DADDY G – DJ KICKS (!K7)
January 11th, 2005 by rui
The looming and authoritative presence of Grantly Marshall (aka Daddy G) shifts the DJ Kicks series back into pole position with a 17-track selection of rare cuts, deleted gems and renowned classics.
Anyone who had the good fortune to be living in Bristol in the eighties will recognise some of these tracks from warehouse jams in the docks and nights at the legendary Dug Out club. The Wild Bunch were the sound who had it all, from bizarre ski hats to pre-release Japanese mixing boards and ultra rare trainers. It was their selecting skills, though, which assured them a place in musical history and G, Milo, Mushroom and Nellee Hooper alongside 3D, Tricky Kid and Willie Wee turned up everywhere from the city’s Moon Club to a hole in the NME Stage fence at the 1984 Glastonbury Festival.
At the turn of the decade, by the time the crew had metamorphosed into Massive Attack, Daddy G had become a widely respected DJ and began to regularly appear at overground nights in Bristol, around the country and further abroad. Fifteen years later comes the man’s first official compilation and in many ways it’s the story of those early years brought up to date, from Armagideon Time to Mos Def. The root of Massive Attack is very much the foundation of the Bristol Sound so all the major players would recognise the funk and the dread in this party from Portishead through Smith and Mighty to Roni Size. The crew’s famous Campbell Street sound system was the place to round off every St Paul’s carnival from ’86 onwards and it walked the lines between soul, hip-hop, dub, 2 Step and electro with deft aplomb. There was Grant’s lanky form chanting down a microphone, greeting faces from the scene and exhorting us to hold tight. We have a piece of that vibe on this CD plus some excellent rarities from Massive’s back and remix catalogue.
The re-assuring thing about a Daddy G jam is that impeccable taste is always guaranteed. There’s a consistency across the styles in this mix that works in a surprisingly understated way. At the end of the trip you weigh up the names involved and realise that you have been listening to the voices of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Foxy Brown, Barrington Levy and Aretha Franklin and the music of Leftfield, Les Negresse Vertes and The Meters. A pretty wide ride but it all makes perfect sense. As any good DJ should know, you make it happen in the flow.
Rock steady reggae grooves come in from Johnny Osbourne “Budy Bye”, Barrington Levy “Here I Come” and Willie Williams’ (Clash B-Sided) “Armagideon Times”. The French chanteuse Mellaaz provides a nouvelle “Non Non Non” that gives Dawn Penn’s version a nice run for its money in the smoky back room stakes. This claustrophobic shuffle is nicely continued by the nagging toll of Tricky’s “Aftermath” a very early solo offering (unreleased in this format) and one which maps his future soundscape very well. Think of a term that rhymes with hip-hop – ok then, don’t.
An extraordinary running sequence of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Mustt Mustt”, Les Negresse Vertes’ “Face A La Mer” and a remix of “Karmacoma” from the Blue Lines CD (voiced in great style by the Neapolitan singer Almanegretta) proves that the band’s influences and influence stretched way beyond dub, hip-hop and modern soul. So help me, these are three of the finest world music tracks cut in the last decade. “Mustt Mustt” puts to shame many so called cross-cultural fusions thrown down since, such is the integrity and balance made manifest in the studio.
The range continues with dubby romps from Leftfield and Badmarsh and Shri and a surprise showing from Foxy Brown bouncing above a Toots rhythm before streaming into the magnificence that is 2002′s “I Against I” where Massive meet Mos Def and manage to make the most futuristic sound on the record. If this is a future direction I, for one, hope that they continue to plough the furrow. Wailing eighties synths (in an almost Schnaussesque style) ride an electro popping groove which skitters beneath an insistent commentary from rap’s most intelligent. This classic joint folds into a colossal re-edit of Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady” where Danny Krivit’s knife and splice builds an elegiac, shuddering, monumental testament to the greatest female voice in soul. What could follow this? Well the only way to get away with it would be to drop in “Unfinished Sympathy” (Oakenfold’s Mix). Perfect. The CD is worth buying for these last two tracks alone.
Daddy G has made a compilation debut which simply oozes style, class and knowledge. Charting, somehow, the twists and turns of twenty-five years of dropping the platters that matter on turntables across the world. Keeping it real indeed.
Oh, and by the way, The Meters ” Just Kissed My Baby”, you want to know about crisp drums and bass?
What it is.
AJ
