Singers & Players | |
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Origin | Jamaica and England |
Genres | Reggae, Dub music, |
Years active | 1981–1988 |
Labels | On-U Sound Records Situation Two |
Singers & Players were a reggae collective made up of vocalists and musicians associated with Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound Records. They recorded five albums between 1981 and 1988.
Including artists such as Bim Sherman, Prince Far I and Mikey Dread they were regarded as a dub music supergroup. There was never any fixed line up to the group, and many different artists featured on each track and each album.
War of Words was the first album by Singers & Players. It was released in the U.S. on 99 Records in November 1981 and then in the U.K. on On-U Sound Records in August 1982. It was produced by Adrian Sherwood and engineered by Dennis Bovell, John Walker, Nobby Turner, Richard Manwaring and Steve Smith.
Side One
Side Two
Staggering Heights was the group's third album. It was released in July 1983 on On-U Sound Records, and was produced by Adrian Sherwood.
Side One
Side Two
Horace Andy is a Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", as well as "Angel", "Spying Glass" and "Five Man Army" with English trip hop duo Massive Attack. He is also famous for a cover version of "Ain't No Sunshine". Andy is often described as one of the most respected and influential singers in Jamaica.
Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. It crosses various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, gospel, rockabilly, folk, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, disco, and rap. For the first time, the band's traditional songwriting credits of Strummer and Jones were replaced by a generic credit to the Clash. The band agreed to a decrease in album royalties in order to release the 3-LP at a low price.
Chilliwack is a Canadian rock band centred on the singer and guitarist Bill Henderson. They were active from 1970 to 1988; Henderson reformed the band in 1997. The band started off with a progressive rock sound that incorporated elements of folk, indigenous, jazz and blues, before moving towards a more straight-ahead hard rock/pop rock sound by the mid-70s. Their six best-selling songs were "My Girl ", "I Believe", "Whatcha Gonna Do", "Fly at Night", "Crazy Talk", and "Lonesome Mary". The band's line-up has changed many times.
Adrian Maxwell Sherwood is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms of electronic dance music and popular music outside of the genre. He has worked extensively with a variety of reggae artists as well as the musicians Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish and Skip McDonald. Sherwood has remixed tracks by Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy. In his role as a record producer he has worked with a variety of record labels; however, his best-known label is On-U Sound Records which he founded in 1979. Sherwood has been a member of the band Tackhead. He considers himself tone deaf, and focuses on making sounds and noises rather than melody.
Inner Circle, also known as The Inner Circle Band or The Bad Boys of Reggae, are a Jamaican reggae band formed in Kingston in 1968. The band first backed The Chosen Few in the early 1970s before joining with successful solo artist Jacob Miller and releasing a string of records. This era of the band ended with Miller's death in a car crash in 1980.
Back Against the Wall is an album released in 2005 by Billy Sherwood in collaboration with a number of (mostly) progressive rock artists as a tribute to Pink Floyd's album The Wall. A year later, Sherwood followed it with the release of Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, a tribute to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon.
Michael George Campbell, better known as Mikey Dread, was a Jamaican singer, producer, and broadcaster. He was one of the most influential performers and innovators in reggae music.
Wanted Dread & Alive is the fifth studio album by the Jamaican reggae musician Peter Tosh. It was released in 1981 in two different versions, one for Jamaica and the USA and one for Europe. It was reissued by Capitol in 2002, with bonus tracks. The lead single was the duet with the American singer Gwen Guthrie, "Nothing But Love".
The Mothmen were a short-lived post-punk band from England, formed around 1979 by Dave Rowbotham, Chris Joyce and Tony Bowers, shortly after they left The Durutti Column, including ex-Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias singer Bob Harding.
Collaborations is a compilation album released by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor in 2005. The album contains songs recorded throughout O'Connor's career on which she collaborated with a variety of artists, spanning several different genres of music. Many of these tracks appeared on the albums of the artists with whom O'Connor performs. The tracks "Empire" and "Heroine" also appear on So Far... The Best of Sinéad O'Connor, released in 1997. One track - "Monkey in Winter" - had never been never released on CD before, and was previously released as B-side on a 12" only.
"Hitsville U.K." is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash from their 1980 album Sandinista!. A duet between lead guitarist Mick Jones and his then-girlfriend Ellen Foley, it is the second single released from the album.
Return to the Dark Side of the Moon is a tribute album organised by Billy Sherwood, and released in 2006 on Purple Pyramid. It is a re-creation of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and a sequel to Sherwood's Back Against the Wall, itself a re-creation of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, in addition includes an original piece composed by Sherwood in the style of the original album.
The Vanishing Race is the twelfth album by Australian soft rock band Air Supply, released in 1993. Although the album failed to reach the US charts, its single "Goodbye" peaked at No. 48 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album became especially relevant in Asia, where singles "Goodbye", which reached No. 1 in several Asian countries, and "It's Never Too Late" helped the album reach platinum certification. The album sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
Jarret Lloyd Vincent, better known by one of his stage aliases Bim Sherman, was a Jamaican musician and singer-songwriter.
New Age Steppers were a dub collective from the United Kingdom, formed by producer Adrian Sherwood and featuring members of various prominent 1970s UK post-punk groups, including Ari Up and Viv Albertine of the Slits, Mark Stewart and Bruce Smith of The Pop Group, Keith Levene of Public Image Ltd, John Waddington of Rip Rig + Panic, and Vicky Aspinall of The Raincoats. Other musicians included associates of Sherwood's On-U Sound label, including George Oban, Bim Sherman, Style Scott, and Eskimo Fox.
White Band Speak with Forked Tongue is the sixth studio album by the band Suns of Arqa, recorded with Sprout Head Uprising and released in 1989 by BOP Cassettes. The album was produced by Suns of Arqa founder Michael Wadada. It is a compilation of previous singles, album tracks, new material, cover versions and collaborations. It was released only on cassette in 1989, and many of the tracks were re-issued on the 2018 album Pressure Drop, a tribute to the great Lizard Logan. The style of the album is a radical departure from previous albums, particularly with the more pop-oriented vocals, and the use of Hammond organ, saxophones and trombones.
Beris Simpson, better known as Prince Hammer, is a Jamaican reggae deejay, singer, and record producer.
Jerusalem is an EP by vocalist Mark Stewart, released in 1982 through On-U Sound Records.
Learning to Cope With Cowardice is the debut album of vocalist Mark Stewart, released in 1983 by On-U Sound Records. It was released on CD in 1991 with bonus tracks, as a Director's Cut CD in 2006 by EMI with other bonus tracks and versions, and then in 2019 by Mute as a 2LP/2CD set, combining the original album with the bonus album The Lost Tapes.
Mark Stewart + Maffia is a compilation album by vocalist Mark Stewart, released in 1986 through Upside Records. It was released in the United States to promote Stewart's first two solo efforts and contains tracks from Learning to Cope With Cowardice on side one and tracks from As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade on the second side. The songs were remastered by Herb Powers Jr. for the compilation.