here is the NFO file from Indietorrents
BIM SHERMAN
African Rubber Dub LP
RDL Records, 1987.
TRACKLISTING
A1. Golden Dub
A2. Melody Dub
A3. Sweet Corn Dub
A4. Rubber Dub
A5. Untitled
B1. Party Dub
B2. Changing Dub
B3. Rastaman Dub
B4. Highlight Dub
B5. Community Dub
INFO
Mixed By Adrian Sherwood, King Tubby & Prince Jammy
Performers: Bim Sherman, Bingy Bunny, Santa, Chila, Flabba Holt, Fully, The Gladiators, Robbie, Roots Radics Band, Sly, Steely, Style Scott, Vin Gordon, The Voluntary
Producer: Bim Sherman
Recorded at King Tubby’s, Channel One & Southern Studios.
Front cover has: Revolver Logo and RDL Records c/o Revolver Distribution Ltd, The Old Malt House, Little Ann St, Bristol, BS2 9EB.
BIOGRAPHY
Singer/songwriter Bim Sherman, whose aliases include Jarrett Tomlinson, Jarrett Vincent, Lloyd Vincent, J.L. Vincent, Bim Shieman and Lloyd Tomlinson was born on the island of Jamaica in 1952. Bim Sherman belonged to a generation dreadlocked singers, who emerged in the mid-seventies to express the Rasta vision of Babylon’s fall and corresponding redemption for the righteous through their roots reggae music. Almost from the very first start of his recording career Bim Sherman showcased his wilfulness, which turned out to be a strong force for this man’s unique approach of the music and its business. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who mainly recorded for a certain producer or even a variety of producers, Bim Sherman scraped enough money together to record almost an entire oeuvre on self-financed labels like “Scorpio”, “Red Sea” and “Sun Dew”. Occasionally Bim Sherman also cut songs for local producers Dudley Swabey, Prince Far I, Jah Lloyd (aka Jah Lion) and Jah Woosh.
The singer with the amazingly ethereal and entrancing voice impressed most with his late-1970s titles, “Tribulation”, “World Go Round” and “Danger” as well as “Mighty Ruler”, the latter appearing on Dudley Swabey’s “Ja-Man” imprint. Because of his restricted finances, Bim Sherman often used each riddim track for two different songs. However it were his writing skills and plaintive vocals which ensured that every piece sounded fresh. Some of those 7″ sides became available in the UK on 12″ pressings, compiling the A and B sides of two original JA releases on one 12″. Often the same song would appear on different issues and releases with different titles (for example, “Fit To Survive” and “Tribulation”, “World Of Dispensation” and “Revolution”, and “Blacker Sound”, “Black Jah Jah Sound” and “Ever Firm”).
In 1978, eight of Bim Sherman’s “Scorpio”/”Red Sea” singles, together with the tunes “Mighty Ruler” and “Ever Firm”, were compiled for “Love Forever”, an album that was released by UK based sound system operator Lloyd Coxsone on his own “Tribesman” label. This truly classic and unmissable late-1970 roots album was followed by the 1979 released “Lovers Leap”. Another consistently strong collection, actually a showcase style album of vocals followed by the dub versions. A year later Bim Sherman was featured on one side of the album “Bim Sherman Meets Horace Andy And U Black”, a minor but robust and enjoyable set. In the early eighties Bim Sherman settled in the UK where he teamed up with producer Adrian Sherwood. It marked the beginning of a fruitful association as Sherman started to record for Sherwood’s “On-U-Sound” label. In 1982 Sherwood produced “Across The Red Sea”, an enjoyable set but not the sensation for which followers of both had hoped.
Throughout the eighties and early nineties he was a featured vocalist on the highly acclaimed, Sherwood-produced “Singers And Players” series of albums for which he sometimes would record new versions of his old material. In 1984, Bim Sherman started “Century Records”, originally through On-U Sound, and released two albums : “Bim Sherman And The Voluntary” and “Danger”. “Century Records” then stopped releasing material, and Sherman’s products started to appear on RDL, the “Revolver Distribution Label”. Albums to appear on this label included “African Rubber Dub” (RDL/Revolver 1987), “Haunting Ground” (RDL/Revolver 1989) and “Exploitation” (RDL/Revolver 1989). Towards the nineties Century became operational again, with straight reissues of the RDL releases and with compilation CDs featuring tracks from the RDL albums. Subsequent Sherman releases were on Century, often featuring On-U-Sound musicians. Although Bim Sherman had a lot of devoted fans in the UK and Europe, it lasted two decades after he started his recording career before he finally made a commercial breakthrough in the UK charts. It was the release of Bim Sherman’s acoustic masterpiece “Miracle” – released on Beggars Banquet Records’ offshoot “Mantra” in 1996 – that made things happen for Sherman. The album brings together disparate elements – ‘playback’ strings orchestrated by Suraj Sathe, Talvin Singh’s tabla’s, former Sugarhill sessioneers (guitarist Skip McDonald and bassist Doug Wimbish) and Sherman’s meditative lovers and cultural songs. The lack of a conventional drum kit is barely noticed, and yet this is still recognizably reggae, albeit of a uniquely mutated kind. Dance producer Steve Osbourne took the album track “Solid As A Rock” and made a remix. After it was released on single it scaled the UK charts and helped to re-energize Sherman’s career. The next year saw the release of another strong Bim Sherman album entitled “It Must Be A Dream”, a collection of remixes.
On Friday, November 17th 2000, the news of Bim Sherman’s death reached the reggae massive worldwide.
[L’Affiche No. 2, December 2000]