Wednesday 14 October 2015

Review - Singers & Players - War Of Words




At almost thirty-five years old, the debut album by Singers And Players has been re-released by On-U Sound Records.  The band never had a firm line-up but over the seven years of their ‘existence’ they included the likes of Price Far I , Keith Levene and Ari Up in the revolutionary reggae supergroup.

War Of Worlds was always just more than reggae.  It transcended the struggling genre and, together with the emerging label presented a new kind of Dub which was quickly take to the heart of music connoisseurs demanding something new.  Quite incredibly, the album sounds as fresh now as it did then.

Crisp, clean productions and minimalist soundtracks gave way to some of the most unique productions methods ever witnessed.  Album opener, Devious Woman starts simultaneously with vocals and percussion slowly to be joined by guitar riffs and reverbs a plenty.  Followed by Quante Jubila with its occasional backwards vocals it again sees a quite revolutionary album begin to open up.

Largely dominated b Bi Sherman on vocals, War Of Words contained just seven tracks, each one beautifully re-mastered by Adrian Sherwood giving the tracks and adding bass thump which often has to be heard to be believed.

Fit To Survive does follow a roots theme, Reaching The Bad Man has one wicked bass-line if ever there was one. Again, with backwards loops, shouted echoes and some lovely dubs it’s quite an aural delight. 

The album closes  with seven and a half minutes of quite stunning reverb in the shape of 91 Vibration which is a must for any reggae/dub fan as it sets the standard for anything that may have followed.  Every trick in the book is employed – bass, hi-hat and percussion solos, more dubs than you shake a dubby stick at and some quite gorgeous keyboard excerpts.





Links
On U-sound Records
Adrian Sherwood on hiapop Blog



Published on Dead Albatross 11/10/15 - here 



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