Funky Nassau: the Compass Point Story 1980-1986

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: Caroline Distribution

Notes: The production powerhouse of Sly & Robbie spent the better part of the 1970s creating the signature sound of mainstream reggae. When the '80s rolled around, many pop and dance acts were clamoring for the duo to inject some of their studio magic into a more radio-friendly format. FUNKY NASSAU: COMPASS POINT compiles highlights from their many excursions into quirky dance-floor pop. From stone-cold club classics by Tom Tom Club, Grace Jones, and Gwen Guthrie, to trashy punk-funk crossover acts like Cristina and Ian Dury, the collection underlines the unmistakable low-end funk and dub sound that is Sly & Robbie's alone. On a session-to-session basis, in slightly varying combinations, drummer Sly Dunbar, percussionist Uziah "Sticky" Thompson, bassist Robbie Shakespeare, keyboardist Wally Badarou, guitarists Barry Reynolds and Mikey Chung, and engineer Alex Sadkin made up the in-house team at Island founder Chris Blackwell's Compass Point, a studio located just outside Nassau in the Bahamas. As Blackwell recalls in David Katz's excellent liner notes to this set, titled Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story 1980-1986, "I wanted a new, progressive sounding band. I wanted a Jamaican rhythm section with an edgy mid range and a brilliant synth player." That's what he got, and more, and it made -- or, in the case of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, enhanced -- some of the most advanced and adventurous music of the '80s, a great deal of which went down a storm in clubs across the planet. The "Compass Point All-Stars", as they were called, were as malleable as they were distinctive -- check the range between Grace Jones' Warm Leatherette, Joe Cocker's Sheffield Steel, Black Uhuru's Chill Out, and Gwen Guthrie's Portrait, all of which sound clearly connected, plump, bright, and ringing. For the most part, the choices pulled together for this disc are representative, if somewhat arbitrary; just about any other Compass Point track from Jones, Guthrie, or Sly & Robbie would've been as functional. There are several golden truffles pulled up here that were previously known only to the most keen: Guy Cuevas' skywalking "Obsession" (off a France-only 12"), Cristina's wobbling "You Rented a Space" (produced and written by Robert Palmer, it is the oddest thing he did, "The Silver Gun" excepted, but it wasn't released until a reissue of Cristina's Sleep It Off), and a Sly & Robbie goof-off in the best possible way -- a delirious cover of Yarbrough & Peoples' "Don't Stop the Music," issued under the name Bits & Pieces. The collective's output documented throughout these seven years doesn't loom as largely as that of the teams that made Motown or Stax, but when it comes to unduplicated behind-the-scenes innovation of the last 35 years, you can put them up there with the Mizell brothers, the Chic Organization, Martin Hannett, Jam & Lewis, the Bomb Squad, and Timbaland. ~ Andy Kellman

Uncut (p.107) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Put it down to the location, the climate or the er, relaxed atmosphere, but artists ranging from Grace Jones to Talking Heads found their muse here, assisted by in-house rhythm section Sly & Robbie." Mojo (Publisher) (p.120) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Taken together this set still sounds hand-finished compared to the industrially-produced dance sounds to URB (Magazine) (p.108) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "During the '80s, Compass Point was truly an extraordinary place and FUNKY NASSAU does a very good job of showing us why. From reggae and dub to post-punk and beyond, the diversity you'll find here is simply phenomenal." Record Collector (magazine) (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Blackwell's vision couldn't ask for a better tribute than the intoxicating mix of reggae, disco, funk and rock on this compilation....This is a once in a lifetime era encapsulated..."

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