"Hum A Merry Tune": A Review of Sly & Robbie Present: Tune In To Merry-Go-Round by Various Artists

I’m picturing a beautiful time in the future when I’m around forty-five or fifty where some of my favourite producers will have been afforded the time in the business which will allow them to build up this storied type of catalogues and histories, even more than they already have. This particularly will be interesting considering that quite a few of our producers are heading in directions where they will SURELY be legends in the game to any perceptible degree and you could even make the case that some of them already are. Despite my urges to do otherwise, I’m going to start with the example of Don Corleon as a producer who already has such a strong base for himself, despite being very young still, to my knowledge. Corleon is to the point where, amongst people my age and maybe a little older and younger (talking in the range of about 25-35), he already has surefire, bonafide CLASSICS in his vast catalogue. Now you take that same catalogue and assume that he’ll remain relatively active and give Don Corleon TWO MORE DECADES of material to make and imagine exactly what kind of damage he can do over that time. To speak of him in the class of great Dancehall producers (and don’t even get into his one-drop work which is becoming increasingly vast on its own) like King Jammy and Dave Kelly, in my opinion, wouldn’t be too much of a stretch either. Now of course, you knew I would mention him, but do the same thing for the even younger Kemar ‘Flava’ McGregor. Twenty more years of him making this sprawling and beautiful Roots riddims and he may very well etch his name, considering the era in which he’s in, as THE greatest Roots Reggae producer of all time. And not only that, but in terms of McGregor and Corleon (and surely the younger McGregor, Stephen ‘Di Genius’ who very well may have another HALF A CENTURY with which to play, considering changes in the game and both Corleon and Flava may very well also to some degree), they’ll also have the opportunity as the dominant Jamaican producers to DEFINE the era. You’ll look to the biggest Jamaican artists to do that in Reggae music and definitely where they spend their time mostly will also be carried right along with them, in terms of legacy and those actually making the music can virtually decide how the histories are written. Of course I’ll have to get in my magic time machine to ensure that this goes all according to plan, that no retires or just finds something better to do with their time (whatever her name may be), but thankfully I have a few names at who to look as the ‘blueprints’ of how everything should work.

Like Sly & Robbie - I won’t even bother going into the detailed history of the group (because even with as unquestionably long winded as I am, even I don’t have that type of time), but I will say that with a history going back nearly forty years together, the famed ’Taxi Gang’ may very well be the most active Reggae producers/musicians of all time. Period. And in their years of working, they’ve amassed enough riddims and compositions that they could probably release projects like this into perpetuity with new artists and a great deal of younger listeners may not even notice that they’re not making anything NEW, but simply emptying and reemploying their sizable vault. Of course I’d notice, but I wouldn’t complain, just as I won’t complain if when I’m fifty in 2031 Don Corleon decides to do the same thing with the Drop Leaf or the Seasons or if the mood strikes Flava to runback the Triumphant or Rub-A-Dub riddims. You won’t hear a peep out of my old ass. Just like you didn’t hear anything negatively out of me when I first laid eyes on this particularly BEAUTIFUL creation Sly & Robbie Presents: Tune In To Merry-Go-Round. The album, which features two of the duos old school powerful vibes with new(er) artists rinsing through them (the ‘Tune In’ and the ‘Merry Go Round’) (DUH!), comes via Tad’s and takes the same route as most of Tad’s releases and goes digital through the wonderful homosapiens at Zojak Worldwide. The music here is a mix of tunes predominately recorded in the past couple of years or so and with artists who wouldn’t have been around (at least not recording) (at least not most of them) back in 1980 or so when both of these pieces first dropped, I believe. Also, you have material here which has done serious commercial numbers, as evident by this album’s very existence perhaps, you definitely have a few hits and besides that (or maybe even BECAUSE of that) you definitely have another one of the best riddim albums of 2009 (find myself saying that more and more these days for some reason) AND an album which, by its very being, certainly has ‘legs’ and its potency should definitely carry it well into the new year, just as it has for these two riddims for the past thirty years or so.

As for the riddims themselves, they’re not very different in terms of vibes as you might imagine, in terms of how they’re put together. Both are from the same era, so that cool ‘dusty’ classic Dancehall sound is definitely in abundance here and thankfully Sly & Robbie have linked artists who are more than capable (in most cases) of handling it. And the way the actual album runs, of the nineteen tracks, the first ten are for the Merry Go Round, while the final nine go to the Tune In. And as I said, the Taxi Gang has tapped artists who are WORTHY, unfortunately that isn’t the case with the very first tune of their album Sly & Robbie Presents: Tune In To Merry-Go-Round, on the Merry Go Round riddim as they link Chuckle Berry for his hit ‘The Good Life’. Okay, I HATE this song! HATE IT! Millions of people around the world love it and you probably will too, but I cannot stand it, so I’ m just moving on (and even if that’s the only video that I can find on that riddim on YouTube, I’m not using it!). Okay Courtney John puts the world back in proper order next when he brings the nearly outstanding lover’s piece, ‘Back In Love’. John has a very interesting spot in Reggae because he is seemingly one of the artists on the brink of mainstream success, but the hardcore heads who follow him do so religiously (which is doesn’t sound like it should be, but it is kind of strange, think about all of the backlash someone like Sean Paul got just for getting famous) and it is largely due to SWEET love songs like ‘Back In Love’. Speaking of sweet love songs, one of the greatest purveyors in the world of such things is up next in S&R favourite, UK singer Bitty McLean with definitely one of the best tunes on the riddim and album also, ‘Talk Talk [aka ‘Let Them Talk’]’. It stands out here just as brightly as it did on McLean’s album Movin On from earlier this year (which I didn’t like for some reason) (but you probably will, go pick it up). McLean is quickly outdone (as is everyone else who voices the riddim) by another Taxi Gang favourite, Anthony Red Rose, who brings what is the single best tune to be found on the entire album, regardless of riddim, the MASSIVE ‘Under My Skin’. This song is so damn sweet that listening to it gave me a fucking cavity! It’s that nice! You want that slow happy grinding thing to go on with you and that special someone, tune in this track and don’t worry at all! MASSIVE song. The late Junior Delgado ‘tunes in’ the original classic title track for the Merry Go Round riddim and I was so happy they decided to include this one here as most certainly it would be lost to some of the younger listeners and by its quality, ‘lost’ isn’t somewhere it should be. Lukie D is also present with the very strong ‘On Fire’. No, he isn’t one of my personal favourites, but I’ve always maintained that Lukie is a very talented singer and you can REALLY see why on tunes like this. And veteran George Nooks also follows nicely with his love song ‘Lonely Won’t Leave’ which is a very CLEVER piece and we always like to see Nooks’ name pop up almost anywhere and Tune In To Merry-Go-Round is definitely no exception. The other three vocal tracks on the MGR riddim are reserved to contemporary Roots artists and the results are mixed. First is Lutan Fyah who does well enough with his own sweet love song ‘Wild Fire’. This one has been growing on me a bit recently (even RIGHT NOW) and I may like it even more in the future, but as for now, its OKAY. At the opposite end of the scale, not quite okay, is Anthony B, whose ‘Take Time To Know Her’ is kind of strange and just doesn’t work AT ALL ultimately. Right in the middle, between them both (literally and figuratively) is the Bushman with his most recent big hit, the wonderfully vibed social commentary ‘World State’. You should REALLY take in this song, just don’t vibe it, really pay attention to what he’s saying. It’s a powerful tune, the second best on the riddim and maybe even on the album in full.

And then there’s the Tune In Riddim. This riddim is slightly more colourful than the MGR and it features a few big names of its own, as well as two very high profile combinations as highlights. The first tune is one of those combinations as it features Jimmy & Tarrus Riley on the huge Father & Son shot, ‘Pull Up Selector’. For obvious reasons this tune was/is a pretty sizable hit going on the old school Dancehall vibes and love and updating it today. Big tune from the elder Riley‘s recent album of the same name. Speaking of updates, the other big combination here features Sugar Minott, who originally sang the title track for the riddim alongside the completely clashless Bounty Killer. I might be the only one who thinks such, but I think this tune is actually better than the Rileys’ combination actually. The mix here is EPIC and it’s not just a spin of Minott’s original tune like Junior Delgado’s (for obvious reasons), but it is a version which acknowledges its time frame and acknowledges the Killer so at least for me, old modern ass me, it’s also a better tune than the original and definitely one of the biggest on either side of this album. Besides the two combination tracks, you also have a few pretty big names as well voicing the new Tune In. Such a person comes in with the over animated ‘Hype’, as Sizzla delivers his somewhat typical overaggressive vibe for this riddim. His tune isn’t horrible, but it certainly isn’t up to not only his standards, but some of the others on the riddim also. Lutan Fyah makes up for my favourites with the riddim’s and album’s closing track, ‘Out A Line’. This one is a BIG tune and is definitely one of my favourites on the riddim altogether and I’ve been enjoying it for more than a minute (Africa album). You go after the song on any type of scrutinizing level (like for a review) (something like that) and not only does it hold up, but the more keenly you listen, the more it excels actually (and it also reminds me of ‘Bad Traffic’ for some reason or another). Like the Fyah, Courtney John also returns on the Tune In from the MGR, with ‘Ready To Go’. Seriously you can’t help but REALLY like this tune and that’s so even though I prefer ‘Back In Love’ over it, but both are very big. VETERAN Brian Gold (sans brother Tony, at least as far as I know) also pushes a BIG spiritual tune with ‘The Most High’. This one is so nice, especially at the beginning where it goes almost straight á cappella. So even though it borders on Gospel (which I generally don’t enjoy, but is a VERY interesting direction in which to take this riddim), I’m still a fan of this tune and INFINITELY biggup Brian & Tony Gold definitely. Another veteran vocalist, Ambelique also tunes up the Tune In with his own tune, ‘Worker Man’. This tune has a kind of a funky/bluesy type of vibes to it (like something you’d hear in some dark club in the middle of the bayou) and it’s definitely not one of my favourites here, but I also kind of sense it growing on me a little so . . . Ask me in a month. Of course Sly & Robbie rarely drop anything these days without linking it through Ms. Cherine Anderson (thankfully) who I have to slide in over Lutan Fyah as the riddim’s best tune because ‘Talk If Yuh Talking’ is MASSIVE. It’s a tune about a woman giving her man everything (she thinks) he would want and treating him like a king, but he still goes astray once he gets a little hype. It goes from Anderson using that powerhouse of a voice she hides in that tiny little body, to her coming out straight deejay style later on when she says, “I was the dayshift, the lateshift. Come back, I was your nightshift. Support this. We build this. Put up with all your slackness”. Anderson has talent just saturating the places she visits and this tune was definitely one of her biggest hits and one of her better tunes altogether. And lastly (because there aren’t any riddim tracks) (dammit), is another artist like Cherine Anderson (and dozens, if not hundreds, of others), who Sly & Robbie have helped develop along their way, Chaka Chaks. Be not misled by his absolute atrocious choice of name (he was a Demus fan reportedly), Chaks is potentially a BIG artist who has this wonderful old school HEAVY deejay style which distinguishes him almost immediately when you hear him (it’s like half DJ/half chanter, but close to the Dancehall style) (and I don’t want to hear anything about a damn Chuckle Berry comparison). His tune here ‘African Daughter’ is definitely a highlight for the album and going into the new year, you definitely keep an eye on Chaka Chaks (and I guess that’s Ghost singing in the background). Chaka Chaks turns things over to the aforementioned Lutan Fyah who ends things on a very nice note for the album.

Overall, definitely you should have this one somewhere in your collection. Despite its pretty clear odes to the past era, new fans should well be onto appreciating Tune In To Merry-Go-Round, definitely. And in cases like this, where it actually WORKS (which is surprisingly rare) in mixing the eras, I don’t want to say that you’re dealing with anything SO SPECIAL, like a landmark/transitional type of thing, but definitely this one is certain to carry a vibes for quite awhile or at least until the next time Sly & Robbie may want to pull out these two again. So, while I do just have to relax and either wait for the next few decades or so until some of my favourite producers have their time like this or until someone can create a time machine, right now thankfully there are people like Sly & Robbie - walking, talking, living, breathing LEGENDS.

Rated 4.50/5

Taxi/Tad's/Zojak Worldwide

2009