Friends

Performer: Sly & Robbie
Artist: Simply Red; Robin Campbell; Ali Campbell; Jah Wobble; Maxi Priest; Danny Madden; Keith Richards; Bryan Travis; Liba; Ambilique; One Plus One
Producer: Sly Dunbar; Robbie Shakespeare
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Sly & Robbie: Sly Dunbar (drums); Robbie Shakespeare (vocals, bass, DJ). Additional personnel: Ali Campbell, Maxi Priest, Liba, Ambilique, One Plus One, Danny Madden (vocals); Waddy (acoustic guitar); Gisty Willis, Keith Richards (guitar); Jah Wobble (strings, drums); Bryan Travis (brass); Robert Lyn (piano, keyboards); Neville Hinds, Handel Tucker (keyboards); Mark Ferda (programming); Robin Campbell (background vocals). Simply Red includes: Mick Hucknall (vocals). Engineers include: Lynford "Fatta" Marshalls, Terry Manning, Jason Sterling, Orville Baker, Hugh Palmer. Recorded at Mixing Lab and Anchor, Kingston, Jamaica. FRIENDS won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album. FRIENDS is an exceptional new reggae offering by this soulful pair, who, as bassist and drummer, put the "riddim" into the rhythm section. As producers and composers, the tunes and tones they use aren't only of the Kingston kind, however. Lionel Richie and El DeBarge classics sit on the bench with a steamy rendition of Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To," nodding across the way to the Stones' "Satisfaction." Yep, it's all true. And somehow, the stitches don't show. Sly and Robbie have combined crooning vocals (courtesy of some high-powered guests), punchy horns, and rootsy keyboard work with a healthy amount of wit. Sly & Robbie utilize their friends' talents well; Maxi Priest's earnest touch makes "Only a Smile" that much sweeter. Jah Wobble's remix of "Nightnurse" is undoubtedly the trippier of the two renditions on this album. FRIENDS is the meeting place where the old and new and the sultry and goofy all spend their after hours.

Vibe (4/98, p.148) - "...Even after silicon microchips replaced wooden drumsticks, the dynamic duo remained tireless innovators..."

Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare are not only the most renowned rhythm section in reggae, they're among the most celebrated groovemeisters in all of pop music. The Kingston pair starting playing together in the mid-1970s, when reggae was really hitting its stride, and they quickly became in-demand session players. In Jamaica they graced the recordings of countless artists, from Lee "Scratch" Perry to Peter Tosh. After Sly & Robbie's fame spread to the US and UK in the '80s, they were recruited by Bob Dylan, Grace Jones and other pop/rock stars. The duo's own project Taxi, featuring various guest vocalists, was a reggae crossover success that displayed Dunbar and Shakespeare's growing technological facility as well as their vaunted rhythmic prowess.

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