RIP Robbie Shakespeare
December 8, 2021 10:03 PM   Subscribe

Wickedest Bass in Reggae Dead at 68. Alongside his Riddim Twins counterpart Sly Dunbar, the bassist played with everyone from Black Uhuru to Bob Dylan across more than four decades.

In addition to the examples of Shakespeare's playing in the Rolling Stone link, Reggae superheroes Sly and Robbie made 200,000 songs – these are their 16 greatest contains a bunch more.
posted by Lyme Drop (33 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is sad news indeed.
posted by y2karl at 10:05 PM on December 8, 2021 [2 favorites]


Damn.

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posted by SystematicAbuse at 10:17 PM on December 8, 2021


Wow, another giant in reggae gone. This year man.

This modern project involving Sly & Robbie is maybe not so well known but blew me away: Nordub
posted by Kosmob0t at 11:12 PM on December 8, 2021 [2 favorites]


He was stellar. So cool, gently swaying with his long dreads, and putting down a MASSIVE sound.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:13 PM on December 8, 2021 [1 favorite]


Next time you hear thunder in the sky? That's Robbie.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:01 AM on December 9, 2021 [4 favorites]


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posted by acb at 1:23 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by mbo at 1:35 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 1:49 AM on December 9, 2021


he was one of the 10 or so greats who defined and shaped bass in modern music

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posted by pyramid termite at 3:54 AM on December 9, 2021 [6 favorites]


A sad day. For me, personally, it feels like a big music chapter in my life closes with Robbie Shakespeare's passing. I was blessed to live in North London in the late 70s and early 80s when music was exploding. The Hope and Anchor was a 5 minute cycle ride away - where Pistols, Stranglers, Souxie, Elvis Costello regularly played, Dr Feelgood played another pub on Holloway Road every Tuesday a couple of years earlier (cue - Roxette live!), the Rainbow was 2 minutes in the opposite direction ( a legendary Bob Marley and the Wailers gig - same year as the famous Lyceum gig where the live album was recorded, an off the scale Black Uhuru gig - this was a time when racial tension in London was on the boil and erupted most weekends), Brixton Academy, well hop on the Victoria line, (Gregory Isaacs - was it 1984, was that the gig with Sly and Robbie - it was certainly the year they wandered out of HMV Records on Oxford Street as I wandered in hehe). I was in my late 20s to early 30s in that period, a single Dad, living alone with his wonderful little boy, bursting with life and energy (both of us!), the house like the city throbbed to a reggae beat by 1983. Happy, happy days. And your man Robbie Shakespeare was at the heart of the mix! Sorry to see you go, brother. Thank you for the music, the fun and the gorgeous memories. My little boy, now a happy and fulfilled Dad in his own right just sent me a link to Grace Jones's My Jamaican Guy - with Sly and Robbie driving her vocals like a monster. Thanks for the post Lyme Drop!
posted by dutchrick at 4:32 AM on December 9, 2021 [32 favorites]


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posted by dr_dank at 5:02 AM on December 9, 2021


I really envy you living in London at that time, dutchrick. I was a student down in Plymouth, 250 miles from the centre of the action, but even that was pretty amazing.

All the punk bands you mention were playing their last club tours at the time, just before they moved on to theatres, and even down in the sticks I managed to catch most of them. Never Sly & Robbie, though - or, at least not until a few years ago in Melbourne, when I saw them playing with the Havana Meets Kingston tour there. In a lifetime of gig-going, that's still one that stands out for me.

It's hard to imagine Sly Dunbar without Robbie by his side, or to think of another musical marriage that endured so long and produced such peerless results.
posted by Paul Slade at 5:03 AM on December 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


RIP & Compass Point Studios!
posted by DJZouke at 5:24 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by Thorzdad at 5:45 AM on December 9, 2021


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I first heard Sly & Robbie on an Axiom Dub compilation, with no context to their place in the larger reggae tradition. The list of credits on AllMusic is mind boggling - from Dave and Ansell Collins to Bob Marley to Chaka Demus/Pliers.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 6:02 AM on December 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


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posted by 20 year lurk at 6:53 AM on December 9, 2021


I really envy you living in London at that time

I totally get that, Paul. I almost envy that old me, myself, looking back after nearly 40 years! But be wary of what you wish for. What did the mighty U Roy sing, 'wantee wantee no gittee, gittee gittee no want?' (Sorry my patois is not what it was).

At the risk of a derail, a lot of great music comes out of turmoil, a collision of forces, triggering a multitude of thoughts and feelings that amazingly creative people articulate in rage and pain, hope and despair. The Hope and Anchor was close to where regular running battles between the Anti Nazi/Fascist League and the BNP other right wing groups and Skins kicked off. Racial tensions were off the scale. A pal of mine from St. Kitts got smacked across the head with a bottle as he opened the door and stepped into a place in Tottenham - his crime? Black but no dreads ("blud clat baldhead"). Another time, I remember lacing up my docs on the way to a gig and thinking there's been 5 bombings in North London this month, it's the 25th , I wonder if that's it now for November? Probably be ok. The IRA's bombing campaign was an unnoticed backdrop to punk and pretty full on in the mid 70s and into the 80s. It wasn't only killer bass lines. :)
posted by dutchrick at 7:00 AM on December 9, 2021 [6 favorites]


All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.

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posted by OHenryPacey at 7:04 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by tommasz at 7:09 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by evilDoug at 8:23 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:41 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by jpziller at 9:47 AM on December 9, 2021


𝄢

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posted by adekllny at 10:13 AM on December 9, 2021 [2 favorites]


🇯🇲
posted by jeremias at 11:07 AM on December 9, 2021


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posted by vibrotronica at 11:43 AM on December 9, 2021


As a teen-ager in chilly Minnesota in the 1980s, Sly & Robbie were a blaze of warmth. Hard to find them (all hail Cheapo Records on Snelling Avenue!), but I had a few cassettes and played them back-and-forth on my Walkman.

Rest In Peace, floating high above a fat bass line.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:44 PM on December 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


Witness to Sly & Robbie with Black Uhuru outdoor live concert in the early 1980s.
They had a remarkable excellent live sound mix. Loud, Clear, and Deep.
posted by ovvl at 2:48 PM on December 9, 2021 [2 favorites]




- Also had not heard Boops Here To Go since 1987 - definitely worth a re-listen.
posted by rongorongo at 3:08 PM on December 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


The last time I looked up sly and robbie on wiki a couple years ago, it said they had an almost inhuman amount of hands on or productions or just input. By inhuman, i think they said north of 200 thousand tracks.
I kinda want to believe that, and they were the ones that could have done that since everyone wanted a piece of their talent.
So, i don't think they recorded and released that many tracks, but I do like thinking of them as the essence of session musicians, that a lonely singer songwriter could only tap into that mystic reserve that persevered for decades while the groups they elevated fell by the wayside decade after decade.

Peace Robbie, there won't be another of you, and as many of those who are touched by knowing you, you touched uncountably more.

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posted by lkc at 6:34 PM on December 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


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posted by threecheesetrees at 10:57 PM on December 9, 2021


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posted by filtergik at 6:20 AM on December 10, 2021


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posted by stanf at 10:44 AM on December 11, 2021


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