• Cassette
  • Digital


Darker Than Blue

  • Cat No: 333LP001
  • Release: 2022-12-02
  • updated:

Format

Digital 1300 JPY

Death Is Not The Endが新たなサブレーベル333スタート!!!記念すべき第一弾リリース!!!Curtis mayfield&The Impressionsの不朽の名曲を、1960年代ロックステディ期より活動したレゲエシンガーDEVON RUSSELLが、1993年にソウルフル・レゲエ・クロスオーバーにトリビュート名カバー完成した傑作アルバム「Darker Than Blue」をカセットテープ復刻。珍盤ソウルフルラヴァーズ名作。

1979年に「Darker Then Blue」のカバー(sample1)に始まり、1981年には「Move On Up」(sample2)を制作、「Give Me Your Love」カヴァー(sample3)も極上。1993年にBlood & FireのSteve Barrowによる制作で。長年の年月を経て完成された珠玉の唯一無二の名カバー・アルバム。ソウルフル・ファンキー・ラヴァーズとでも呼ぶべき唯一無二の世界観、コンピュータライズドいなたいリディム、音の空気感粒具合のイびつながらアーバンまろやかさが只事でない。スライ・ダンバー、キング・タビーズ・ファイヤーハウス・クルーによる名演も素晴らしい。 (コンピューマ) (Cassetteのコメントから参照)

Track List

16bit/44.1khz [wav/flac/aiff/alac/mp3]

Death Is Not The End launch sub-label 333 with a first-time vinyl reissue for the late Devon Russell's Darker Than Blue LP - put together as a tribute to the great Curtis Mayfield. First issued in 1993 but featuring material originally recorded as far back as 1979, the collection includes a cast of prominent players across it's 10 tracks - featuring musical contributions from Sly Dunbar, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Earl "Wire" Lindo, Dean Fraser, Bobby Ellis, Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Prince Lincoln Thompson and many others - plus production & arrangment from Earl "Chinna" Smith, Sly Dunbar & King Tubby's Firehouse Crew alongside Russell himself. Limited to 333 copies.

"The concept for Darker Than Blue dates back to 1979. Returning from South Amerrica with my partner (in duo Lloyd & Devon) Lloyd Robinson, we did "Red Bum Ball" which had been a massive hit in the 60's. It was around this time that Earl Chinna Smith (of The Wailers and Soul Syndicate fame) approached me with the idea of re-making some Curtis Mayfield songs. "Darker Than Blue" was the first track we did, followed by "Move On Up" in 1981, both of which received great reviews.

On returning to Jamaica from a UK tour in 1986, my good friend King Tubby had taken on five men from my school of music, from which the Firehouse Crew were born. Within 3 years they had matured to become Jamaica's No.1 instrumental band, winning the Rockers award. Then in the spring of 1990, together we managed to record the album "Money, Sex & Violence", during a tour of the UK & France, on which we did Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love". The track was played to Steve Barrow who suggested we do more Curtis tracks.

Sly Dunbar and I have known each other for as long as I can remember. We grew up in the same hood and used to jam regularly in our youth. I told Sly about the further Mayfield tracks I wanted to do and he agreed that it would be a good idea. So Sly, myself and The Firehouse Crew went to work at the Leggo Studios in Kingston, Jamaica and created the remaining tracks for the Darker Than Blue LP, a tribute to Curtis Mayfield.

We grew up on the sounds of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions. Everyone in Jamaica loved them. His death was a terrible thing, but while there is life, there is hope."
- Devon Russell, 1994.

333, under license from Prestige Elite Records Ltd.

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