On any post, if the link is no longer good, leave a comment if you want the music re-uploaded. As long as I still have the file, or the record, cd, or cassette to re-rip, I will gladly accommodate in a timely manner all such requests.
Slinging tuneage like some fried or otherwise soused short-order cook
Who has released records on all these labels: the legendary R&B label OKeh, the nu-blues stronghold Fat Possum, the key rap originators Sugar Hill, Tommy Boy, & 4th & Broadway, the innovative On-U Sound, & Real World Records?
Which musician has played on records by Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, James Brown, Robert Plant, Mark Stewart & The Mafia, Sinead O'Connor, & Megadeth?
The answer to both these questions is Skip McDonald. & Skip is Little Axe.
Skip, along with his cohorts Doug Wimbish & Keith LeBlanc, formed the core of the house band for Sugar Hill Records playing on some of the most influential early rap classics, such as "Rapper's Delight", "The Message", & "White Lines".
Keith met Adrian Sherwood in 1984 while working at Tommy Boy Records. Keith introduced the rest of the posse to Adrian & things blossomed from there. Soon after this meeting the three musicians crossed the pond & became part of Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound crew, making some of the most adventurous highly praised UK music since that time. Fats Comet released Bop Bop in 1985. Tackhead followed the next year with Mind at the End of a Tether.
Little Axe's first release on On-U Sound was 1993s Never Look Back. Since that time, Skip has kept his dream & music alive & never looked back.
Introlude Call it What You Like Back to the Crossroads Chains Rapper’s Delight Song to Sing On the Beat Sound London Blues London Blues Dub Lift Off Cosmic Slop Out in the Rain & Cold (remix) Black Diamond Rain The Time Has Come Hammerhead Where from Here
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.
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.
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.
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!).
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.
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...
For dinner, let’s go all out. Maybe hit an All-You-Can-Eat smorgasbord. Fill up like there may be no more tomorrow. I’m a bit short on the Benjamins, so I just might have to sing for my supper. Here’s hoping nobody else is hungry. My singing has been know to scare some folks off their feed.
Little Axe - (Stand Up Next to a Mountain) Chop it Down with Little Axe, NØ Comps, 2021.
