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cdr|m's
.:: a klangwerk release ..................................................::.
artist :: smith & mighty
release :: life is....
year :: 2002
genre :: lo-fi
label :: k7
catalogue :: !k7123
website :: www.k7.com
ripper :: soulfiction
date :: 25-feb-2002
quality :: 192kbps/44,1khz
source :: compact disc
.::.......................................................................::.
01 life has a way 4:50
02 run come 5:17
03 flash of joy 5:50
04 rise 4:55
05 maybe its me 5:43
06 sea 4:29
07 live and learn 4:54
08 b-line fi blow 5:19
09 i saw you 5:25
10 1,2 mic check 4:34
11 you said always 5:02
12 life is so eventful 3:59
playtime :: 01h 00m 17s
.::.......................................................................::.
the story of smith & mighty is closely bound up with the musical
history of bristol, their hometown. for a good decade rob smith
and ray mighty (joined nowadays by third member peter d. rose)
have featured among sound pioneers like massive attack, tricky,
portishead and roni size who have enjoyed worldwide success.
however, despite their huge influence on the 'sound of bristol',
whereas the aforementioned have been able to celebrate their
well-deserved successes, smith & mighty have always had to take a
back seat due to a plethora of unfavourable circumstances. in
spite of some excellent 12" releases and their totally cool debut
album 'bass is maternal', an international breakthrough was not
foreseeable for the time being. this only changed in 1998, with
their self-compiled release for the dj kicks series, which firmly
put them back on the map and earned them much respect
internationally. but let's start at the beginning:
in the mid-eighties a scene arose in the st. paul's district,
based around djs like nellee hooper (later founder of soul ii
soul), miles johnson, grant and mushroom, who soon dubbed
themselves the wild bunch, going on to father the 'sound of
bristol' by blasting a bassy melt-in-your-mouth mix of fusion,
dub, reggae, soul and hip hop out of their soundsystems on to the
streets of st. paul's. what was initially played through
traditional soundsystems progressed into the production of their
own tracks, and the 'wild bunch's first recording 'look of love'
clinched them quite a local hit. co-producing was a second bristol
team, namely rob smith & ray mighty, who had established their own
soundsystem called '3 stripe' in 1987 smith & mighty released a
cover version of burt bacharch's 'anyone (who had a heart)',
shortly followed by 'walk on by' on their label, also dubbed '3
stripe'. with this brace of tracks and their mellow basslines,
soulful vocals and deep arrangements smith & mighty had set the
precedent for successive releases in the british port. (such as a
certain massive attack's debut single 'any love', which they
produced.)
they were also producers of 'wishing on a star' by fresh four (a
one hit wonder featuring the then 17 year old dj krust) at the end
of 1989, marking the beginning of a five year odyssey through the
lowlands of the (major) music industry. after the huge success of
'wishing on a star', record companies began to take an interest in
the boys from bristol. they refused a lucrative offer from
virgin's richard branson, commenting 'we just don't like his
style, and the way margaret thatcher portrayed him as the ideal
business mogul. maybe it's got something to do with the fact that
we used to be punks" (ray mighty). the deal signed with london
records proved to be disastrous. they still went ahead with
producing carlton's album, 'the call is strong', exposing a real
source of inspiration, but the record company couldn't handle
their visionary downtempo beats when england was obsessed with
fast house and techno beats. to this day the album is regarded as
the 'great lost album of the bristol sound'. further smith &
mighty productions were greeted with the same lack of recognition
by the record company and mostly weren't even released.
after their deal with the major company had expired, the first
album on their own label more rockers was released in 1995 (a dub
version of an lp originally recorded for london records). due to
woeful distribution, this album only managed to make its way to
hard core fans, yet rave reviews in the press consoled smith &
mighty. the next stage was to concentrate on the project and label
more rockers, run with third member peter d. rose. they started
laying down tracks with groundbreaking breakbeat and drum 'n' bass
again, which were picked up and reworked by producers like roni
size and dj krust. hence the arrival of 'bristol jump-up'.
hip hop, reggae, soul and mainly a great love of dub make the
songs on the new album somewhat of one of the most exciting
records to appear out of bristol. the album was recorded over a
period of two years, with vocals by the likes of tammy payne,
alice perera and rudy lee, who all also hail from bristol, and
smith & mighty's deeply-embedded roots in the city make the whole
thing into rather a family affair.
.::.......................................................................::.
greetings :: sb, qdp, sour, dps, it, rac, dh, sfe, hbz, igr and mgc
.::.......................................................................::.
Files
Path
Size
[BMW]-[Lo-Fi-2002]-(82.8 MB in 12 files of kbps Stereo)-[bender@record