Someone Else’s Nearly Perfect Albums – #1

A few weeks back I asked a bunch of people if they wanted to contribute a review of an album that they considered to be ‘Nearly Perfect’.  The responses have been outstanding so over the next few Saturdays we will be exploring some of these.  This is the first contribution from The Robster, a second one will follow on the first weekend of October.  Please check out The Robsters blog – the link is below.

Dancehall Style – Horace Andy (1982, Solid Groove Records)

(Selected by The Robster from Is This The Life? Blog)

Many people will know Horace Andy as being a regular guest of Massive Attack, his unique voice appearing on every album released by the now legendary Bristol outfit. Fewer know that he has been making records of his own for 55 years. He’s widely regarded as one of the finest and most respected singers from Jamaica, and in 1982, he delivered one of the best reggae albums of all time.

‘Dance Hall Style’ is a misleading title. There’s nothing ‘dance hall’ about the music on this record, it’s very much rooted in deep, dark dub, only with great tunes at its heart. It is, in essence, a great example of the importance of the reggae producer. Horace Andy’s name and image may be on the cover, but credit is most certainly due to Lloyd ‘Bullwackie’ Barnes and his session band, for Barnes turned these tracks into moody extended dub pieces, thick with deep, hypnotic grooves.

Despite only boasting six tracks (though some editions contain a 7th song), there isn’t a feeling that we’ve been sold short. In fact, there’s a lot going on here. Opening track ‘Money Money’ is one of Andy’s best-known songs and arguably has the strongest melody of the set. His comment on the social ills of wealth and all that it brings is backed by what on the surface comes across as a simple bass-led groove, but which quickly becomes apparent is laden with echoey effects in the best tradition of the finest dub.

Money Money – Horace Andy (1982, Solid Groove Records)

And so it continues. ‘Lonely Woman’, originally released as a single in 1972, appears in a newly dubbed-up form, while a cover of Lloyd Robinson’s ‘Cuss Cuss’ is given a treatment that makes it sound like it was penned specifically for the record. But it’s the final two cuts that raise ‘Dance Hall Style’ above very-good-album status. ‘Spying Glass’ is more socio-political comment on the use of CCTV. It’s a song some of you will be familiar with if you’re Massive Attack fans, for it appeared on their ‘Protection’ album in 1994 with Horace Andy once more delivering an astounding vocal. It’s a special song, to be fair, and here it adds a delicate melody to the dark underbelly of the record’s prevailing theme of the tension and strains of modern life. There’s no doubt it proved to be a big influence on the Bristol scene a decade later.

Spying Glass – Horace Andy (1982, Solid Groove Records)

Closing proceedings is ‘Let’s Live In Love’, which at the almost five minute mark breaks down into a pure dub wig-out, brimming with reverb over a wonderfully thick bass-driven riddim. It’s what I love to hear on a hot summer’s afternoon. As I type this, it’s currently 35 degrees outside, so I’m kind of lost in a tropical reverie, forgetting that I really don’t do well in the heat. I should spend more time listening to this record when the sun comes out.

Let’s Live In Love – Horace Andy (1982, Solid Groove Records)

There are those who think ‘Dance Hall Style’ is rather boring – too thin on stylistic variation; too many long, meandering songs; not enough songs to consider it an accomplished album. They are all fools of course. It may not be perfect – there are a few odd little edits that may be jarring on first listen – but it remains a solid 9/10 40 years on from its original release.

Thanks Robster. Marvellous stuff.