbar’s heavy beats, and
Shakespeare’s sinuous bass, the
heart and soul of The
Revolutionaries’ sound, lay at
the core of Black Uhuru’s music,
while the duo’s throbbing,
deeply dread productions
perfectly twined round the
group’s own phenomenal vocal
performance. This partnership
reached an epiphany on 1982’s
Chill Out, the album that
rocketed the Riddim Twins to
international renown and took
them on a tour opening for the
Rolling Stones as part of Black
Uhuru’s backing band.
Meanwhile, as the new decade had
dawned, Sly & Robbie inked a
Taxi distribution deal with the
Island label. Island head Chris
Blackwell then hired the
Jamaicans to work with
avant-garde singer Grace Jones.
The results -- a sparse, funky,
dubby, but robotic sound, led by
Dunbar’s fascination with the
new Syndrums – set fire to dance
clubs around the world and
impacted across the new wave
scene. The pair’s fascination
with dub was also growing, with
their first excursions into the
genre appearing on the flip
sides of singles released in
1981.
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The following
year’s Crucial Reggae Driven by Sly & Robbie compiled an album’s
worth of instrumentals and deadly dubs onto one convenient disc.
This was followed in 1985 by the equally devastating A Dub
Experience, another bundle of earth-shattering rhythms. Across
the early part of the decade, Sly & Robbie worked with a
dizzying array of artists, including the cream of the DJ crowd,
Frankie Paul, Sugar Minott, Charlie Chaplin and Half
Pint all released seminal cuts
overseen by the duo, while their
work on Johnny Osbourne’s 1983
Osbourne in Dub is of particular
note.
In 1984, the U.K. CSA label
brought together this set with Black Sound Uhuru’s Love Crisis
dub companion, Jammy’s in Lion Dub Style, which was also remixed
by the duo. Even the re-formed Skatalites came knocking at their
door and the end result was The Skatalites With Sly and Robbie
and the Taxi Gang. Sounds of Taxi Vol. 1 arrived in 1984, a
label sampler of Taxi singles, B-sides, and dubs; a second and
third volume would follow over the next two years. The Heartbeat
label would later release the Taxi Fare compilation, an
excellent entry into the world of Sly & Robbie, while Sonic
Sounds’ Many Moods Of focuses the spotlight on the duo’s dubs
from this period. The pair’s close connection to the dancehalls
and their ever more experimental electronic sounds, coupled with
Dunbar’s virtual desertion of his drum kit for Syndrums,
foreshadowed the rise of ragga, and in reality, Sly & Robbie’s
productions provided the blueprint for the eventual rise of
ragga and the digital revolution. This was particularly evident
on the pair’s own instrumentals, credited to either Sly & Robbie
or the Taxi Gang and often titled in reference to Taxi itself --
“Unmetered Taxi”, “Taxi Connection”, “Maxi Taxi” and the witty
“Rent A Car.” Here the pair showed off their genius, perfectly
welding together rocksteady tempos to a totally contemporary
sound. Dunbar’s mechanized beats were so far afield from what
others were creating as to be off the map entirely, while
Shakespeare’s sinuous bass adds a rich organic feel to the
sound. Together the two created a style utterly unique, with
rhythms taut and menacing enough to rampage through the
dancehalls, but still so organic as to hold the roots’ crowd in
its thrall.
The duo were quick to champion upcoming talent, notably Ini
Kamoze, and were there to assist producer Bobby Digital’s rise
to stardom. Their generosity also helped launch George Phang to
fame, for in return for a favor, the Riddim Twins gifted the
producer with a clutch of their own rhythms. With them, Phang
would create such hits as Barrington Levy’s “Money Move”, Sugar
Minott’s “Rydim”, Frankie Paul’s “Winsome” and many many more.
Sly & Robbie threw their new weight and rhythms behind many more
producers during the latter part of the ‘80s, Gussie Clark, Phil
“Fatis” Burris, Clive Jarrett & Beswick “Bepo” Phillips and
Myrie Lewis & Erroll Marshall all owe much of their success to
the duo’s deadly rhythms, which helped their releases to flood
the dancehalls and the charts. However, the pair continued to
garner attention on vocalists, Sly & Robbie were an integral
element of Toots Hibbert’s Toots in Memphis album and
co-produced with Bunny Wailer Marcia Griffith’s “Fever” single.
But their attention was not focused on Jamaicans, and over the
years, Sly & Robbie have consistently worked with artists far
removed from the reggae scene. The duo has employed their
talents with such unlikely artists as Joe Cocker and Joan
Armatrading, Ian Dury and Bob Dylan, Robert Palmer, the Rolling
Stones and Herbie Hancock.
The breadth of their productions and playing seemingly knows no
boundaries. Arguably the best showcase for this diversity can be
found on the Hip-O label’s compilation Sly & Robbie in Good
Company, part of the label’s Ultimate Collection series. The
album boasts 17 tracks that hit virtually all of the pair’s
poles, from roots to dancehall, DJs to veteran vocals, and on to
their more unusual assignments over the years.
Meanwhile, even as the ragga scene gained steam, Dunbar
continued to play live drums, but not for much longer. 1988’s
The Summit was the last album from the duo to do so. This was
just one of a long line of albums of Sly & Robbie’s own work
that had spilled forth since the beginning of the decade. The
duo’s debut, Sixties, Seventies + Eighties = Taxi, appeared back
in 1981. As its title suggests, the album boasted a surprisingly
eclectic batch of covers from the earlier two decades.
Sly-Go-Ville and Kings of Reggae followed swiftly on its heels
over the next two years. Both were excellent albums, but 1985’s
Language Barrier was a more acquired taste. Better were The
Sting and Electro Reggae, which followed Language over 1986 and
1987. The following year, Sly & Robbie joined forces once again
with Laswell in another masochistic studio exercise which
resulted in the very aptly titled Rhythm Killers. Much more
entertaining was Taxi Connection Live in London, which arrived
that same year. 1988 brought the aforementioned The Summit,
overseen by Fattis Burrell, a game plan for the electronic
revolution that was about to shake the entire dancehall scene.
The next year’s Silent Assassin was equally prescient, a deadly
dub-rap hybrid, which featured a guest appearance from hip-hop
heroine Queen Latifah.
The new decade opened with DJ Riot, a title that accurately
summed up the album’s intent. In 1992, Dunbar formed a new
production team with Peter Turner and Maureen Sheridan and a
second one with Bedrose & Malvo. With the former pair, he would
oversee such artists as Junior Reid and Sabre, while the latter
grouping would work with the likes of such up-and-coming DJ
stars as Spragga Benz, Mad Cobra, and Snagga Puss. In a very
different vein, Dunbar would also oversee a clutch of revivalist
religious recordings. But even with all this outside activity,
Dunbar and Shakespeare’s relationship remained solid and
extremely active. The pair has produced some of dancehall’s
leading lights, overseeing hit singles and albums by Shabba
Ranks, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Beenie Man and Luciano, amongst
many, many more. 1996’s Hail Up The Taxi conveniently bundles up
the best of the pair’s productions and session work from the
first half of the decade. Their own recordings have remained
equally strong. Perhaps as a brief respite from the dancehalls,
in 1992, the pair released Remember Precious Times, a sublime
album of covers of roots and reggae classics. Still under the
spell of Laswell, Sly & Robbie joined him yet again for
Mysteries of Creation, but for those who have yet to acquire a
taste for the producer, the mystery remains why the pair
continue recording with him.
A flood of albums appeared during the rest of the decade. The
Punishers, Mambo Taxi, Baylon I Rebel, Reggae Dancehall, Friends
and Present Taxi Christmas were all released between 1996 and
1998, as Sly & Robbie took on movie and TV themes, dub, and
dancehall, brought their mates into the studio and celebrated
Christmas to boot. In 1999, they entered a strip club videocam
in hand for Strip to the Bone which married striptease to
devastating dub. Dub was also the point of entry for Massive and
Dub Fire. From there, it was into jazz, when the pair
collaborated with Monty Alexander for the Monty Meets Sly &
Robbie album. The Riddim Twins have also continued to record on
a regular basis, both as the crucial bottom end for other’s work
as well as their own music.
~ Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide
Sly &
Robbie Links:
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