When I first started this blog, my first post was in ancipation of something that I knew could never be recreated……Sherwood & Pinch’s - Late Night Endless. Back in 85 I had heard an album that was so extreme in its nature that I spent a long time trying to find other albums like it.
It wasn’t going to happen and I always ended up disappointed. Mark Stewart and the Maffia'sAs The Veneer of Democracy Starts To Fade. Infact, depsite the fact that in commercial circles, 84 was a hideous year that marked the end of so many things…it was also the year that Sherwood’s ON-U sound was going to take over, a sound that dominated the rest of the remix 80's and beyond....
Ofcourse, I was aware of what a producer does...Flood, Rushent et al..., and I was aware that Adrian Sherwood was extreme………an extended mix that was so extreme and fucked up, there was no way it could be played in it’s entirety…it was a tool and the clubs sound system had to be up to handling it….the sound was Science Fiction…it was way ahead.
Ofcourse, sticking with the On-U Sound label, I was confused, the only bands I was liking were Mark Stewart, Tackhead and Fats Comet….the rest was reggae and dub……and at that time my taste had not expanded enough to appreciate those genres….the Keith Le Blanc album Major Malfunction almost got there, but that was beats and Adrian used the beats until he outbeated and outsampled Keith LeBlanc himself........
So I was contantly looking for that extreme sound, but was finding I was getting my kicks out of Sherwoods remixes……the sound was big on the Industrial scene…..Alain Jougensen's Ministry cut the brilliant Sherwood produced album Twitch…which almost hit the nail on the head, Skinny Puppy and KMFDM were all clambering for his skills…the sound was infective and incestuous
Now it goes back to a case of two musical geniuses again......I've been stuttering on about Adrian Sherwood like an ON-U loop system...now add Trevor Jackson....who's Output is always worth noting, whether it be visual or aural.......Jackson's taste is eclectic and he's humble...and he gets my thumbs up....basically he has a lot of my record collection and has consistently annoyed me by putting out compilations based on my collection (without crediting me!!)......check out Metal Dance 1 and 2 ... great compilations of EBM, Post Punk, Industrial Disco......and ofcourse anything released on his now defunct Output Recordings
2015 was a pretty busy year for On-U. Technically all the back catalogue was remastered....check it out......On-U Sound.Com
There was a brand new Sherwood & Pinch album...check out my blog post here. Volume 1 of a Sherwood at the Controls compilation and of course Trevor Jackson presents: Science fiction Dance Hall Classics....this is the interesting stuff, this is what makes Sherwood's Dub production techniques interesting, but you don't just get dub, you get the weird fucked up electro beats, the pre dubstep styles.........check this pre Buffalo Neneh Cherry and the Circuits track out..
I've been warned not to write negatively.......this isn't negative, this is objective criticism ok? Don't Blow Your Top.......Although Trevor Jackson has put together a great and definitely brilliant must-have compilation, it's downfall is that it does seem too chronological in the way it's been sequenced. Yes I know...it's an On-U Sound compilation, so it does feature heavily on the dub, but there are some beautiful beatific eccentricities on here.....you can't go wrong really.
The danger in putting together a compilation album of all Sherwood remixes is that it would become too much...even I would be reluctant to spend several hours putting together a mix demonstrating his far out production skills.....enjoy......
Direction, Edit, Visual FX by Trevor Jackson Original Footage produced with Lewis Hackett On-U Sound are proud to unveil an epic 14 minute visual journey through the Science Fiction Dancehall Classics compilation created by Trevor Jackson.