Connected Sequences is a collection of previously unreleased tracks rescued from the vaults of legendary Bristol-born and bred production duo, Rob Smith and Ray Mighty. The album acts as a perfect companion to the earlier compilations of the pair’s work, 2012’s The Three Stripe Collection and 2018’s Ashley Road Sessions 88 – 94. The titles of these releases refer to Smith & Mighty’s label, Three Stripe – named after the soundsystem that Mighty was a member of – and the location of their studio, Ashley Road, in the St. Paul’s suburb of Bristol. The new long-player cherry picks a cross-section of material from their pre-major label career, with selections dating from 1985 to 1992.

Smith first met Mighty on a Rock Against Racism march. They eventually both ended up playing with a local band called Sweat. When this outfit disbanded the friends set up a home studio, where they experimented with then new MIDI technology, and focussed on creating beats – in part inspired by what they heard on New York hip hop radio shows, which were circulating on cassette.  

They were contemporaries, and close with Massive Attack – 3D designed Three Stripe’s artwork, while Daddy G was a regular visitor to Ashley Road. It was G who introduced Smith & Mighty to the singer, Carlton, with whom the duo cut the classics Any Love and Do You Dream? Both acts are credited as “godfathers” of a Bristol sound, that mixed downtempo drum breaks, dub bass and soulful vocals (1). 

Smith has stated, however, that their studio output was not the result of some grand design. Rather, more serendipity. He and Mighty operated an open-door policy, which meant that mates would be constantly popping round to the studio with ideas, which would turn into tracks. Such collaborations form the core of the new album. 

Songs such as Hardly Wait, featuring Gina Foster, and the Marylin McFarlane-fronted Dub Reasons, are prime, early examples of this smooth, Bristol sound. Boasting stripped back, bass heavy almost go-go beats and angelic voices. Shots of soundsystem-influenced street soul with emotive, echoed Erik Satie-esque keys (2), lethal LFOs and flickers of orbital rave’s fractal frequencies and bleeps. The same can be said for Jackie Jackson and Jessica George’s deep, head-nodding, hypnotic Save Us which preaches positivity, and has been soaked, double-dipped, in The Second Summer Of Love (3). 

MC Kelz and DJ Lynx help out on a couple of rougher hip hop cuts. Dan Ratchet leads the more reggae-d rub of Feeling Alright, which starts with shouts out to Smith & Mighty and consequently has the vibe of a sparse, seismic dubplate special. Evolve Dub, likewise, is roots music for B-girls and B-boys. Bashed by a break beat, but countered by grounation congas and powered by digidub subs, its blues dance chatting and chanting are offset by the sweet, spiritual mantra of “You are the light, the fire.” Step Forward is a rougher, ruder, rumble whose kick carries a lot more clout. A collision of house and steppers that mixes between melodica and rave “Hoover” riffs. The prophetic, dark, pounding Piano Twist is proto-dubstep. 

Connected Sequences is dedicated to The Dug Out, a Bristol basement bar that, until it’s closure in 1986, was open 7 nights a week. Smith says, “It was situated kinda midway between the posh end of town and the ghetto end – so it had a very mixed clientele. I think it was important because people from many different scenes and tribes came, and different ideas about music were exchanged. Many Bristol bands were probably formed through people meeting each other at The Dug Out.” Smith & Mighty and Ashley Road’s creativity clearly reflected the legacy of this famous post-punk musical melting pot. 

Smith & Mighty’s Connected Sequences can be ordered directly from Bristol Archive Records. There are 10 tracks on the vinyl, 17 available digitally.

A big Thank You to Tom Dubwise for hooking me up. 

NOTES

(1) Modestly, Rob Smith has suggested that it was actually Adrian Sherwood, working with vocalist Shara Nelson – who would later sing on Massive Attack’s huge chart hit, Unfinished Sympathy – who produced this blueprint back in 1983, with their single, Aiming At Your Heart. Any Love, in 1988, became Massive Attack’s debut record.

(2) During their first live performance, at a local event called The Apres Ski Party, Smith & Mighty performed a version of Satie’s Gymonpedie No. 1. When an excited Mark Stewart pulled his protege on stage, this also became the impromptu backing for Tricky’s live debut. Stewart later built his song Stranger Than Love around a cassette copy of this track. Becoming a Balearic Beat classic, after being dropped at Amnesia and Shoom, the tune was then versioned by Paul Oakenfold’s Movement 98.     

(3) Jackie Jackson scored huge chart hits for Smith & Mighty / Three Stripe with her homages to Dionne Warwick, Walk On By and Anyone. Jackson had previously been a member of the reggae band, Restriction, alongside Smith, whose sole single was mixed by UK dub don Mad Professor.