September

Horace Andy and Jah Wobble – Timeless Roots (Cleopatra)

Dubmaster Jah Wobble teams up with renowned Rasta singer Horace Andy in this special release of roots reggae covers, featuring Andy’s own solo and collaborative material such as from his 1972 debut album, with his title track favourite ‘Skylarking’, furnished with keyboard trills, as well as his 1982 single ‘Money Money’. The album was co-produced by Jon Klein (Specimen, Siouxsie & The Banshees) who has recently been touring with Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart band as part of his ‘Metal Box Rebuilt in Dub’ tour.

Following in the tradition of reggae reimagined releases as seen previously in Don Letts’ ‘Late Night Tales Presents Version Excursion’, they cover many well known songs from the rock-pop world like the hoppy ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder with its low frequency rumbling bassline. The coincidentally Invaders of the Hearts-sounding keyboards of Massive Attack’s ‘Spying Glass’, Andy’s trippy vox and the bassline’s sinister creep make this the best track on the album; it would also make a great reggae dub remix building upon the dub production already present on the track. Another Massive Attack cover, ‘One Love’, sees richer and deeper vocals from Andy since the original and bolder brass parts.

The album’s audacious take on classics is shown in their cover of The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’; completely original it has a naughty funk tread throughout reminiscent in some ways to Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. They also pay homage to timeless greats such as Bill Withers and Bob Marley, however, songs such as ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ and ‘Three Little Birds’ have perhaps been over-covered and this release might have benefitted from another selection especially where Andy’s vocals don’t adapt as well to rock genres. But a fresher outlook arrives in single ‘Ooh Child’, a cover of Five Stairsteps’ 1970 Chicago soul single, featuring gospel organ. The release finishes on two bonus tracks, ‘Rain’ and ‘The Truth’, with Wobble’s sons John Tian Qi Wardle and Charlie Tian Yi Wardle (Tian Qiyi) contributing including with Chinese instrument the Erhu.

‘Timeless Roots’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.