DEADLINE
1/ Afro Beat (Dibango,Wilson,Laswell) 6.31
2/ Boat Peoples (Dibango,Turre,Wilson) 7.03
3/ Baliphone Dub (Wilson) 4.24
4/ Makossa Rock (Dibango,Wilson,Laswell) 11.06
5/ Gammatron (Wilson,Laswell) 5.22
6/ Doo Root (Wilson) 3.44
Recorded at Evergreen Studio
Engineered by Robert Musso and Rob Stevens
Assistant: Hahn Rowe
Edited by: Iron Mike Krowiak
Mixed by Robert Musso
Produced by Bill Laswell and Phillip Wilson for Material/OAO
Material Administration: Roger Trilling
Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisc
Manu Dibango: tenor saxophone (1,2,4), voice (1,2); Bernie Worrell: synthesizer
(1,2,4); Aiyb Dieng: congas (1,2), cowbell (1,2), talking drums (4); Phillip
Wilson: cymbals (1,4), DMX (1,2,3,4,5), percussion (2), baliphone (3,4,6), bells
(3), bass synthesizer (4), metals (5), kalimba (5), drums (5), processed piano (6),
water tube (6), floor toms (6), congas (6), plastic hammers (6), cabasa (6); Bill
Laswell: bass (1), DMX (1,2,3,4,5), AMS (2,4), shortwave (3); Steve Turre:
conch shells (2,6), didjeridoo (2,4,6); Olu Dara: cornet (2,4), wood trumpet (2,4);
Jonas Hellborg: bass (3,5), fuzz bass (3); Rob Stevens: processed piano (3),
electric piano (6); Paul Butterfield: harmonica (4); Jaco Pastorius: bass (4);
Robert Musso: processing (4).
1985 - Celluloid (USA), CELL 6111 (Vinyl)
1985 - Celluloid (USA), CELD 6111 (CD)
4 1/2 stars out of 5
Chris Genzel (courtesy of the All Music Guide website)
The Deadline collective seems to have been a dance project conceived by jazz drummer Phillip Wilson (1941-92) with producer Bill Laswell. The album features six tracks that are very much in the style of Laswell’s other Celluloid projects of the period, with Manu DiBango, Bernie Worell, Steve Turre and Olu Dara appearing on three tracks each, Bill Laswell appearing on five tracks (bass only on “Afro Beat”), Jonas Hellborg appearing on two tracks and Paul Butterfield and Jaco Pastorius on “Makossa Rock.” Only Phillip Wilson is a constant on the album’s six tracks, which amount to something of a successful Afro-Beat meets techno-jazz experiment. Bernie Worrell is heard on synthesizer here on the same three songs led and co-written by Manu DiBango (“Afro Beat,” “Boat Peoples” and the dance-floor hit “Makossa Rock”) and they amount to the album’s most memorable moments. Worrell’s distinctive synthesizer compliments DiBango’s idiosyncratic tenor sax and vocal chants particularly well and is given a prominence that suggests the keyboardist is the foundation, if not the author, of the engaging groove. The result is very similar to the fuel Worrell was adding to the Talking Heads’ fire at the time. The three tracks from Down By Law featuring Manu DiBango and Bernie Worrell have also been included on a DiBango compilation of questionable origin called Bao Bao, which also features three songs from DiBango’s Laswell-produced album Electric Africa, however “Electric Africa” is re-titled “Big Blow,” “Echoes Beti” is retitled “Bao Bao” and “L’Arbre A Palabres” is re-titled “Chapo-so Jam” (curiously, the only song from Electric Africa featuring Bernie Worrell, “Pata Piya,” is not included in the compilation). Although Phillip Wilson was murdered in 1992, a second Deadline album, Dissident, without Wilson, was issued. This album, too, featured Bernie Worrell but not Manu DiBango and seemed more centered on the distinctive basses of Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins and Jonas Hellborg.
Doug Payne (courtesy of the Sound Insights website)