Bring Them Down

A quick internet search brings up some extraordinary footage of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry producing a session at the Black Ark. Taken from the film ‘Roots, Rock, Reggae’, directed by Jeremy Marre, the sequence shows Junior Murvin collaborating with members of the Congos and the Heptones on a song improvised on the spot for the film crew. Before the vocals are recorded, the Upsetters lay down the backing track. The musical director of the session is the afro-haired bass player, Boris Gardiner; unusually, it is he who counts in the band to start each take. After a long conversation with Boris a few years back, I asked Lee about his contribution to the Black Ark sound.

We'll Bring the House Down marks the beginning of a four-album resurgence for Slade. Released on the heels of their most triumphant moment as a band, the 1980 Reading Festival (see Slade Alive at Reading '80 EP for more on that), Slade made a powerful statement with We'll Bring the House Down: "We're back." What the band did was to take the best five songs from the previous platter, Return to Base (no one had heard that album anyway, they correctly figured), and mix them in with great new material for a killer album that wouldn't take forever to make. Simple logic will tell you that when you get rid of the worst songs and replace them with great songs, the album's gonna be a lot better.

Sting - Bring On The Night (1986) [2CD+DVD] {2005 A&M Records Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 590 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 199 Mb
All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | English (LinearPCM, 2 ch / Dolby AC3, 6 ch / DTS, 6 ch) | DVD9 -> 7.12 Gb
Subs: English, Francais, Deutsch, Espanol, Portugues
~ 01h 20m | ISO Image | 5% repair rar | Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 55 Mb
© 2005 A&M Records | 0602498333082
Rock / Jazz / New Wave / Fusion

Includes a bonus DVD. When Sting embarked on his solo career, he didn't throw his tenure with the Police out the window; on this live double album from his Dream of the Blue Turtles tour, he reworks some odd selections from his old band's catalog in the expansive, jazz-inflected style of his new crew (which included saxophonist Branford Marsalis). These performances emphasize showmanship (solos, backup singers, and all) and they've got lots of crowd-pleasing moments, like the overwhelming swell of 'I Burn for You' and a Caribbean clap-along on a medley of 'One World' and 'Love Is the Seventh Wave'. The bonus DVD provides the viewer with a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the band at work. The film observes Sting and his new band as they rehearse and then perform their first concert, in Paris.