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THE MUSICIANS ON MR. ANONYMOUS (anecdotes by Mr. Anonymous)
CUTTY RANKS
The first recording session in Jamaica was with Cutty Ranks... He let me stay at his house and introduced me to everything in Kingston... He dj'd on the songs "Mr. Anonymous" and "Player Hater"... I wrote the music for "Player Hater" specifically for him with that "in-your-face" delivery. He has always been one of my favorite dj's in jamaica, and the whole experience was mind blowing. Cutty is nonstop music, and no matter where he is, he's putting together lyrics. He keeps a dictaphone on him at all times and constantly recording ideas. He stands right in your face, staring you down, tapping your chest, and chanting lyrics full volume!!! Everywhere we went, he was throwing out lyrics to his buddies. He took me to his favorite hangouts and bars, and we went on errands like the barbershop, carwash, dominoe game, etc. We ate a rasta meal called "rundown" by a river, and I met the gang leader who now runs his childhood neighborhood. Cutty is high energy and extremely intense!!!
SLY DUNBAR
Sly has always been one of my biggest influences as a drummer. He and Robbie Shakespeare are kind of like the Miles Davis's of reggae in that they have been the major innovators
Sly Dunbar & Fatta (Engineer) program the drum track for "Always"
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in the music over the past two decades (or more). Their grooves alone have completely changed the sound and style of reggae music throughout the years. During the session, we talked about a lot of my favorite grooves that he did with Black Uhuru ("Sinsemilla") and Grace Jones ("Nightclubbing"). He programmed a fat dancehall groove on his MPC for the song "Always".
ROBBIE SHAKESPEARE
I tracked Robbie in a private studio in Miami... He played on the songs, "Mr. Anonymous", and "Always". He came up with both parts in about 10 minutes. He really liked the tracks and played sitting down with his eyes closed. He plugged straight into the board and only used his thumb. He was an easy going guy, and I didn't do one thing to his bass sound in the mixes. He is by far my favorite bass player...period!!!
MICHAEL ROSE
Original lead singer of Black Uhuru... His session went great, and I had worked with him before on my previous album "Cool & Easy". He sang on "Good Vibe" and "Atmosphere"... On "Good Vibe", I gave him some melody and word ideas, and he gave me some "too too twet's"... When I first visited him up in Miami during the recording of my last album, we went to Walmart and shopped for roses. We'd be driving in his car, and without warning, he'd start singing full volume and continue until he was ready to stop... He is a great vibe!!!
Michael Rose Singing "Atmosphere"
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We ate ackee and saltfish at his house, and I got to hold his grammy from the Black Uhuru album "Anthem"... On the first trip to Kingston I woke up one morning at Cutty Ranks' house, and Michael was in the kitchen having coffee. We talked about doing a couple more tracks together, etc. Michael is the man... I spent my life in highschool listening to those "ning ning naye's" off of "Chill Out" and "Sinsemilla", by Black Uhuru.
BOUNTY KILLER
The Bounty session was a late night one at Shaggy's studio. He got to the studio around midnight and smoked a huge spliff out on the terrace before even stepping foot inside. He wrote out lyrics on the spot for the song "Shylean"....He actually composed a complete song for the groove called "Party Tonight"...I used the complete track in the"Shylean/Party Tonight"remix and one of the verses in the song "Shylean". He was really in to the track and very intense and energized.
FRANKIE PAUL
Frankie Paul has been one of my favorite singers for a long time. He's known as the "Stevie Wonder "of Jamaica and his tracks prove that reputation. I sent him the two songs, and he sang me his ideas over the phone....He is a straight up positive vibe and the songs "Swing" and "Sexy" are two of my absolute favorites on the cd...
BARRINGTON LEVY
During this session, I stayed at a place called the Liguenea Club in Kingston where "Dr. No" was filmed. I reread the book on the plane flight down, and the entire experience was great. Barrington showed up with a digital phone attached to each ear... We hung outside the studio before the session because he wanted to get my vibe on things and reason about the track... I sang him the melody ideas I had for him, and he sang some trademark "shidley woys" to the melody... I also wanted some snippets from his older hit "Here I Come". He liked the track a lot, and the entire session lasted about 30 minutes. His friend (personal manager/producer) Jah Screw set the whole thing up for me. He was totally cool as well!!! Barrington sings the first verse and part of the outro in the song "Swing"... His tracks really compliment the Frankie Paul and Brando tracks in the rest of the song... "Swing" is one of my favorites on the album solely because of Barrington!!!
DAVE WAKELING
Dave Wakeling has been one of my absolute favorite singers for years. I used to study every note on the English Beat and General Public albums when i was in high school. We actually played some shows together on a couple tours with my solo band, and that's how we became connected. Dave has a voice like nobody else!!! Every time I hear it, I picture being in some sort of european lounge or on the French Riviera!!! We did the tracking in L.A. for two songs, one of which is still a work in progress, and the other is the chorus on "Good Vibe".... His performance on "Good Vibe" is absolutely, fucking great (vintage Dave...haha). For that session, we exchanged ideas and melodies over the phone while i was at my hotel... Every time we talked, Dave had these pet birds in the background screeching for his attention. He has a funny sense of humor and kept messing with me when he'd send faxes of lyrics to the hotel. The hotel fax person was an old lady, and Dave kept changing the spelling of my real name "GEORGE MACNICHOL" to "JUGS MACNIPPLE"... The lady kept giving me strange looks every time she handed me a fax. The whole experience was funny, and Dave is the most upbeat, positive vibe around!!!!! ........huge respect!!!!!!!
SKY JUICE
Original percussionist from Black Uhuru... He showed up at the studio with Sly Dunbar... He played on 2 Michael Rose tracks("Atmosphere" and "Good Vibe")
Sky Juice Recording on "Bring The Youth"
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and the track "Always" with Sly & Robbie, Danny English, and Brando. I ended up using some of his tracks on the song "Bring The Youth". On "Always", he played the same spring that he used on the Black Uhuru hit, "Solidarity". He brought some homemade ackee and saltfish for me to eat... He's a great cook and funny, upbeat guy. His tracks are so fluid and lively like his personality... He added a great spice to the mix!!!
DANNY ENGLISH
Danny English had a number 1 hit in Jamaica last year called "Bun"... I was looking for a dj with a low, gravelly voice to counter my vocals in the song "Harmony Bus". He was out in the yard of the studio, and my engineer Fatta called him in to check out the tune. He liked it and wrote the lyrics and tracked the song right on the spot. He came over to my hotel that night, and I played him the track "Shylean" and "Always"... He liked both and we tracked those songs the next day. His tracks are nice and heavy!!!
BRANDO
I first met Brando during the Sly Dunbar session. He was sleeping on one of the benches in the studio and, I assumed he was one of the assistant engineers or a friend just hanging out. After Sly had finished tracking his dancehall beat for the song "Always", Brando sat up and started singing to himself. I stood next to him while he sang to the track and the rest is history....He is soft spoken and the epitome of the peaceful rasta vibe. I ended up tracking him on 3 songs, "Always", "Bring The Youth", and "Swing". His sound is amazing!!!
DR INNOCENT
I first met Dr. Innocent at Cutty's place...He is Cutty's protege and lives in Spanishtown near Kingston. He is high energy and always laughing and reciting lyrics. He constantly has a cigarette or spliff in his mouth which gives his voice that extra gravelly quality. He tracked on the song "Mr. Anonymous". After Cutty had finished his tracks, Innocent came up to me with some lyrics he had written, and we recorded him right then. The next day, we spent a whole afternoon out in Cutty's backyard sitting on cinder blocks, smoking spliffs, and writing lyrics. He has a great vibe and killer sounding voice!!!
LA CANDELA
I first saw these guys perform at a club in Boulder colorado called Trilogy. Every wednesday night is salsa night and these guys rock!!! La Candela is Jans Ingber (congas), Dennis Jaramillo (bongo and cowbell), and Ricardo Gonzalez (timbal). I recorded them at a great studio called Velvet Recording studio, a warehouse space with a lot of cool vintage basses lying around and a killer clangy, sounding live room... I turned the mics on right when these guys started playing, and their groove blew me away... They played on the tracks "Good Vibe" and "Harmony Bus".
TURBULENCE
Like Danny English, I met Turbulence hanging out in the yard of the studio one day... My engineer, Fatta, saw him on the studio security monitor, and we called him in to check out the track "Shylean"... He really liked the groove and wrote out words and sang it right on the spot. He actually recorded an entire song called "I'm Just A Man" over the whole groove, which i'll release on the next album... I used 16 bars of it on "Shylean". He was very serious and had his whole posse in the vocal booth, chiming in on certain phrases as he sang the track.
PSYCHONAUT(a.k.a. 21 DREAD)
D.j. Psychonaut is my favorite musician in Boulder, Colorado... He sat in with my band on some shows as a replacement for a drummer, and his groove is fat!!! He spun some loops for the tracks "Mr. Anonymous", "Player Hater", and "Get Ready", and he composed the grooves on "Shylean/Party tonight remix"... I could sit in front of his turntables all night!!!
ILK
Ilk is a musician in Denver who composes albums for dj's to spin... Psychonaut spun one of Ilk's loops on the song "Player Hater", and the groove blew my mind. He also wrote a loop that i used against my live drum track on the song "Shylean"... His sound is all dancevibe!!!!
SID GREENBAUM (Sidney)
Sid has been my right-hand-man for the past 3 years. He played bass on my last album "Cool & Easy" and toured all over the country with my live show. Sid plays bass on the track "Get Ready". His playing and presence on stage is all attitude with a fat tone and thumping groove... Sid can play everything from punk to jazz, all with a positive vibe and intense energy!!!! He's a fucking great musician and great friend as well!!!!
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