Sly Dunbar Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
As half of Sly & Robbie, reggae music's most celebrated and widely-known bass-and-drums duo, Sly Dunbar is partially responsible for some of the greatest reggae recordings ever made. As a solo artist, he's solely responsible for some of the most boring (and sometimes downright fatuous) albums in the genre. Sly Go Ville, released originally on Island in 1982 and re-released on that label's Mango subsidiary in 1990, is one of his better efforts, though it still suffers from a surfeit of overlong, shapeless two-chord jams and half-formed funk reggae fusion. The Tabou1 reissue adds six bonus tracks to the original program of eight, the best of which is a hip-hop reggae version of the Yarbrough & Peoples classic "Don't Stop the Music." From the original program, standouts include a fun adaptation of "Battle of Jericho" and "If You Want It," which prefigures some of the better funk reggae Sly & Robbie would later produce on their Taxi label. Pretty much everything else fades into the background. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
One year after his Taxi Productions debut with the Gregory Isaacs hit "Soon Forward," Sly Dunbar released his fifth album of dub instrumentals under the name Sly & the Revolutionaries. Black Ash Dub boasts a great lineup, including Dunbar himself on drums and his mate, Robbie Shakespeare, on bass, plus Ansel Collins on organ, Bingy Bunny on guitar, producer Jah Thomas, and mixing by Prince Jammy and Scientist. Though Dunbar made a much better producer than he did an instrumentalist, the sheer accumulation of talent on this session assures great results. Each track a tribute to a drug (or in the case of "Rizla," drug paraphernalia), the album hits with plenty of great ideas: "Marijuana" is a takeoff on a classic rhythm (the Heptones' "Pretty Looks Isn't All"), while the dub classic "Collie" sports carnival-like horns and a loopy sense of dub time. A solid latter-day dub album by a great lineup. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'Sly, Wicked & Slick'
Release Date 1/1/1979
Tracks 16
Label Frontline
See Album Tracklist and Review
