Vivien Goldman - Resolutionary (2016)

There's a myth about music critics that says they are frustrated, wannabe performers. Evidence to the contrary: Vivien Goldman. Ever since she migrated from pitching editors on the little-known music of Robert Nesta Marley to becoming one of the foremost chroniclers of the perfect storm of reggae, punk, hiphop and Afro-Beat, the London-born, New York-based Goldman has made documenting music her primary life work. But between 1979-82, Goldman was also a working musician, creating songs that, years later, would be sampled by The Roots and Madlib. These rare girl grooves are now collected for the first time on Resolutionary, courtesy of Staubgold Records. Resolutionary takes us through Vivien's first three musical formations: first as a member of experimental British New Wavers The Flying Lizards; next as a solo artist, with her single "Launderette," featuring postpunk luminaries; and then as half of the Parisian duo Chantage, with Afro-Parisian chanteuse Eve Blouin. Goldman's synthesis of post-colonial rhythms and experimental sounds are threaded together by her canary vocal tones and womanist themes. Her eclectic musical crew included PiL's John Lydon, Keith Levene and Bruce Smith; avantgardists Steve Beresford and David Toop; The Raincoats' Vicky Aspinall; the mighty Robert Wyatt; Zaire's Jerry Malekani; Manu Dibango's guitarist; and Viv Albertine, then of her good friends, the Slits. The majority of the tracks were produced by dubmaster Adrian Sherwood, and Resolutionary channels the history of a time when the bon-vivant voice of music was in the air, and Vivien Goldman was its eyes, ears, and mouth. When she wasn't writing, broadcasting or filming - or even when she was - Vivien always sang. She sang in a lilting, clear-toned soprano honed during childhood, when she and her two sisters would harmonize with their violinist father. Spend even a little time with Vivien, and she is likely to burst into song. "The Punk Professor" began her singing career in the late '70s, doing backup with Neneh Cherry and Ari-Up (the Slits) on Sherwood records by reggae artists, including Prince Far I. It was a time of musical fermentation, collaboration, and experimentation - and of post-punk boundary breaking. An American ex-pat music writer for NME could also become a rock legend, crashing at her colleague's pad along the way: Goldman has a gorgeous cameo in Chrissie Hynde's 2015 memoir Reckless. David Cunningham was one artist who drew people together. Goldman joined his free-floating collective of improvisers, the Flying Lizards, when she first began recording music instead of just writing about it . The contrast between Vivien's high, lilting tones and the deep rumble of the bass is a hallmark of all Goldman's work, giving a haunting frisson of sex and alienation to songs like "The Window," the eerie acapella track by the Flying Lizards, and "Launderette," which was produced with PiL's John Lydon and Keith Levene. Vivien knew John as a fellow reggae fanatic, and he let her use PiL's studio down time to cut "Launderette," a song she had improvised over a bass line by Aswad's George "Levi" Oban. Bass is also the foundation of the angry anthem "Private Armies," a favourite of Rock Against Racism, and its thunderous Adrian Sherwood dub. "Girls love bass," she says. "It's the yang to our yin. Women really respond to the depth and grounding of bass."