Say Her Name [Thoughts of You]

Her name is Shara Nelson.

She’s been called the Aretha of trip-hop. Her name is Shara Nelson.

Fuck, I shouldn’t have got so high & then listened to "Thoughts of You" while typing this shit-storm. I’m sitting here at the ole PC with major wood. (ha...ha...he said "wood"). Then "How Close" comes on: "How close is too close?..there must be a reason for this tension...I’m giving you time to blow your mind...How close is too close, baby?" Now I've gotta head to the bathroom to clean up, then I’ll hit this sucka again.

Shara was only eighteen when she hooked up with those scoundrels at On-U Sound & made her debut in 1983 as the vocalist with The Circuit on Aiming At Your Heart. She made numerous On-U guest appearances with Voice of Authority, Singers & Players, Missing Brazilians, & Dub Syndicate throughout the 80s.

Shara Nelson & the Circuit - Aiming at Your Heart 12" 45, On-U Sound MIX 2, 1983.

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Side A -
Aiming at Your Heart (Part 1)
Aiming at Your Heart (Part 2)

Side B -
Just as Long as We Have Love (Part 1)
Just as Long as We Have Love (Part 2)

However it is her work with Massive Attack on their 1991 debut album Blue Lines for which Shara remains most associated, in particular the highly acclaimed "Unfinished Sympathy".

"Unfinished Sympathy" was first released under the temporary group name Massive. It was written by the three band members Robert "3D" Del Naja, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, as well as vocalist Shara Nelson, & the group's co-producer Jonathan "Jonny Dollar" Sharp. The song was released as the second single from Blue Lines, on the band's Wild Bunch label distributed through Circa Records on 11 February 1991.

Massive Attack - Shara tracks from Blue Lines, Wild Bunch Records WBRCD 1, 1991.

Safe from Harm
Unfinished Sympathy
Daydreaming
Lately


In total, Nelson co-wrote & provided vocals on four tracks on the Blue Lines album, including another hit single "Safe from Harm". Nelson also recorded & appears on another track with Massive Attack entitled "Just a Matter of Time", which was exclusively included on a short film the group made of the same name. It was shot on Super 8mm film on location in Bristol, 7 minutes of greatness & quite rare.







After Blue Lines, Shara launched a successful major label solo career. Her debut was What Silence Knows (co-writing & singing all tracks) on the Cooltempo/Chrysalis label.

Shara Nelson - What Silence Knows, Cooltempo ctcd35, 1993.

Nobody
Pain Revisited
One Goodbye in Ten
Inside Out
Uptight
Down the Road
Chance
Thoughts of You
How Close
What Silence Knows


She also released singles such as "Uptight" produced by Mike Peden. The one I’m posting (7243 8 81184 2 2) contains the supremely superior Adrian Sherwood & Style Scott unreleased version of the song "What Silence Knows" (Style plain rips it up!).

Shara Nelson - Uptight CD single, Cooltempo cdcool 286, 1994.

Uptight (Uno Perfecto edit)
Uptight (Uno Perfecto mix)
Uptight (Dirty Lowdown vocal mix)
What Silence Knows (Adrian Sherwood / Style Scott unreleased version)


Then life took its toll & Shara stepped away from the limelight.

In 2003, after more than 10 years away, she returned to On-U's spin-off imprint of the time, Soundboy & recorded a vocal version of Sherwood's "Hari Up Hari" from Never Trust a Hippy.

Adrian Sherwood - "Hari Up Hari  (Shara Nelson vocal version)" 

from promo 12" on Real World Records RWAS DJ 1, 2003.

She also released a self-credited track "Nobody Else" featuring a rhythm by Jazzwad [Rhythm 214].

Shara Nelson - Nobody Else 10'', Sound Boy SB012, 2004.

Side A -
Nobody Else

Side B -
Nobody Else (version)

Also in 2003, Nelson collaborated with Futurasound on the track "Right Now".

She co-wrote & sang "Say My Name" with Little Axe. When Shara begs you to "Say My Name", you'll truly know what longing is all about.

Little Axe - "Say My Name" from Champagne & Grits, 

Real World Records, 7243 5 76746 2 1, 2004.

Since then she has worked with 10th Planet ("Push Me Away"), NUfrequency ("Go That Deep" & "Promised"), Doug Wimbish ("I Wanna Know" - co-writer & vocalist).

Several new tracks have been posted on Nelson's official website, including "Promise to You", "Different" & "If".

In September 2012 Shara performed live for the first time in many years, performing her hit "Unfinished Sympathy" at the concert in aid of Cool Earth produced by Angelica Campion-Armstrong.

Since then she has contributed vocals to the tracks "Badger Swagger" by The Artful Badger, "All Together Now" on The Peace Collective single. Nelson, Simon Britton, & John Power wrote & recorded the title track "Looking" for the motion picture "ANTI-SOCIAL". Nelson is currently continuing work in the studio with Simon Britton & various collaborators for her next solo album purportedly due sometime this year.

& if you are still drooling for more, here’s a baby bonus...

Presence featuring Shara Nelson - Sense of Danger (Part 1) 12'' EP, Pagan PAGAN 024, 1998.

Side A -
Sense of Danger (original Presence mix)

Side B -
Sense of Danger (Pepe Bradock remix)
Sense of Danger (Furry Phreaks Dub)

bonus bonus:
Presence - Matter of Fact featuring Shara Nelson from All Systems Gone, Pagan PAGAN CD1010, 1999.

Enjoy,
NØ

Lost but Not Forgotten

Being an acolyte of all things On-U Sound & a fan of Mark Stewart (Pop Group, Maffia, or solo), I've posted other MS & M offerings here & here. Now the latest.

In January of this year, Mute Records rereleased 1983s Learning to Cope with Cowardice
by Mark Stewart & Maffia (both 2xCD & 2xLP are already sold out).

Along with this reissue of the original comes The Lost Tapes, a collection that represents the outcome of a painstaking search & the presentation of previously unheard material. Brought together into a sequence of embryonic prototypes, frenzied dub versions, & new archive discoveries, The Lost Tapes chronicles the early ideas & unknown stories that defined the outset of Stewart & Adrian Sherwood's vastly influential work together.

Beginning with the seething assault of "Intro" the collection provides a glimpse into a project Stewart originally intended for William Burroughs whilst "May I" presents a never-before-heard spectacle of raw Dubwise disorder recently discovered on an unmarked tape in an archive in France. Elsewhere there are significant coups in the form of "Paranoia", a pristine yet tough alternate version to "The Power of Paranoia", & "The Weight", another previously unreleased track that, in its forthright lyricism, reveals the vigor with which Stewart has, for many years, been committed to the Campaign Against The Arms Trade. Other revelatory moments include "Conspiracy" the first-ever collaboration between Stewart & Sherwood & "Jerusalem (prototype)", a historic first version of LtCwC's defining anthem, originally aired at the fateful CND rally in Trafalgar Square that signaled an end to Stewart's days in The Pop Group ver.1.0 & initiated his solo career.

Mark himself perceives The Lost Tapes as a document that now possesses a storied significance: "It was a real adventure discovering this forbidden history, a twisted tale of Muswell Hillbillies, French pirates, & a Dutch schizophrenic doctor doing psychic archaeology." Adrian Sherwood describes these works as characteristic of a distinct primitivism: "[The Lost Tapes represent] the early childhood of the songs before Mark & I conducted frenzied, scorched earth, slash-&-burn, twenty-hour mental manic editing sessions at Crass' studios that led to the birthing of the finished album."

Mark Stewart & Maffia - The Lost Tapes 1983, Mute Records 69759 , 2019.

Intro
May I
Conspiracy
Jerusalem (prototype)
Paranoia
Liberty Dub
Vision
Cowardice Dub
High Ideals & Crazy Dub
The Weight

You better grab this while it lasts.

Enjoy,
NØ

Let's Start the Conversation

In San Francisco, renowned surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) & his recording engineers Stan & Paul tape the conversation of Mark & Ann as they walk through busy Union Square. Their circuitous route through the noisy public space complicates the assignment. Harry must use three simultaneous tapes, each of which captures only a portion of the conversation. Harry returns to his sparse, impersonal apartment to discover that his landlady has bypassed his elaborate alarm system to leave a gift for his birthday. This is extremely annoying to Harry, as he values his own personal privacy above all else. He eases his spirits by spending the evening alone playing his saxophone.

The next day, in his warehouse office, Harry synchronizes the three tapes, isolating Mark &Ann's voices from the surrounding sounds. He reconstructs almost all of their innocuous-sounding conversation. Harry delivers the tape to  the Director, Mr. C's office. The Director is the high-level businessman who has commissioned the recording. When Mr. C's assistant, Martin Stet meets Harry & insists on taking the tape himself, a mistrustful Harry refuses to relinquish the recording. He returns to his office to listen to the tape again. This time, noticing an inaudible whisper, he uses specialized equipment to discern the words; "He'd kill us if he got the chance." Being a devout Catholic, Harry visits his church & confesses to a priest his fear that the tape will be used to hurt Mark & Ann.

After a surveillance conference held the following day, Harry invites several acquaintances & their two female companions back to his office to drink. Once there, Bernie, one of Harry’s rivals in the surveillance racket pushes Harry to reveal how he accomplished his most famous job, a Washington, D.C. welfare scandal. Then Bernie tells the group how the welfare scandal resulted in the deaths of three people. Harry explodes in anger & throws everyone out. Meredith, Bernie’s flirtatious assistant/showgirl insists on staying. She successfully seduces Harry. Later when he awakens from post-coital bliss, Meredith & the Director’s tape are gone.

Harry has realized that Ann is Mr. C's wife. Afraid of what Mr. C. will do to Ann for her affair with Mark, Harry, relying on Mark's taped comment about an appointment at a hotel that afternoon, rents the room next to theirs. Soon, he hears an argument between Mr. C. & Ann. He then sees a bloody handprint on the adjoining balcony window. Horrified, he tries to escape the noise of the argument by turning up the television & burying himself under the bedcovers. Hours later, he arises & breaks into the adjoining room. Everything appears perfectly clean until he flushes the toilet, which overflows, flooding the room with blood.

Harry races to Mr. C's office where reporters are busy questioning Ann about her inheritance now that Mr. C. has died, supposedly in a car crash. Harry realizes that Mark & Ann were not in danger, but rather planning a murder. After returning to his apartment, Harry sits & plays his saxophone to unwind. He receives an ominous phone call warning him that he is being watched. He then hears a recording of himself having just played his saxophone. Undone by the thought that his secure domain has been breached, Harry searches for bugging devices, shredding the curtains, disconnecting the wiring, even pulling up the floorboards until his apartment is completely destroyed by his paranoia.

Finally, Harry is left alone, playing his saxophone amid the wreckage.



Presented here is a tribute inspired by Coppola's 1974 film. (for previous The Bug, go here.)

The Bug - Tapping the Conversation, WordSound WSCD018, 1997.

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Harry's Theme
Invasion of Privacy
Countdown to Elimination
Those Tapes are Dangerous
Bug Party
The Lift
Fake Auto Crash
Room 773
Seduction & Betrayal
The Director
Amy
Nightmare Messenger
Twenty-four Hour Surveillance

Enjoy,
NØ

Don't Touch Me There

About five years ago I posted up Edwin Starr's incomparable Ric-Tic Records 45rpm classic "Agent Double O Soul" (backed w/"ADOS instrumental").

Since I've been slamming with Terrorists as of late, I thought I'd toss out The Untouchables take on the Double O soul agent.

These black & white rude boys were frequently seen in the clubs or riding around L.A. on Vespas & Lambretta scooters wearing three-button suits, military-issue parkas, dark sunglasses, &pork pie hats.

Led by vocalist Kevin Long, the Untouchables were formed in Silver Lake (L.A) in 1981, inspired by the success of a local ska-punk band, the Boxboys, who had themselves been inspired by Britain's 2-Tone ska revival.

Soon, the Untouchables (who called themselves "the UT’s") had a rabid following who packed the Silver Lake-area dive called the O.N. Klub (referred to simply as On by the scenester hip), to hear them play & watch their stage show.

They would eventually became the house band at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, enjoying a Thursday night residency that lasted for months. The Roxy was just down the street from the Whisky a Go Go, where they’d also played to huge crowds.

The Untouchables - Agent Double O Soul, Twist Records 7 72342-2, 1988

decryption code in comments

Agent Double O Soul
Let's Get Together
Stripped to the Bone
Airplay
World Gone Crazy
Under the Boardwalk
Cold City
Shama Lama
Sudden Attack
Education
Cool Boy
Agent Double O Soul (House mix)
Stripped to the Bone (Bare Bones mix)

bonus - American Masquerade (The Boxboys 1980)

Enjoy,
NØ

National Emergency Declared - Terrorist Alert

Terrorist is one of the most influential & overlooked U.S. ska/reggae/Dub bands of the late 70s - early 80s. Before early 80s Los Angeles was enjoying the mod/ska explosion that propelled The Untouchables straight to London & a recording contract with Stiff Records, a very different kind of music scene was brewing in bars & clubs around New York City. This scene helped to produce many iconic rock bands including The Ramones, The New York Dolls, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Suicide & many more. It also nurtured & supported Terrorists who played their unique blend of reggae, ska, dub, & punk a full two years before 2-Tone officially kicked off a punky reggae party in the UK.

The band was formed by a group of white New York City kids who were punk, ska, Dub & reggae fanatics about the same time that Bob Marley & The Wailers released Exodus, helping to launch the whole punk/reggae love affair in the U.K. Begun in October 1977 by drummer Dro (David Ostrowe), bassist Gary Schiess (a/k/a DB), keyboardist Frank Covello, & singer/guitarist Ray De Angel (who was soon replaced by singer John Collins & guitarist Mark "Dino Supreme" Levi), the band quickly became a mainstay of the New York music scene. They shared the stage with well known artists including Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Johnny Thunders, & Sylvain Sylvain (The NY Dolls/The Heartbreakers), The Selecter, Lee Alan Vega (Suicide), The Fast, Joe Bowie (Defunkt), Lester (Almost Famous) Bangs, & many others. Their propulsive brand of punky reggae filled the dance floor at clubs throughout New York City including Max's Kansas City, CBGB's, Irving Plaza, Hotel Diplomat, Hurrah's, The Ritz, The 80's Club, The Rat, Peppermint Lounge, Electric Circus, Trax, & Tramps.

The Terrorists' were inspired by & committed to playing traditional Jamaican ska, reggae, & Dub. Their adherence to & ease with the genre soon caught the attention of superstar dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. This was during a time when Perry had parted company with his Jamaican house band The Upsetters. Perry was traveling widely, forging musical partnerships wherever he went. His work with the Terrorists was one of the first of these partnerships. The band played live with Perry during his time in America in the early 1980s. Two studio recordings captured their brief collaboration: "Love Is Better Now" (a love song with Scratch in the producer's chair) & "Guerilla Priest" (a typical early '80s ranter with Scratch on vocals).

The band also worked extensively with Rolando Alphonso of the legendary The Skatalites. Alphonso recorded & performed live with the band, adding further credibility to their musical chops.

Alphonso had suffered a stroke in 1975 that left him with limited dexterity in his right hand. He had to re-learn new ways to play his instrument. It was during this time that Roland would often be present at rehearsals of his son Noel's band, Outer Limits. It was at one of those rehearsals, at Matrix Studios on West 27th, New York City in the spring of '75, that David "Dro" Ostrowe first met Rolando.

Dro recalled, "He had his old Selmer tenor sax that never got polished in its case. Roland was just sitting there watching Outer Limits. He never played with them, at least when I was watching. It was a couple of years later that I saw him come onstage with Noel's new band Jah Malla. He blew a tremendous tune. Nobody seemed to know who he was & when he left the stage no one seemed the wiser. I approached him & asked if he would play with my band, Terrorists. I told him we could provide a proper stage for him. He said yes. We planned it for Max's Kansas City. By spring of 1979 we were ready to do it. We'd play our set, then bring on Roland as the headliner to blow his own set of tunes. We worked with him for about two years. It went great, Roland was in good spirits, & blowing really well. Terrorists played shows with him through '79 into 1980. By the end of the year his name was being more properly recognized around New York."

Sadly, Dro passed away in October 2002. He was well known in New York City reggae circles. He also had a very popular reggae radio show on WBAI-FM. His legacy & the legacy of Terrorists lives on in the generations of New York/New Jersey ska/reggae/Dub bands.

Bolstered by their involvement with Lee "Scratch" Perry, who traveled with & fronted Terrorists & the many tracks with Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites, this is an important slice of reggae, ska, punk, & Dub from Manhattan in the late 70s - early 80s. This is an historic document with material that is absolutely unique.

Forces: 1977-1982 features all 21 tracks the band ever recorded.  (I have included as a bonus track the song "Fences" by Kozminot from 2000. It is the last recorded track that Dro played drums on (recorded at Out by the Tree Studio in the Music Building in mid-town Manhattan.)

Terrorists - Forces 1977-1982, Reachout International Records RUSCD 8277, 2001.

decryption code in comments

Hail the Day
Fade Away
Love is Better
Guerrilla Priest w/ Lee "Scratch" Perry (vocals)

Four Corners
Christine Keeler
What am I Living For
Ska-Bostello
Treat Her Right
Bridge View - all six featuring saxophonist Roland Alphonso

Anittoo
Forces
Drainidge
I Want Justice
Happy Man
My Best Girl
Bitch Slapped
It’s Impossible
Happy Go Lucky Girl
Copasetic
What am I Living For #2

bonus track - Fences (Kozminot with Dro [drums])

Enjoy,
NØ

Stuck in the 70s

Dead & gone but not forgotten: Andy; Jim; & Speedy.

Thunderclap Newman - Hollywood Dream, Track Records SD 8264, 1970.

decryption code in comments

Side 1 -
Hollywood #1
The Reason
Open the Door Homer
Look Around
Accidents

Side 2 -
Wild Country
When I Think
The Old Cornmill
I Don’t Know
Hollywood Dream
Hollywood #2
Something in the Air

Bring out the Revolution,
NØ

Can’t Kill a Man for Trying

Flash from 1971:

I got paroled out early on the mescaline rap.

As part of my parole agreement I had to have a stable address, a real job, & a shrink evaluation. Well, the first two weren't readily happening so I decided to go talk to a shrink.

Doc Stone ran a free clinic & rescue hotline. I went to talk to him & ended up killing three birds with one (Dr.) Stone.

Turns out he had headed up some LSD trials for the National Institute of Mental Health in the previous decade. Basically they just dosed people without telling them & then observed the results. Doc admitted candidly that he had seen psychedelics from both sides, having both observed others & voluntarily dosing himself (damn...the NIMH had their hands on honest to goodness Sandoz LSD25 derived from rye ergot). He was fairly sympathetic to my mescaline arrest & helped get me a job (one bird) at a season long (stable address - two birds) summer camp (Camp Cornplanter near Kiasutha back toward Mudlick) for mentally challenged youths (& signed my psych chit - three birds).

"Don't worry (easy you brain), about a thing (do you hear what we say)
Every little thing is gonna be alright (Well listen we again)"

I was made senior counselor for the older non-educable boys (I say boys, but David, our oldest, was forty-one, though most were about my age, in their late teens to early twenties). They were definitely a handful demanding constant attention & I was on duty 23 hours every day. I got a break for one hour each day between 1 & 2 in the afternoon while my campers were having swimming & were covered by my two junior counselors as well as the life guard & the swim coach.

I would head back to our cabin (see picture above - about two minutes from the pool) & smoke as much hashish as I could from the home-made sink-plumbing hash pipe I had made in Crafts Class.

Note:

I got paid every week on Thursdays. On Fridays my pal Mole would show up at camp at 1:05pm precisely with an ounce of Afghani Primo hash. I'd meet him at the gate, sign over my check to him & I was set for another week. I had no need of money here at camp...literally three hots & a cot provided. I had no need of money here.  I needed escape.

Back to the tale:

I had a portable record player in our cabin. I had two LPs. Each day I would listen to alternating records. Smoking out & rocking out until the albums last tone, then back to work, able to bear the weight of it all for one more day. This is one of the two records I cycled.

(For the other one, go here ).

The New York Rock Ensemble - Roll Over, Columbia C 30033, 1971.

decryption code in comments

Side 1 -
Running Down the Highway
Gravedigger
Law & Order
Fields of Joy
The King is Dead

Side 2 -
Don’t Wait too Long
Anaconda
Beside You
Traditional Order
Ride, Ride My Lady

NRE is: Clif Nivison - guitar & vocals; Hank Devito - pedal steel guitar; Mike Kamen - organ, piano, oboe, & vocals; Dorian Rudnytsky - bass & cello; Marty Fulterman - drums, oboe, & vocals.

Light up & enjoy,
NØ