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Re: style scott or sly dunbar
Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 7:56 pm
by davek
**The lack of good session musicians, in my opinion part of the reason for the rise of the digital sound.**
There were still many great musicains working sessions when Sleng Teng caught on. Jammys had just finished laying about 30 new riddims with The High Times days before the song broke, but he used very few of them afterwards because the "new style" caught on. One thing is consistent about new technology in Jamaica - it gets adopted quickly in very creative ways, and new trends catch on super-fast. It was also appealing to producers, who could pay a keyboard player one fee for playing multiple keyboard and drum machine parts, although session musicians eventually caught on to this and upped their rates.
My two cents on the debate: Style is a very good drummer, but Sly is in an entirely different class.
Re: style scott or sly dunbar
Posted: Fri May 31, 2013 4:25 pm
by Robbie
Roddy wrote:Fadel,
...the issue with the Radics is Just the DRUM PATTERN. Greensleeves could also be the roots of evil in this situation.
It's just dancehall, which was more formulaic as the new style emerged and developed. I think DJs wanted more simplistic, repetitive riddims to ride, and that was in demand in the 80s. Think about how riddims like Entertainment are constructed compared to any number of roots riddims, e.g. Augustus Pablo or Lee Perry who both utilized a progression or key shift in many productions. Whether you consider the 80's style boring probably depends on a lot of things, one being if you were raised in that time and place - some consider the 70's stuff inaccessible, or mum and dad music.
I don't think Greensleeves is to blame, although perhaps the stylistic changes in the 80s were shepherded in part by attempts to serve the British market.
Some of the Radics stuff deviated from the Junjo proto-dancehall style, a few bits with Alvin Ranglin in the late 70's for example.
JA music has nearly always and in the vast majority of examples been producer driven - Duke Reid, Lee Perry, Pablo, Junjo, Jammy's, etc...- and they typically respond to changes in the dance. Reggae definately had an arc that peaked between ~1972-1978. The sound accelerated to the steppers style and then shut down. It couldn't get more militant or faster. After that dancehall began to take over. Its a similar arc that you can see in other musical eras - rock and roll, techno, jungle/dnb, jazz - where experimentation is high and lots of ideas abound, things get progressively more stylistically extreme and the people respond to it at first. Eventually comes attrition when it seems to exhaust its potential. I liken it to driving a car at high speed - the straightaways are only so long eventually you have to shift gears. Eras like the early Dancehall or cool Jazz were attempts by visionary artists/producers to downshift and handle the curves or else crash and burn.
I like the 80s (and 90s to today for that matter) reggae, I just have to be more picky to find things I like.
thanks
Re: style scott or sly dunbar
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 6:16 pm
by flashman
I agree Sly is far more versatile and was a great innovator, but I think I enjoy Style's one style more. Admittedly, Style can get boring and he doesn't seem that creative. He often seems content with the same handful of fills and beats. But I feel like he has more funk in his kick drum and I like the way he plays the hi hat. Sly is, as someone else mentioned, sometimes almost too precise and mechanical sounding. Even when he's playing a funk beat it sounds almost machine-like.
Sly is the better drummer, but I just happen to prefer Style, I guess. At least at the moment!
Re: style scott or sly dunbar
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:31 pm
by Robbie
Re: flashman, a good friend of mine lovingly calls Sly "the human drum machine."
Re: style scott or sly dunbar
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:44 pm
by blessup
No comparison! Sly is the undisputed master!
Re: style scott or sly dunbar
Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:17 am
by Gabranth
Yes Sly is the better drummer. More versatile. No one denied that. But my ears seem to like Style Scotts music way more. So many late 70s tracks I hear, I'm thinking "this track would be so killer if it would have been recorded three years later with the Radics."
Maybe if you're a drummer yourself, you find Sly's music more interesting, because there's more that's happening when Sly is playing. For me personally it's often too much that is happening. Just my taste though.