refresher course

horace andy - quiet place
massive attack - man next door

A week or two ago I ask some folks who read my livejournal for music recommendations, and a lovely lady named Fran (I'm pretty sure) suggested the music of Horace Andy. So I looked Mr. Andy up and discovered that I already knew him.

FROM ALLMUSIC.COM:

MASSIVE ATTACK - MAN NEXT DOOR
Composed By Dempsey/John Holt/Robert Smith/Laurence Tolhurst
Song Review by Amy Hanson (www.allmusic.com)

In deciding to rehash this reggae classic, Massive Attack had quite a plethora of renditions from which to choose. A tale of domestic violence whose implications, it seems, only become more pronounced every time it's re-recorded, the song was written by Paragons vocalist John Holt in the mid-'60s and released under the title "A Quiet Place." Several subsequent Jamaican versions retitled it "Got to Get Away." Massive Attack, however, would look closer to home for their inspiration, incorporating elements of two definitive versions from musicians directly influential to their sound: a 1981 Sly & Robbie-powered dub version, recorded with a new Paragons lineup (and titled this time "Indiana James"), and the dub/ punk of the Slits' near-simultaneous "Man Next Door." Using these tracks to keep themselves in check, Massive Attack recorded what is perhaps the best-ever rendition of the song -- a new classic of magnificent scope. Keeping a muddy, dubbed-out bass of Slits-ian proportion to drive the song, the band paid further homage to their musical influences by sampling the drip-drip guitar from the Cure's "10:15 on a Saturday Night" and dropping it prominently into the song to punctuate the bridge. Horace Andy, whose own original version of the song is one of its finest early airings, then reprised his vocals to great effect and, alongside the band's melodic retooling, it became less story and more veiled threat. This version was unlike any that came before, both in its vision and content, especially as the entire thing dissolves into a soft, metallic cacophony that just falls away as the song trickles out to nothing.

* * * * *

So there you have it. I've posted the earlier version and the Massive Attack version for your listening pleasure today.

This was certainly easier than writing something myself.