Dub Mixes by Peter Chemist are characterized by an unconventionally brittle aesthetic. Because Chemists output with just a handful Dub-LPs has remained quite manageable, here is a showcase album that he produced. You don't know for sure: Does the LP now have the title “Showcase” or is it just an indication that “I'm Still Dancing” is a showcase album? In any case, it is certain that the singer is not called Michael, as on the cover, but Michael Palmer. His first LP from 1983 had been wanted for a long time and rightly so, and could hardly be bought for less than a three-digit figure. Enriched with liner notes by John Masouri on an extra sheet, the record is now available in French, true to the original Iroko label. With the old cover including misprints, Limonious comic back side and without a bland barcode. Michael Palmer, born in 1960, had his first single “Mr. Landlord ”, but the tune only became successful on the Get In The Groove riddim after Sonia Pottinger recorded it again in 1980. From then on, Palmer became one of the acclaimed singers of the pre-digital Dancehall Foundation in recent years. He wasn't a dread, he saw himself as a roots reality singer. Palmer came from the “fiery hell” of Kingston 13 (Maxfield Park) and sang in the opener of his debut produced on Channel One: “Uptown people want to dance funky - people in the ghetto dance the waterpumpee. Uptown people dance electric boogie - people in the ghetto do the cool & deadly ”. The riddims came from the Roots Radics and were presumably recorded by Scientist. There is no other way of explaining how his name got on the cover. Because "I'm Still Dancing" is the work of Peter Chemist, whom Palmer specifically mentions in "Ghetto Dance". The sound of the production, with barely noticeable hihat and idiosyncratic echoes, also points to Peter Chemist. He's producing rough ones in an extraordinarily spartan way Dubs to the six vocaltunes. He mixes the party time riddim without a hihat with playful echoes and accents on the snare. "Ghetto Dub“Positions the drums with gated reverb effects around a distorted guitar theme. "Gwan Dub“Reduces the drum kit to a kick drum with underlaid snare echoes. Palmer continued his collaboration with Peter Chemist on his George Phang-produced, extremely successful follow-up album "Lick Shot", on the back of which he talks about his way of writing songs. Which makes the statement “all tracks written by Jah Thomas” on “I'm Still Dancing” seem questionable. Thomas had produced the album for his Midnight Rock label, but otherwise stayed out of it. He left the deejay part for a Greensleeves Maxi of the hit "Ghetto Dance (Babylon give wi a chance)" to Jim Brown, another Greensleeves Maxi with the title track from the LP and Robert French's "No War" on the B-side is due to the Peter Chemist Mixes a sought-after rarity that is worth every investment. The sonically convincing new edition of the LP attracts not only strong vocaltunes but also its unusual Dub-Style. (The slightly changed text first appeared in RIDDIM 02/21)
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Michael Palmer: Showcase I'm Still Dancing
One reply to "Michael Palmer: Showcase I'm Still Dancing"
There is very interesting information for me in this review. Especially the reference to the Iroko label could be really important again if I should feel like a rarity.
I don't know Michael Palmer very well. At first I thought of Triston Palmer, who also only seems to be known to me through a single record. The riddims on “I am still dancing” are mostly very familiar to me (us). Michael Palmer sings beautifully unobtrusively and the riddims have been “boiled down” to the essentials. The Dubs are downright minimalist but skilful and Style Scott sets the tone where they belong. There is also a real echo and reverb on the snare here and there, according to the Dub was able to make a precision landing for the time. I can still do very well. Especially since the sound of "hihat gecymbele" was really very considerate, and in some cases the hihat was almost completely dispensed with.
Briefly and painlessly, I would say, yes, I would also like to have the disc, but only for the now acute double-digit amount ;-)
I would have to think for a long time before I can think of music for which I would pay three-digit amounts. As important as music is to me and as good as it does me, “the church has to stay in the village” somewhere. If, for example, Bob Marley discs were only available for three-digit sums, I would say, ok, then let's be fine.
So long …………… .. lemmi