As You Like It: Dub Shakespeare

All righty, let's finish out September with a whole weekend full of awesome, wanna?

We'll kick it off by righting a wrong I muffed a few months back, when I failed to recognize that the show I was posting to celebrate today's birthday boy's longtime musical accomplice was indeed recorded on today's birthday boy's birthday. Which is today.

I should have held that one for today and posted this one then, but what does it matter? Bit of blog dyslexia there, please me forgive.

What matters is I did one half of this duo in May, and the other half hits today! Even the slow kids such as I are allowed to blog these days. I dunno what this world is coming to, honestly.

So yes, today. This guy, though. One of the most legendary on his chosen instrument ever to walk among us mortals.

He and his drummer pal. Are they the most down-deepest rhythm section still thumping? I'd say so.

You listen to this tape here, you see these cats are still making wholly challenging, uncompromised music whilst many of their contemporaries, across all genres, are gearing up for tonight's Grampa's Greatest Hits show at the Old Age Casino and Resort.

How many records have they and he anchored? Can humans count that high? Unquantifiable, they are.

These guys are probably the principal guys behind bringing the sounds of Dub that "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby pioneered into the realm of live performance.

At the center -- and the bottom -- of it all? Why it's bass supremo Robbie Shakespeare, turning 66 years young today.

We'll pop off the serious festivities with this wild 86+ minutes of Dubtastic shredding, taped in Italy and showcasing the heroic Sly & Robbie rhythm section holding things down for some badass jazzers.

Sly & Robbie + Nils Petter Molvær

"Il Volo De Jazz"

Teatro Zancanaro

Sacile, Italy

11.19.2016

01 Solid Ether

02 Hot You Hot

03 Bully Stick

04 Kakonita

05 Silk Worm

06 Darker

07 Land Far Away 

08 Satta Massagana

09 Ligotage

10 bass solo + vocal improvisation

11 You Don’t Love Me

12 band introductions

Total time: 1:26:18

disc break goes after Track 06

Robbie Shakespeare - bass & vocals

Sly Dunbar - drums

Nils Petter Molvær - trumpet & electronics

Eivind Aarset - guitar & electronics

Vladislav Delay - keyboards & sampler

digital, off-air FM capture of the October 2017 RAI3 broadcast, remastered by Tom Phillips & Lewojazz
dropout at the end of Track 05 repaired by EN, September 2019

543 MB FLAC/September 2019 archive link

Holy crap, did I just post a performance from this decade?? I must be slipping... next thing you know, I'll be acknowledging that any music existed at all after 1985.

OK? I will return tomorrow and for the next few days to end the Septemberings in fine style. There may even be German Electronic music that predates the Rock era.

For today, let's get you Dubbing to this slinky and slamming tape, intended to celebrate the birthday of bass deity Robbie Shakespeare, born this day in 1953!--J.