Boomshots

Tag: Steely & Clevie

  • WATCH THIS: Richie Stephens “Rain From The Sky” Official Music Video

    WATCH THIS: Richie Stephens “Rain From The Sky” Official Music Video

    Lost Tape From Steely & Clevie’s Studio One Sessions

    This is a pretty good week for Richie Stephens. First came news that Rihanna’s producers had sampled his “Sail Away” riddim for her latest duet with Drake. (In other words Pot of Gold Productions must nyam some good food.) Now he’s seeing the release of a 14-year-old recording project—and the tune sounds nice! Stephens recorded this cover of the Studio One classic “Rolling Down” back in 1992 when ace prodcers Wycliffe “Steelie” Johnson and Cleveland “Clevie” Browne were working on the album Steelie & Clevie Play Studio One Vintage. Released on Heartbeat Records in 1992, that album would go on to score a major chart hit with Dawn Penn’s “No, No, No,” but the whole album was wicked. Somehow this recording got misplaced on one of the studio reels and was recently rediscovered while SilverHawk Sound was getting its dub collection back into order. (More on that later, but all dibby dibby soundbwoys you have been warned.) In the meantime let’s rock and groove to the voice of Mr. Richie Stephens singing a heartical Studio First selection. Cue the trombone Mr. Hornsman! Video After The Jump… (more…)

  • Reasoning With Bushman ‘Bout The Bush Doctor

    Why The Man Who Sang “Call The Hearse” Respects The Stepping Razor

    Last night BUSHMAN celebrated the release of his new album Bushman Sings The Bush Doctor on V.P. Records. Here the dancehall roots singer responsible for Certified Boomshots like “Call The Hearse” and “Fire Pon a Weakheart” talks about how Steelie & Clevie first christened his Bushman—and why never used to love the name, until he checked the levels…
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  • Better Days: Reasoning With Steely & Clevie

    Remembering Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson Aug. 18, 1962 – Sep. 1, 2009

    Two The Hard Way: Steely & Clevie did it real big during dancehall’s digital era.

    Even after reading the sobering words of his musical sparring partner Cleveland “Clevie” Browne in this Sunday’s Jamaica Observer, the untimely death of ace Roots Radics keyboardist and pioneering dancehall producer Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson still comes as a terrible shock. The 47-year-old musician, composer, and groovemaster has played such a vital role on so many classic reggae recordings—from Gregory Isaacs’ immortal “Night Nurse” to the ubiqitous Punany riddim to “Sorry” (by “the other Foxy Brown”) to dancehall blasters like Tiger’s “When” and Shabba Ranks’s “Ting a Ling” even soulful cuts like Beres Hammond’s “Double Trouble” and the hit remake of Dawn Penn’s “No No No”—that it’s hard to imagine Jamaican music without him. [UPDATE: V.P.’s new Reggae Anthology pays tribute to Steelie & Clevie] (more…)