Inspiration Information

'Inspiration Information' is a series that will bring together current artists and producers with their musical heroes for a one-off collaboration. It marks a turning point for Strut Records as the label takes a break from its schedule of funky compilations and moves into new studio recordings for the first time. With each album centered around an intensive five-day writing and recording session, the emphasis is on spontaneity, musicianship and an open A&R brief.

The series kicks off with this album from Detroit soul maverick Amp Fiddler (above) in a head-to-head with reggae legends, Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare.

"Our manager Guillaume Bougard, "The General", told us about Amp," says Robbie. "We heard that he used to be part of the Funkadelic set-up." "We were always right into the Parlia-Funkadelic sound," recalls Sly. "Their brand of funk was so different. I loved it from their first record. Me and Bootsy Collins are good friends - he played on one of our albums - and I always loved Motown too, ever since I was a kid. That all brought us closer to Amp and the musical groove just stuck. We hit it off from the first session."

Arriving at Anchor Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, armed only with a handful of acoustic vocal ideas, Amp and the Riddim Twins recorded the album in just three days during June with overdubs laid down a week later in Detroit. "We work fast," says Robbie. "Time is money!" Within the sessions, the trio honed both new compositions and covers, including a pertinent re-work of a George Clinton-era classic, "Paint The White House Black" re-titled by Sly as "Black House." They also revisited select tracks from Amp Fiddler's much acclaimed 2004 album "Waltz Of A Ghetto Fly," with Amp favorites like "I Believe In You" re-worked over a lilting reggae base. The album was mixed in London by another original Island Records studio regular, Godwin Logie, complete with extra dub versions of selected tracks worked live off the desk.