The latest LP from the legendary duo Sly & Robbie is like telling us that their energies are constantly flowing. This pair of bass and drums heroes still brings something powerful into the world music scene.

‘Red Hills Road‘ contains 13 tracks and was released last January. With the dominance of the dancehall groove, this album opened this year freshly. Produced by the legends themselves, this album also includes names such as Taxi Gang, Robbie Lyn, Nambo Robinson, Lenky, Dean Fraser, Cherine Anderson, Stephen Maxwell and Ansel Collins.

A word of breakthrough seems to be inherent in the figure of this “rhythm section gurus“. The magical stuff they did on “Language Barrier” can be found also in this LP. ‘Yaw Yaw Yippee‘ sweetly opened the album’s journey through its clever melody line. The tracks ‘Mad Piano‘, ‘Belly Dancer‘, ‘Haul And Pull Up‘, ‘El Bang Bang‘ and ‘Two Thirty‘ really show the class of this duet have, one of the reasons why they are listed as the busiest producers in the history of world’s jamaican music scene.

“Sweet Dub“, “So Far Away” & “Love Is New” are here to bring out the beauty of Sly & Robbie’s signature touches and ideas. Meanwhile, the song ‘Beatbox‘ features the digital fusion in a meditative ‘nyabinghi‘ beat. Then through the track “Santa Barbara“, Sly & Robbie replayed the legendary riddim cut from the song “Murder She Wrote” (by Pliers and also a duet with Chaka Demus) which they produced. “Coronation Market” ends the album with an accordion, reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s harmonica touch to Sly & Robbie’s “No Name On The Bullet” from “Language Barrier” album.

Our recommended release of the month, powerful LP from Sly & Robbie!
(Sam)