Sly & Robbie Sly & Robbie Present Taxi Gang in Discomix Style 1978-1987
Bear Family Records outta Germany, worldwide known for their high quality reissues of vintage music, releases their first Reggae album this month via their sublabel Cree Records: Sly & Robbie Present Taxi Gang In Discomix Style 1978 - 1987
They teamed up with Sly & Robbie, reggae historian Steve Barrow and reggae expert Noel Hawks to compile an album, which is a very good first!
Listen to Tinga Stewarts' Rainy Night in Georgia to preview the album, which will be available end of January as CD and Vinyl.
Official press info: The selections on this compilation demonstrate exactly how much Lowell ‘Sly’ Dunbar & Robert ‘Robbie’ Shakespeare have learned from the roots of reggae, American rhythm & blues and soul, and these versions of contemporary and vintage soul songs show Sly and Robbie at their very best on covers of Little Willie John’s Fever, Al Wilson’s Show & Tell, Tony Joe White’s Rainy Night In Georgia (as covered in soul by Brook Benton), The Delfonics’ Don’t Break Your Promise, The Impressions’ You Must Believe Me, The Spinners’ Could It Be I’m Falling In Love and a brace of Marvin Gaye covers in Sexual Healing and Inner City Blues. All are sung with panache and feeling by the various vocalists and backed up with superior rhythms, showcased here with full-length versions, from Sly and Robbie. For over forty years they have contributed so much to the body of reggae music that they can truly be seen as its backbone. Without Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare it is no exaggeration to say that reggae would not have figured anywhere near as prominently as it has done in popular music; long may they continue...
Usually known as simply Sly & Robbie these two master musicians have a variety of names including The Dynamic Duo, The Rhythm Twins and even, on occasion, Drumbar and Basspeare. The role of backing musicians was exactly that... to stay in the background... but Sly & Robbie are the only reggae musicians whose names are internationally known and respected.
These architects and builders of Jamaican music have constantly tested the boundaries of what could, and couldn’t, be used in reggae but despite working extensively with stars of the international firmament including Joan Armatrading, Joe Cocker, Ian Dury, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg, Gwen Guthrie, Herbie Hancock, Mick Jagger and Grace Jones their roots are firmly planted in Kingston’s teeming reggae scene.
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