Bob Marley – The island carried in a voice
On 3 December 1976 the evening at 56 Hope Road, in Kingston, was supposed to end in rehearsal.
Nina Simone – A piano that would not kneel
The piano at Annie's Room in Soho, June 1965, does not accompany Nina Simone so much as argue with her.
Bob Marley & The Wailers – A pulse wider than the island
Trench Town, Kingston, a yard where the songs are written before there is money to record them properly.
Daft Punk – Robots who remembered the room
A bedroom in Paris, mid-nineties, two childhood friends and a bank of machines that cost less than a studio and behave better if you do not flatter them.
Metallica – Speed with a scar
A bus on a Swedish road, 27 September 1986, before dawn.
Black Sabbath – The first bruise
Birmingham, a city of factories and rain, late 1968.
Wu-Tang Clan – Nine swords, one chamber
Staten Island, which they will rename Shaolin, 1993.
Public Enemy – A siren in the national ear
A siren, a drum machine, a voice that does not ask to be liked.
Earth, Wind & Fire – Horns aimed at the sun
A thumb piano in a stadium should be a contradiction.
The Temptations – Silk pulled tight
Hitsville U.S.A., Detroit, a narrow studio that the Funk Brothers have already turned into a clock.