Folks desiring to fortify their shelves with the work of producer, musician and label impresario Adrian Sherwood are currently in luck, for the flow of related items has been steadily increasing during 2015; combining well-known selections with rarities and a handful of unreleased bits, the 27-tracks deep Trevor Jackson Presents: Science Fiction Dancehall Classics is the latest compilation essaying Sherwood’s essentiality to the sonic architecture of the 1980s. It’s out now on 2CD/3LP through On-U Sound.
Earlier this year Sherwood at the Controls Volume 1: 1979-1984 correlated extensive evidence of its titular production wizard’s skills, the 2LP/CD’s contents derived both from the roster of On-U Sound, an enterprise founded by Sherwood as the ‘70s drew to a close, and beyond via material by Maximum Joy, Shriekback, Vivien Goldman, and The Fall. Science Fiction Dancehall Classics broadens this narrative substantially while remaining largely focused upon the On-U Sound discography.
Jump forward to the end of the ‘80s and Sherwood’s technique had developed from dub-centric beginnings to an important component in the rapidly mutating Industrial Dance scene, territory too-often synopsized in relation to Chicago’s Wax Trax! Records. The two Metal Dance volumes on the Strut label do a terrific job of deepening this milieu, the first one rounding-up Sherwood’s remix of Einstürzende Neubauten’s “Yü-Gung” as the second offers his production talents on Ministry’s “Over the Shoulder.”
The Metal Dance collections were compiled by Trevor Jackson, a DJ and audio-visual artist having collaborated with LCD Soundsystem and Four Tet on his label Output Recordings and most recently noted through Format, a 3LP/CD of his own stuff released by the Vinyl Factory. Underlining Sherwood’s influence upon Jackson is the latter’s project Playgroup, a collaborative affair sharing a name with one of the former’s numerous collectives from the early ‘80s.
Issuing two albums licensed to Cherry Red circa ’82-’83, Sherwood’s Playgroup finds representation on Science Fiction Dancehall Classics through the 12-inch b-side “Forty Winks.” A lengthy plunge into progressively rhythmic waters, it’s emblematic of a constant facet illuminated on 20 cuts spread across the six vinyl sides as seven of the 2CD’s tracks are tucked onto the accompanying download.
Smartly eschewing a chronological approach, Jackson elects to open with the post-punkish instrumental dub of the Missing Brazilians, a mid-‘80s project counting amongst its members Crass associate and On-U Sound solo artist Annie Anxiety. “Ace of Wands” was originally found on the ’85 comp Pay it All Back Vol. 1, and in a gesture of symmetry highlighting the well-thought-out nature of the assemblage, side F culminates with “77 Emerging Strips,” a freshly unearthed and decidedly Slits-like track credited to Anxiety’s frequent guise Little Annie.
The late Slit Ari Up was a contributor to Singers & Players, a loose revolving door reggae supergroup serving as a platform for the vocalists Prince Far I, Mikey Dread, Congo Ashanti Roy, and Bim Sherman. Deriving from early in On-U Sound’s chronology, the spongy organ-driven thickness of instrumental “Kunta Kinte Dub” appears instead toward the end of this set’s sequence.
Reggae-ish matters do take up much of side A, however; Dub Syndicate’s “Over Board” is dominated by the drumming of Style Scott and the low-budget ‘80s action flick keyboards of Jah Wobble, and Creation Rebel & New Age Steppers’ “Chemical Specialist” delivers a deft blend of heavy foom (resonating like the footsteps of giants) and the sort of naturally unfurling weirdness that resides at the heart of prime dub.
Reinforcing the experimental threads in On-U Sound’s weave is African Head Charge, a rhythmically oriented (and enduring) act integrating dub and World Music motifs. All three of African Head Charge’s entries here are of worthwhile ‘80s-vintage but the sci-fi rainforest chanting of “Stebeni’s Theme” from their ’81 debut My Life in a Hole in the Ground makes the strongest impression.
Their “Off the Beaten Track” shares side A’s groove rather fittingly with the psychedelic tabla-dub hybrid of “Asian Rebel” by the wildly prolific Suns of Arqa; originally on the Cherry Red comp Wild Paarty Sounds Volume One, it nicely underscores the breadth of Sherwood’s interests at a fresh stage. The same ’81 platter lends Science Fiction Dancehall Classics a pair of tasty post-punk obscurities, specifically the skronk and rant of The Chicken Granny’s Public Image Limited-esque “Quit the Body” and Alan Pellay’s Industrially abrasive and vaguely Pop Group-ish “Parasitic Machines.”
And speaking of the Pop Group, in sheer aural-extremist terms nothing here really gets close to Mark Stewart + the Maffia’s “The Wrong Name and the Wrong Number (DJ Battle),” a nine minute intersection of Industrialist shrapnel, turntable scratching, artillery fire and diced-up clips of Burroughsian croak; it’s as purely disruptive as Atmosfear’s dancefloor mover “When Tonight is Over (US Thunder Mix)” is radio friendly.
By the mid-‘80s a fair amount of On-U Sound’s output could be assessed as a combination of these poles, a scenario especially applicable to Tackhead, a unit famously teaming the SugarHill Records’ house band of bassist Doug Wimbish, guitarist Skip McDonald and drummer Keith LeBlanc with Sherwood’s sharpening production expertise. The apocalyptic electro of “Now What?” (the b-side to Tackhead’s “What’s My Mission Now?” 12-inch) and the roughshod catchiness of LeBlanc’s “Move” (culled from his ’86 album Major Malfunction) gain back-to-back strength on side C.
Both were first issued on World Records, an offshoot label also responsible for unleashing Tackhead’s initial manifestation as Fats Comet unto the world, and side C is suitably rounded-out with this fledgling incarnation’s “Dub Storm,” an exercise in pummeling elasticity, off-kilter stereo-panned doo-wop samples, and Robert Fripp-like guitar bursts; the slam and scratch of their “Dee Jay’s Dream” is a welcome inclusion to the download.
One of Sherwood’s more surprising relationships was/is with veteran composer-improviser Steve Beresford, a figure comfortable in the company of the Slits, Derek Bailey, the Flying Lizards, Lol Coxhill, and as the instigator of the outfit Circuit alongside vocalists Neneh Cherry (of Rip Rig + Panic and a distinguished solo career) and Shara Nelson (of the Missing Brazilian axis, solo performance, and contributions to Massive Attack).
The unreleased “Dead Come Alive” is a fascinating slab of electro, Cherry rap-singing with aplomb amid subtle avant-garde elements. This dynamic applies in roughly equal measure to the ‘80s R&B direction of the Nelson-sung “Aiming at Your Heart Pt. 2,” a number from an ’83 On-U Sound 12-inch making its CD/digital-era debut here.
The unreleased “Loudspeaker (Alternate Version)” belongs to Circuit alone, though the original was on the aforementioned Pay it All Back Vol. 1 and later the Adrian Sherwood Presents the Master Recordings Volume 2 CD. Completing the program is enlightening input from another mid-‘80s Sherwood one-off Voice of Authority (“Stopping and Starting”) plus Bim Sherman (“Melody Dub”) and additional cuts from New Age Steppers, Missing Brazilians and Dub Syndicate.
Altogether, this set is an extensive survey of an achievement occasionally underrated yet impossible to overlook in large part due to continual growth and the retention of aspects integral to Sherwood’s personality. Depicting a musical journey through intersecting scenes and a plurality of voices, Trevor Jackson Presents Science Fiction Dancehall Classics is simply an outstanding document.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
