Narc. Magazine Online
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Lee Fisher discovers a powerful but fragile release from Horace Andy
On-U Sound
Released: 08.04.22
There are worse ideas than Adrian Sherwood becoming to ageing reggae stars what Rick Rubin became to Johnny Cash et al. Certainly, what the dub innovator has done with Horace Andy on Midnight Rocker feels like a winning combination.
Drawing on many of the key musicians of the On-U Sound stable, Midnight Rocker is audibly a Sherwood project, but with Andy’s distinctive voice – warm, simultaneously powerful but fragile – giving it some real crossover appeal, perhaps to people who first encountered him via Massive Attack (indeed, there’s an interesting version of their Safe From Harm included here). As a life-time On-U obsessive, I’d probably have liked a little more wildness and grit in the production but this is a solid, highly enjoyable set.
