They have seen it all, done it all. But having contributed to some of Jamaica's biggest hits was not enough for them. Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare return in the year that celebrates 50 years of Jamaican independence with an exclusively instrumental album. A hybrid opus, halfway between tellurian dub and tribal beats. But there is no question here of rewriting History. This "Blackwood Dub" is above all an exercise in style. No doubt because the duo, regarded as the cream of reggae session musicians, no longer has the same affinities with the artists of the new scene. No doubt also to go and look elsewhere. On the other side of the reverb.
Because beyond this rhythmic mastery with the air of a music-theory class, Sly and Robbie teach us above all that a musical style can be transcended at will. From dub to electro, it is only a step, which "Drumbar" and "Basspeare" cross with ease. The level of this "Blackwood Dub" oscillates between floating dub (The Bomber, Frenchman code), heady electro (Burru Saturday, Riding East) and bewitching guitar-bass (Dirty Flirty, Communication Breakdown).
Well supported by heavyweights and longtime friends such as Mickey Chung, Ansel Collins, Skully or Sticky Simpson, Sly and Robbie thus deliver an unidentifiable musical object, with its surprising and nuanced rhythm, a thousand miles from the conventional dub album. And when the whole thing is mixed at Harry J studio under the knowing eye of Gilroy "Rolex" Stewart and Alberto "Burur" Blackwood, the technical character of the opus is easier to grasp. Every arrangement is finely chiselled, every instrument has its place. You feel the weight of experience of a dream team of inspired elders who are still as virtuosic as ever. Proof that the renewal of reggae does not necessarily belong to the new generation.
