Since the untimely death of the one and only Andrew Weatherall AKA ‘The Chairman’ 5 years ago, the price of his back catalogue has gone through the roof when it comes to vinyl. Unfortunately for me, I had all of my Weatherall records stolen a couple of years before the great man passed away. I’ve since been picking up what I can where I can, so I was over the moon to see ‘Haunted Dancehall’ (and debut Sabresonic) by Andrew’s much-celebrated group Sabres of Paradise getting a reissue this week.
It was 30 years last November since ‘Haunted Dancehall’ was originally released, so surviving members Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns have been playing sold-out shows to celebrate it, and it is most certainly worth celebrating. There wasn’t a genre that you could possibly pigeonhole these boys with. It’s Dub Techno filtered through dusty Hip Hop beats with a smattering of Ambient House and a ton of Breakbeats stirred in for good measure.
Jagz and Gary were, of course, members of The Aloof before and after SOP’s short-lived existence, so with their more hands-on experience in making music and Andrew’s chops at producing and remixing, they were never going to fail. ‘Haunted Dancehall’ is ‘sort of’ half Chemical Brothers, half Portishead, but ALL Sabres of Paradise.
Some of the best electronic dance music ever produced was recorded in this period of the 90s, and although The Chemical Brothers quite clearly went on to sell more records than SOP ever did, I’ve often wondered what would’ve happened if they had stuck together.
‘Haunted Dancehall’ remains to be not only one of the greatest electronic dance music albums but one of the greatest albums ever made, full stop.
Dive in, it’s a fucking journey and a half.
About Seán Crossey
Seán Crossey has been part of the Manchester music scene for over a quarter of a century, whether that be deejaying, hosting events, artist management, journalism, presenting radio shows, or running his own successful PR business.
It’s quite clear that music runs through his veins. This is Seán’s chance to chat about records he’s recently bought, some may be new, some not, but they’re all on his turntable.
