On-U Sound are very proud to present a truly wonderful album with one of the all time great singer-songwriters in the rich history of Jamaican music, Horace Andy, This is a true gold star performance and I’m very proud of it. ~ Adrian Sherwood.
Adrian Sherwood has spent a long time realising his dream of making an album with legendary Jamaican vocalist Horace Andy, beloved by reggae fans worldwide for his classic 70s and 80s tracks for labels such as Studio One and Wackies such as “Skylarking” and “Money Money”, and boasting proper crossover appeal in modern times via his frequent contributions to Massive Attack, being a mainstay of their touring line-up and singing on all of their studio albums to date.
Midnight Rocker has been approached in a similar fashion to the late-career quality that Sherwood coaxed out of Lee “Scratch” Perry with the Rainford and Heavy Rain albums, assembling a crack team of players and spending many months perfecting performance, arrangements and mixing. The result is 11 remarkable tracks that sparkle with superb musicianship, carefully crafted production and some truly beautiful vocals from Andy.
As well as revisiting some Horace Andy classics like “Mr Bassie”, “Materialist” and “This Must Be Hell” with fresh production, the album also features brand new material penned by LSK, Jeb Loy Nichols, George Oban and Adrian Sherwood. The pair have also versioned a much-loved early single by the group that Andy is most associated with, Massive Attack, although Shara Nelson took the lead on the original “Safe From Harm” and here Horace steps up to the mic. Interestingly, Shara Nelson recorded with Adrian Sherwood several years before the inception of Massive Attack, and 1983’s lost street-soul classic “Aiming At Your Heart” could arguably be cited as a blueprint for the later group’s sound.
The backing band on this album features the cream of On-U Sound players, including contributions from Gaudi, Skip McDonald, George Oban, Crucial Tony, the Ital Horns, and the late, great Style Scott.
Like Rainford, Midnight Rocker will be followed by a full companion LP of dub versions, which is not completed yet but will hopefully come out later on in 2022.
Horace Andy Live dates:
22/04/2022: Querbeat Festival – Unterwaldhausen, Germany
29/04/2022: ‘Pay It All Back Revisited’ – Marble Factory, Bristol
30/04/2022: ‘Pay It All Back Revisited’ – 02 Forum Kentish Town, London
12/06/2022: David Rodigan’s Outlook Orchestra – Kenwood House, London