I recently discovered the 'Funky Nassau: The Compass Point Story' compilation Strut released last year, which chronicles Island Records mastermind Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studio- based in Nassau, Jamaica. Many hit records of the 70s and early 80s were cut at this studio, but a certain contingent of studio musicians and producers carved out a unique sound there and eventually became known as the 'Compass Point All Stars.' This loosely-defined group was basically the house band for the studio, a Jamaican Nashville of sorts that instead focused on a dub-tinged pop/rock/funk/disco hybrid music. Many recognizable songs and influential albums were associated with the group- which consisted of duo Sly and Robbie on drums and bass, synth-guru/keyboardist Wally Badarou, and several other noteworthy session musicians. Their recordings include hit albums by Grace Jones, the Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Gregory Isaacs, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer, and a bevy of other notables.
Not too long ago I picked up the album soul/disco vocalist Gwen Guthrie recorded with the All Stars, which was produced by Sly + Robbie and features mixes by DJ legend Larry Levan. It's actually more like a mini-album, but features plenty of great material nonetheless- including jams like "Getting Hot" and "Seventh Heaven". See for yourself:
Gwen Guthrie - Padlock
01. Hopscotch
02. Seventh Heaven
03. Getting Hot
04. Getting Hot (prelude)
05. Peanut Butter
06. Padlock
ALSO--- I don't mean to be all spammy, but I'd really like to announce that I recently began writing for a new blog, which will likely end up taking the place of that new one I announced a few posts back. It's called Disco Horror, which (as you may have guessed) is all about house/beardo/disco/balearic type jams and is more of a traditional, single-track-posting kind of blog. It's updated quite often, and you can always trust that the stuff they post will be of super high quality. Check it out, I even posted a new all-vinyls mix for your listening pleasure!
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