Sandinista has long been one of my favorite albums, Mikey Dread played a prominent role on it. Not to mention, nearly everything put out on the Trojan label is worth owning.
Mikey Dread, who has died aged 54, was a revolutionary force in Jamaican popular music and became known in Britain as a producer of the Clash; he produced the band's single Bankrobber and contributed to several songs on their album Sandinista! (both 1980).
Immensely popular with the Jamaican public, and a source of fascination for overseas listeners who obtained copies on audio cassette, the show was eventually deemed too wild by the station management. Dread resigned in 1979, by which time he had already assembled his debut album, Dread At The Controls, which was licensed to Trojan Records in Britain. A second disc, called African Anthem, was a dub album mixed to mirror the style of his radio broadcasts and proved highly popular with punk audiences in Britain.
A major turning point came in 1980 after Dread was approached by the Clash, with whom he subsequently toured and recorded, helping reggae to penetrate a wider international audience. He was involved in the band's recordings for the Epic label, and, following his involvement in the group's experimental album, Sandinista!, he attended the National Broadcasting School in Britain; this led to his narration of Deep Roots Music, a six-part reggae documentary aired on Channel 4 in 1982, and his subsequent hosting of the television series Rockers Roadshow.
A later link with UB40 resulted in extensive European tours and the laid-back album Pave The Way, but by the mid-1980s Dread was spending more of his time in the United States. In the early 1990s he moved to Miami, where he became programme director of the Caribbean Satellite Network. He continued to deliver exciting live performances until he became ill with a brain tumour last summer, resulting in a move to North Carolina for medical treatment. [From Mikey Dread]
"Fucking hell, Mikey"
More YouTubery if I find 'em.....
Jo-Ann Greene of AllMusic writes, in part:
efore the year was out, Dread had launched his own label, Dread at the Controls, which was also chosen as the title of his debut album and DATC's first release. Its dub companion, African Anthem Dubwise, followed and featured dub remixes by King Tubby, Prince Jammy, and Dread himself. Both albums featured excursions into deep dub and were cut up by jingles, spoken word segments, and toasts. As the new decade dawned, Dread was on his way to England to open for the Clash's month-long tour. Afterward, all five went directly into the studio where Dread oversaw the group's seminal "Bankrobber" single. The Clash had initially composed the song with a ska arrangement in mind, but Dread would have none of that and publicly made his opinions clear. He then set about completely restructuring the song into a heavy dub monster. Dread would also record his own DJ version of "Bankrobber," under the title "Rocker's Galore -- U.K. Tour." The recording sessions moved to New York City where Dread joined the Clash for their next single, a cover of Eddy Grant's "Police on My Back," as well as "One More Time," a song that would soon appear on the band's Sandinista! album. While there, Dread recorded a single of his own, the bruising "Rocker's Delight." More sessions were set up in Kingston, but were aborted because the group became the intended victim of every thief in town. The Clash disappointedly left for the safety of home and Dread turned his attention back to DATC and his own recordings. Continuing to co-produce with Patterson, the label unleashed a string of crucial singles aimed at dancehalls by such seminal artists as Sugar Minott, Edi Fitzroy, and Junior Murvin. Dread had maintained his relationship with King Tubby as well, and his remixes were often featured on the label's B-sides, another crucial element to the label's success. Meanwhile, Dread also cut a number of his own singles, "Proper Education," "Love the Dread," and "African Map" amongst them. These inevitably featured seminal dub remixes on the B-sides, created by Patterson, Dread, or King Tubby, and often the records were pursued by fans exclusively for the dubs themselves. Dread's new album, Beyond World War III, arrived in 1981. The next year brought Jungle Signal, which interspersed vocal offerings with great slabs of dub. The "Jumping Master" single was a major hit that same year, and Dub Merchant arrived soon after, boasting eight blinding remixes of that song.
[From allmusic ((( Mikey Dread > Biography )))]
