Again, this side is heavy on vocal tracks but a truly amazing line up of rappers and singers joining Rob Smith, Ray Mighty and Peter D. Rose. This selection is drawn from their three albums, Bass Is Maternal (1995), Big World Small World (1999) and Life Is... (2002).
There's also bonus cover version of U2's Drowning Man, an album track from 1983. In a 2018 interview, Ray Mighty explained that “War was a favourite album of ours in the studio. Drowning Man had a dub feel about it. It was definitely a dubby bass
line. Not so hot on the band, but I still love that track.” A dub version of Drowning Man eventually appeared on the debut album, but this full vocal version originally appeared on the rather excellent soundtrack to 1994 film Shopping.
I'll return to Rob Smith, who has been an incredibly prolific DJ, remixer, producer and solo artist in the last two decades, in a future post. For now though, revel in the glorious sounds of one of the greatest acts to come out of Bristol. Much love, respect and thanks.
1) 1,2 Mic Check (ft. Kelz & Louise Decordova) (2002)
2) Drowning Man ("Shopping" Album Version) (Vocal Mix ft. Felix) (Cover of U2) (1994)
3) Time (ft. Felix & Marilyn McFarlane) (1995)
4) Closer (1995)
5) No Justice (ft. Rudy Lee) (1999)
6) Year 2000 (ft. Niji 40 & Louise Decordova) (1999)
7) Maybe It's Me (ft. Hazel Jayne) (2002)
8) Believers (ft. Tammy Payne) (1999)
9) I Saw You (ft. Chantelle Champagnie) (2002)
1994: Shopping OST: 2
1995: Bass Is Maternal: 3, 4
1999: Big World Small World: 5, 6, 8
2002: Life Is...: 1, 7, 9
Side Two here
Buy Smith & Mighty and friends' music on Bandcamp:
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