Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare know what they’re doing. Pioneers and grand masters of reggae production, to date the pair have appeared on around 200,000 tracks – including producing for everyone from Bob Dylan to Michael Franti. This time around they’re shacked up with Detroit-based ‘soul maverick’ Amp Fiddler, who has a decent career in hip-hop under his belt and a voice that would make the mayor of Motown weep. Inspiration Information is fresh while still managing to retain a whole lot of nostalgic sound – from the ‘mmm-hmms’ over organs in the intro to ‘Crazy Day’ you know what you’re in for.

 

Lyrically it’s nothing profound, but that’s fine because it’s not so much the intellectual content of soul music that is its biggest selling point. ‘Blackhouse’ is about the closest you’ll get to wanting to listening intently, with Fiddler crooning an earnest political message over the twanging beat. This is some seriously smooth soul, with subtle P-funk infusion and the occasional full-blown reggae tilt (‘U’, ‘Lonely’) – it’s the product of a group of obviously accomplished musicians.