Lover's rock influenced the Police and Sade, and gave women a voice in reggae – so why was it sidelined in its native Britain?
In 1979, Janet Kay's piercing falsetto was one of the defining sounds of the summer. Silly Games, her bittersweet ode to a faltering relationship, enjoyed heavy radio play, thanks in part to a subtle arrangement by songwriter/producer Dennis Bovell, a distinctive drum pattern from Aswad's Angus Gaye and distribution on a Warners subsidiary. The song reached No 2, the highest chart placing for a black, British woman at that point. It also signalled a coming of age for lover's rock, the softened, British reggae sub-genre that focused on romance, but, as noted in Menelik Shabazz's documentary The Story of Lover's Rock, involved so much more than setting teenaged heartbreak to a reggae beat.
Though a primarily underground phenomenon, lover's rock influenced pop acts such as the Police,...
In 1979, Janet Kay's piercing falsetto was one of the defining sounds of the summer. Silly Games, her bittersweet ode to a faltering relationship, enjoyed heavy radio play, thanks in part to a subtle arrangement by songwriter/producer Dennis Bovell, a distinctive drum pattern from Aswad's Angus Gaye and distribution on a Warners subsidiary. The song reached No 2, the highest chart placing for a black, British woman at that point. It also signalled a coming of age for lover's rock, the softened, British reggae sub-genre that focused on romance, but, as noted in Menelik Shabazz's documentary The Story of Lover's Rock, involved so much more than setting teenaged heartbreak to a reggae beat.
Though a primarily underground phenomenon, lover's rock influenced pop acts such as the Police,...
- 9/22/2011
- by David Katz
- The Guardian - Film News
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