Drum & Bass - Strip To The Bone

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Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare aren't simply the world's most famous reggae rhythm section - though they are that, of course. They're one of the most influential rhythm section of all time across any genre - as important as, say, Paul Motian and Scott La Faro or Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Their 25 year partnership has seen them perform on what must be literally thousands of sessions and appear on hundreds of albums. In reggae and dub they are, certainly, ubiquitous. Strip to the Bone, however, something of a departure from form, though a very natural one. The album basically consists of a set of grooves laid down by Sly & Robbie which have then been handed to maverick Glaswegian techno producer Howie B and his engineer sidekick Will O'Donovan to fuck with. It's an inspired idea. Howie B's productions have always been heavily influenced by dub, and therefore, by extension by S&R's deep grooves. Still, given that, one might expect him to tread too lightly, but not a bit of it. Instead, he uses their grooves as launch pads for deeply dubby, yet somehow pristine and shimmering, pieces, which bear the hallmark of his production as strongly as they do Sly & Robbie's playing. Along for the ride are guitarist Lloyd Willis and keyboardist Steve Marsden and Jeremy Shaw. It's fitting that the album finds itself as one of the first released on Island Records' founder Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures label. For where Island constantly brought reggae - and reggae and dub producers - face to face with a plethora of other contemporary styles, from Nigerian big bandleader King Sunny Ade's Afro Beat to Grace Jones' glacial pop, it looks as though Palm (who've also released projects by Baaba Maal and Ernest Ranglin) are going to be ploughing the same creative furrough. A fine record.