Producer Adrian Sherwood's long awaited new solo album The Collapse of Everything is due August 22. Check out "Body Roll" and the title track.
Here's the scoop from On-U Sound HQ...
Adrian Sherwood releases ‘Body Roll’, the second single from his first solo album in 13 years ‘The Collapse Of Everything’, due for release on August 22, 2025.
‘Body Roll’ serves as a second teaser for only the fourth solo album of Sherwood’s career, and one that sees him move beyond the mixing desk and take centre stage, pushing his ever adventurous sound into new frontiers.
The limited-run RSD vinyl version of the Prince Far I comp Cry Tuff Chants On U is long gone but you can get the CD on September 13.
Here's the scoop...
A compilation pulling together various guest appearances the legendary and much-missed Jamaican MC Prince Far I made with On-U house bands Creation Rebel and Singers And Players, as well as some alternate versions and deep cuts for the true dub reggae heads.
Cry Tuff Chants On U was previously released by On-U Sound in a limited 2LP vinyl edition of 1000 for Record Store Day on April 20, 2024 with many of the copies unfortunately bought up by speculators hoping to make a quick buck on the resale market.
Prince Far I is a legend of roots reggae, both as producer and for his incredibly distinctive deejay style on the microphone. After cutting sides for the likes of Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee and Coxsone Dodd, he made a name for himself with the Psalms For I album, featuring the gruff-voiced Prince intoning bible passages over the heaviest of dread rhythms. In 1976 he set up his own Cry Tuff imprint, distributed in the UK by Adrian Sherwood’s pre-On-U Sound label Hitrun, and a close working relationship was forged.
The musicians who played with Prince Far I, known initially as The Arabs, became a core part of the On-U crew, performing in different permutations as Creation Rebel, Singers & Players, and Dub Syndicate. Sherwood cut his production teeth on albums such as Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter III, a Prince Far I set featuring an eclectic cast of musicians including David Toop, Steve Beresford, and Ari Up of The Slits. Far I went on to contribute several memorable vocal performances to the Singers & Players project, and toured with On-U band Creation Rebel in the early 1980s.
Tragically, Prince Far I was murdered by gunmen in Jamaica in 1983, but his influence lives on in Adrian’s recordings right up to the present day. Prince Far I's Cry Tuff Chants On U will be available on CD on September 13. Get it via Bandcamp right here. Check out "Calling Over The Distant Sea" following the tracklisting below.
All of Creation Rebel's hard-to-find dub reggae LPs are being reissued in addition to the High Above Harlesden 6CD anthology.
Here's the scoop...
A comprehensive reissue campaign of the key albums by Creation Rebel, the original On-U Sound house band. The series encompasses out of print and much in demand UK dub reggae albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s, all highlighting crucial early production work from the mixing desk of Adrian Sherwood. Five albums are being repressed on vinyl, with faithful reproductions of the beautiful original sleeve artwork, and new inner sleeves containing detailed liner notes and archival photos. Alongside the individual LP reissues is a 6CD anthology box set, entitled High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 in tribute to the working class area of North-West London where the band started out.
This activity comes hot on the heels of the group’s first new album in over forty years, 2023’s Hostile Environment, a righteous return from space that garnered a huge amount of critical acclaim, picked as one of the albums of the year by DJ Mag, The Quietus, The Wire and many other publications. The album makes an appearance as the final disc in the CD boxset to bring the group’s story up to date. These reissues follow on from similarly comprehensive and lovingly assembled archival releases that the On-U Sound label has dedicated to African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate and New Age Steppers, all of whom share members with Creation Rebel, such is the nature of the cross-pollination of musical talents which has always been a core part of On-U Sound’s fusion-centric ethos.
Creation Rebel was originally assembled as a studio project by a young Adrian Sherwood to realize his first album recording session, resulting in their debut set Dub From Creation (engineered by another titan of UK dub music, Dennis Bovell). Over time the group evolved, becoming the European touring band for Prince Far I, and recording a series of seminal records under their own name, with band leader and line-up mainstay Crucial Tony Phillips having more creative input as time went on. Together with drummer Charlie Eskimo Fox and Ranking Magoo, Tony continues to lead the band in the present day. Following the imprisonment of bass player Lizard Logan, and the tragic murder of Prince Far I, the band ceased activity for a long period of time, from the mid-1980s onwards. The individual members carried on making significant contributions to other projects, with Crucial Tony making a name for himself as a producer in his own right, setting up the Ruff Cutt band, label, studio and production house in his native Harlesden. After reforming to play a Sherwood At The Controls evening at London’s Jazz Cafe in 2017, the band headed back into the studio to start working on the rhythms that would become Hostile Environment.
The albums included in the reissue series:
Dub From Creation (1978)
Seminal first studio work by revered dub producer Adrian Sherwood, engineered by Dennis Bovell. Featuring drums from Eric ‘Fish’ Clarke of the Black Roots Players and brother of reggae superstar Johnny Clarke.
Close Encounters Of The Third World (1978)
The most sought after title in the Creation Rebel catalogue, partly recorded at Channel One studio in Jamaica and mixed by Prince Jammy in London. Secondhand copies in decent condition command an astronomical price.
Rebel Vibrations (1979)
Featuring drummer Lincoln “Style” Scott from the legendary Roots Radics, unavailable since original release, a righteous collection of heavy basslines and big tunes, originally released on pre-On-U Sound label, the highly collectable Hitrun.
Starship Africa (1980)
A true dub classic – backwards tapes drenched in interplanetary sound effects, ghostly voices from beyond the stars and ringing percussion. Featuring members of the Roots Radics, Misty In Roots and Prince Far I’s Arabs. Recently voted #1 in Mojo Magazine’s How To Buy… On-U Sound feature as their most recommended release in the entire catalogue.
Psychotic Jonkanoo (1981)
Featuring backing vocals from John Lydon (The Sex Pistols, Public Image Limited), and displaying a markedly experimental UK approach to traditional Jamaican roots reggae, resulting in a distinctive hybrid sound that still sounds fresh.
Hostile Environment (2023)
The triumphant comeback set by a band returning from a 40+ year exile in outer space. The trio of Crucial Tony, Eskimo Fox and Magoo reunite with producer Adrian Sherwood to create a modern spin on their heavyweight dubwise rhythms.
High Above Harlesden 1978-2023
A 6CD anthology box set containing all of the above albums, plus 36 page booklet with photos and sleevenotes, and 7 bonus tracks. Watch the preview clip below and hear a few of Creation Rebel's classic tracks followed by an interview about their 2023 release Hostile Environment.
Apparently, Jeb Loy Nichols' new album The United States Of The Broken Hearted has been 40 years in the making.
Here's the scoop...
Produced by On-U Sound mainman Adrian Sherwood, with careful arrangements framing twelve beautiful, acoustic-based songs, the new Jeb Loy Nichols album The United States Of The Broken Hearted features contributions from Martin Duffy (Primal Scream/Felt) and Ivan “Celloman” Hussey, fresh from his work on the massively acclaimed duo of Horace Andy albums, Midnight Rocker and Midnight Scorchers, both of which featured songwriting contributions from Jeb Loy.
Says Jeb Loy: "The United States Of The Broken Hearted has been forty years in the making. I’ve known Adrian, and considered him one of my closest friends, for that long. During that time we’ve spent more hours listening, and talking about, music than anything else. Reggae, Country, Folk, Jazz, Soul; it’s been the backdrop to our friendship. Adrian introduced me to some of my favourite music; Count Ossie, Culture, Harry Beckett, Mulatu Astatke. Through the years we’ve listened to Sun Ra, Lee Perry, Ornette Coleman, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie. A couple years ago, on a visit to Adrian, I mentioned Gram Parsons’s concept of ‘American Cosmic Music’, the melting mix of musical genres that constitutes a uniquely American sound. We talked about recording a record that incorporated all the influences I’d gathered, from Bluegrass to Jazz to Reggae to Soul. The United States Of The Broken Hearted is that record. We wanted to include Folk (Deportees), Country (Satisfied Mind), protest songs (I Hate The Capitalist System), and songs of my own that bore the marks of those that had gone before. I sang the songs and played guitar; Adrian brought in friends and fellow travellers to finish them. It’s all there, Soul, Jazz, Country, Folk; and underlying everything, Adrian’s Reggae infused production.”
Adrian Sherwood adds: “This is Jeb’s ‘Great American Songbook’, he’s become such a great singer and songwriter over the years. This is a beautiful piece of work reminiscent of our mutual love for the Miracle album I made with Bim Sherman. I’m really proud of this record and it’s a fitting follow-up to Long Time Traveller.”
The first single taken from the album, “Big Troubles Come In Through A Small Door”, comes accompanied by a striking video shot by Jackson Mount, who recently made a short film about Jeb Loy, documenting his art making in an isolated part of rural Wales. For this song, they went to the Abergavenny Sports and Social Club and enlisted the help of local line dancing troupe The Rhinestone Cowgirls, coming up with a coordinated routine for the track.
More about Jeb Loy Nichols
Jeb Loy Nichols is a musician, writer and artist who has, for the past twenty years, lived on a remote smallholding in the Welsh hills. Born in Wyoming and raised in Missouri, he went to New York City at the age of seventeen where he worked in a record store and fell in love with the emerging hip-hop culture.
In the early 1980s he moved to London where he shared a squat with Ari Up from The Slits and made the acquaintance of Adrian Sherwood, at that time starting his record label On-U Sound. Jeb Loy (with his then backing band the Oil Wells) contributed a track to early On-U Sound compilation Wild Paarty Sounds, and twenty-nine years later (!) finally made his first album for the label, the country-reggae hybrid Long Time Traveller, described by one writer as "like Lee Hazlewood if he'd made an album with The Wailers”.
In the 1990s he formed the country-dub band Fellow Travellers, who recorded five CDs and toured extensively in Germany. He has since gone on to record fifteen solo records, his most recent album Jeb Loy was released by Finnish soul label Timmion in 2021. He has also published three novels and exhibited his distinctive woodcut artwork internationally.
Jeb Loy Nichols' The United States Of The Broken Hearted is available via Bandcamp right here. Check out "Big Troubles Come In Through A Small Door" and his Under The Willow Tree live session following a short film by Jackson Mount below.
More about Adrian Sherwood
“Someone once described me as just a fan who’d got his hands on a mixing desk, They were probably trying to be nasty, but I took it as a compliment – that’s exactly what I am!”
For over 40 years now, forward-thinking sound scientist and mixologist Adrian Sherwood has been dubbing it up, keeping the faith when others have fallen away and blowing minds and speakers alike.
Producer, remixer, and proprietor of the British dub collective/record label On-U Sound, Adrian Sherwood has long been regarded as one of the most innovative and influential artists in contemporary dance and modern reggae music. His talent for creating musical space, suspense, sensations and textures have enabled him to pioneer a distinctive fusion of dub, rock, reggae and dance that challenges tradition not only in roots circles, but also in the pop world at large.
“I’d rather try and create a niche amongst like-minded people, and create our own little market place be that 5, 50 or 500,000 sales and also be true to our principles of making things, and to your own spirit that you put into the work.”
Born in 1958, Sherwood first surfaced during the mid ’70s and formed On-U Sound in 1981. While the On-U Sound crew’s original focus was on live performances, the emphasis soon switched to making records and Sherwood began mixing and matching lineups, resulting in new acts including New Age Steppers, African Head Charge, Mark Stewart & Maffia, and Doctor Pablo & the Dub Syndicate.
All of these early records, according to Rock: The Rough Guide were “phenomenal, generally bass-heavy with outlandish dubbing from Sherwood, who worked the mixing desk as an instrument in itself.”
Long influential and innovative on the UK reggae scene, Sherwood’s distinctive production style soon began attracting interest from acts outside of the dub community and by the early-’80s Sherwood was among the most visible producers and remixers around, working on tracks for artists as varied as Depeche Mode, Primal Scream, Einsturzende Neubaten, Simply Red, the Woodentops, and Ministry. He became increasingly involved in industrial music as the decade wore on, producing tracks for Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, and Nine Inch Nails, and although On-U Sound continued to reflect its leader’s eclectic tastes, the label remained a top reggae outlet.
In 2003 he launched his solo artist career with Never Trust a Hippy, which was followed in 2006 by Becoming a Cliché. Both were released by On-U in conjunction with the Real World label.
Still one of the most sought-after producers in the contemporary music industry, Adrian Sherwood and his progressive style and interest in developing new ideas continue to propel On-U Sound’s ongoing success. In 2012 he issued his third solo album Survival & Resistance, and began an ongoing collaboration with Bristol-based dubstep don Pinch. This brought two different generations of bass together and in 2015 the pair released their debut album Late Night Endless. Behind the mixing desk he has been working with the likes of Spoon, Roots Manuva and Nisennenmondai; and delivered remixes of Halsey, Congo Natty and Django Django. His production and remix works has also begun to be anthologised by On-U Sound with the critically acclaimed Sherwood At The Controls series.
“Music is lovely because it stimulates people, superficial music doesn’t. If you make something that you put your heart and soul into and really try to push it so it leaps out the speakers at you, and if there’s a good feel to it, then you’ve achieved something.”
Reggae great Horace Andy reprises some of his classics with On-U Sound ace Adrian Sherwood including "This Must Be Hell"
Here's the scoop... “On-U Sound are very proud to present a truly wonderful album with one of the all time great singer-songwriters in the rich history of Jamaican music, Horace Andy, This is a true gold star performance and I’m very proud of it.” – Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood has spent a long time realising his dream of making an album with legendary Jamaican vocalist Horace Andy, beloved by reggae fans worldwide for his classic 70s and 80s tracks for labels such as Studio One and Wackies such as "Skylarking" and "Money Money", and boasting proper crossover appeal in modern times via his frequent contributions to Massive Attack, being a mainstay of their touring line-up and singing on all of their studio albums to date.
Midnight Rocker has been approached in a similar fashion to the late-career quality that Sherwood coaxed out of Lee "Scratch" Perry with the Rainford and Heavy Rain albums, assembling a crack team of players and spending many months perfecting performance, arrangements and mixing. The result is 11 remarkable tracks that sparkle with superb musicianship, carefully crafted production and some truly beautiful vocals from Andy.
As well as revisiting some Horace Andy classics like "Mr Bassie", "Materialist" and "This Must Be Hell" with fresh production, the album also features brand new material penned by LSK, Jeb Loy Nichols, George Oban and Adrian Sherwood. The pair have also versioned a much-loved early single by the group that Andy is most associated with, Massive Attack, although Shara Nelson took the lead on the original “Safe From Harm” and here Horace steps up to the mic. Interestingly, Shara Nelson recorded with Adrian Sherwood several years before the inception of Massive Attack, and 1983’s lost street-soul classic “Aiming At Your Heart” could arguably be cited as a blueprint for the later group’s sound.
The backing band on this album features the cream of On-U Sound players, including contributions from Gaudi, Skip McDonald, George Oban, Crucial Tony, the Ital Horns, and the late, great Style Scott.
Like Rainford, Midnight Rocker will be followed by a full companion LP of dub versions, which is not completed yet but will hopefully come out later on in 2022.
Pre-order Horace Andy's Midnight Rocker album (out April 8th on red vinyl, black vinyl and CD) right here. Check out the new version of "This Must Be Hell" and the classic 1979 version produced by David "Tapper Zukie" Sinclair after the track listing below.
More about Horace Andy
Horace Andy was born as Horace Hinds on February 19, 1951 in Kingston, Jamaica. Andy, also known as "Sleepy," has become an enduring voice on the Jamaican music scene. His signature early 1970s hit, "Skylarking," defined his ability to deliver songs of black determination and social commentary, but he could equally deliver songs of love.
Andy worked with producer George "Phil" Pratt on his first single, "This Is a Black Man's Country," in 1967. His cousin, Justin Hinds, was starting to enjoy some success at that time, but Andy would not gain notice until working with noted Jamaican producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in 1970. "Got To Be Sure” became his first release for Studio One, Dodd's studio. Dodd gave him the stage name of Horace Andy - a reference to popular singer Bob Andy. With Dodd, Andy went on to record "See A Man's Face," the well-received "Mr. Bassie" and the breakthrough hit "Skylarking," among other songs. "Skylarking," which encouraged wayward youth to clean up their act, was released as a single and topped the Jamaican record charts, becoming a signature tune for Andy.
Although American R&B singers were Andy's early influences, he also comments: “I wanted to be like Jimi Hendrix, to play the guitar like him! I didn't see myself as having a great voice. I didn't know I'd be a great singer."
Andy has consistently recorded and performed around the world, and has remained relevant in reggae subgenres such as roots reggae, rock steady, lover's rock and dancehall, recording with some of the all time great reggae producers including Bunny “Striker” Lee, Niney Holness, Tapper Zukie, Lloyd Barnes and Steely & Clevie.
In 1990, he was discovered by the Bristol based trip-hop band Massive Attack, who cited Andy's work as a major influence. He recorded the song "One Love" for their 1991 debut album ‘Blue Lines’, and the band's popularity exposed Andy to a younger generation of fans, many of whom continue to seek out his earlier work. After Massive Attack launched their own label, Melankolic, they released Skylarking, a compilation of Andy's career hits. Andy is the only singer of Massive Attack's rotating group of guest artists to appear on each one of the band's albums. He also appeared on the British group Dub Pistols' 2001 album ‘Six Million Ways to Live’, and on the Easy Star All-Stars' 2006 Radiohead tribute ‘Radiodread’.
