Adrian Sherwood.
…and done! Sometimes it really only takes two words and a meaningful review has practically written itself - at least for the well-informed dubblog.de community. About Mr. Sherwood, his On-U Sound label and the oeuvre he produces - from Creation Rebel, New Age Steppers to African Headcharge, Singers & Players to the Dub syndicates; to Lee Perry, Bim Sherman and many others – there is probably no longer any need to waste big words. It's On-U Sound, man!
Doyen Sherwood himself has never lost relevance in his more than 30-year history as a producer - well, sometimes he has ventured into somewhat more obscure areas (such as his Collaboration with Pinch), but alone his productions with the Dub Syndicate and/or Lee Perry showed how much he works on the cutting edge and beyond. Who doesn't remember Perry's epochal "Rainford"-Release and its no less valuable counterpart "Heavy Rain"?
Now we have another fine double pack in front of us: The Horace Andy album "Midnight rockers' and its just-released counterpart 'Midnight Scorchers". The former surprises with a fairly classic sound by Sherwood standards, with Horace Andy at his best; the latter with, well, reinterpretations. A real Sherwood treatment goes far beyond that Dub-Borders, turns the innermost outside, lets shine in the vocal mix that has been buried, adds instruments and vocals (Daddy Freddy, Lone Ranger), fades out tracks in return and fattens up the whole sound compared to the original. All reasons why the term "Dub Album" doesn't go far enough and I think the more comprehensive "Counterpart" is more appropriate.
Finally, just the hard facts: "Midnight Scorchers" contains seven alternative versions of "Midnight Rocker" tracks plus three new tracks, all bearing the multi-ton On-U Sound seal of approval. Adrian Sherwood just... and done!
7 Responses to “Horace Andy: Midnight Scorchers”
Well, I don't really care about the naming, but it's not a classic "Midnight Rockers in Dub' and that brings a breath of fresh air into them Dubsailing… and like gtk, I really love a lot of what Adrian Sherwood has produced, but I also have a few albums by him that don't appeal to me as much.
Nonetheless, for me he is an undisputed musical sumo wrestler and innovator and I listen closely to every release he releases.
For me, the Midnight Scorchers album has the really deep bass that I love about the Dub- I like music in general and the mixes and psychedelic effects convince me throughout.
My only tiny gripe: it has a bit too many vocals in it for my taste... Dub convinces me precisely because of the (often) completely missing or very, very sparsely used vocal (samples).
But pieces like "Sleepy's Night Cap" come across as brilliant, they have this mystical aura and depth that you can't produce at the push of a button and the melodica doesn't even bother you anymore, which plays a beautiful question and answer game with a cello best is… my highlight of the album so far. I have to add that the melodica doesn't bother me in general, but it's a typical one Dubcliché and is (unfortunately) used (too) excessively from time to time (but not at all here, it only plays a role in three out of ten pieces).
In contrast to Midnight Rockers, which didn't make it into my personal heavy rotation, the counterpart Midnight Scorchers manages to do so with ease.
When I look at the credits, many "old" acquaintances come up again, above all Gaudi (all kinds of keys), Doug Wimbish (bass on two tracks) and Skip McDonalds (lead guitars), the latter both of whom have been companions of for a very long time are Sherwood. and
There should be more albums like this one...
The videos are really great ;)
Hach, here is the complete pampering program.
A review that speaks from my heart, plus a comment that takes into account everything I forgot to mention in my “short” comment (just wanted to leave something for you ;-) ) and as the icing on the cake the first comment from a female hand, here in DubBlog if I interpret the name "Caren" correctly in this context. That's really something very special here, especially since we're not forcing anyone to do anything here. Something like a quota
luckily there isn't one here. Everything is optional here. Careen you are welcome ;-)
In any case, when I used the melodica, I felt exactly the same as Philipp. Not only that it is used here in the right dosage, no, it also plays (for my taste) a beautiful melody that doesn't seem as "dry" and banal as so many others. And that she also enters into a cool dialogue with a cello, I find it delightful and because we're here at On .U Sound, it doesn't stop there, but a very confidently played guitar is also added. I still don't know by heart which one DubTune that is but even the sax plays here without the slightest attempt to annoy me.
So and now something out of my sewing box, which is almost a bit embarrassing for me. I only manage to "talk" about it because "Midnight Rockers" didn't make it into the heavy rotation with Philipp either. I got the album from the music store I trust in 45 sec. "SoundCheck mode"
only quickly skipped and (yes, I hardly dare to formulate it) left standing !!! I wasn't in the mood for another Horace Andy record at the moment. I like him a lot but unfortunately not always. And I wasn't able to make out what gem I just waved through in fast forward. GTK provides the explanation for me. "Surprisingly, by Sherwood standards, the album has a fairly classic sound." Yes, I'm just not that into "classic" ;-) ...... that's probably why it didn't really appeal to me. But none of that stopped me from re-ordering the album “Midnight Rockers”.
"Prisoners of the earth, come out " A man's place on earth can't be decided by the police" …………………… lemmi
"Surprisingly, by Sherwood standards, the album has a fairly classic sound."
Yes lemmi, I think the sound is also due to the fact that Mr. Sherwood used some of the old warriors from the legendary Creation Rebel and Dub Syndicate Times back in the studio. How happy I was to hear George Oban, Doctor Pablo ("North of the River Thamse") and Crucial Tony again! The album sounds like a Creation Rebel album in places – just classic. Since the end of the 70s, Sherwood has been The English Soundwizard, who has always thought the most out of the box and has never shown any reservations. Nobody is as willing to experiment as he is. This is another reason why some of his works are quite bulky, but never uninteresting. Before I get even more enthusiastic about old ON .U Sound Addict, I'll make it short:
Both albums are simply awesome and “Midnight Scorchers” is mine Dub-Album of the year 2022 - so far.
Yo RasGo by!
But I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. Maybe it's me against myself who misunderstood something here. I tend to understand the "classic sound" in such a way that there aren't that many or none and then only very hidden effects and other sound gimmicks. But for that I have to listen to “Midnight Rockers” much more intensively than before. I'll probably notice more On .U Sound - typical gimmicks. The fact that I didn't immediately notice the playing style and the riddims shows that I must have been in very bad shape that day, because I usually recognize tunes from On .U Sound within half a second.... Well, at least it blows my mind after half a second and later I realize why it flashed me so immediately. I really don't get why I didn't notice this this time. I need to do another test urgently. Maybe I have "long covid" and my perception is limited ;-) .........
As long as ……………. lemmi
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