If last year’s retrospective compilation ‘Sherwood At The Controls Volume 1: 1979 – 1985′ showcased Adrian Sherwood’s work with the then-emerging post-punk and New Wave bands of that era, this second volume charts the period when he became intrinsically involved with the rapidly rising industrial movement. Indeed, the second half of the eighties saw Sherwood directly influencing the sounds explored by seemingly all of the biggest names that went on to become industrial figureheads, encompassing work with Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, Cabaret Voltaire and Pop Will Eat Itself, just to name a few.
As a result, this second volume has a somewhat more black-clad feel than its predecessor, though the underlying pulse of dub is still undeniably present amongst almost all of the 16 tracks collected here. Indeed, Sherwood’s sprawling eight minute long reworking of German band The Unknown Cases’ ‘Masimbabele 89′ takes the flecked high-life guitars of the original and grafts them to a swaggering reggae rhythm section and layers of delay-treated percussion, the busy polyrhythms smoothing out the crunching overdriven riffs and punching programmed beats that lurch and crash in the background.
The Beatnigs’ ‘Television’ meanwhile sees a young Michael Franti sketching out the beginnings of what would later become Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy’s ‘Television The Drug Of The Nation’ as he and Rono Tse bellow out the lyrics over a sparse backdrop of hard as nails drum kicks and hissing industrial snares while sampled metal guitar riffs crunch away beneath. Italian industrial band Pankow’s cover of Prince’s ‘Girls & Boys’ proves to be one of this collection’s most memorable moments, retaining the slinky synthwork of the original whilst employing synthesised robovox and growled lead vocals to drag things out into bizarre new electro-funk territory that somehow works perfectly (I’d love to know if his Purpleness ever heard it, and if so, what his reaction was).
Elsewhere, Sherwood’s 12” remix of Ministry’s ‘All Day’ showcases the sheeny yet still hard-edged electro sound that he was forging for the similar likes of Skinny Puppy and Cabaret Voltaire, one that would have a seminal influence upon the EBM dancefloor sounds to follow for the next two decades. For this reason, this second ‘Sherwood At The Controls’ isn’t just an excellent introduction to Sherwood’s remix and production work during the period 1985-1990, it’s pretty much an excellent primer for the entire industrial-dance scene that was assembling around that time.
