Black Grape

About

Black Grape was started by vocalist/bandleader Shaun Ryder and dancer Bez of Happy Mondays after the dissolution of that group in 1993. Shaun and Bez added Kermit and Ged Lynch, both of the hip hop group Ruthless Rap Assassins (who were associated with Hulme/Manchester's baggy movement), as second vocalist/rapper and drummer, respectively, and also guitarist Paul Wagstaff from the baggy/madchester/indie-dance group Paris Angels. Gluing the sound together was Danny Saber, a talented and prolific producer/remixer/multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles, California. The combination of this supergroup of musicians essentially assured that resultant sound would fuse together the drugged- and thugged-out baggy attitude of the Mondays with a denser, brighter electronic and hip hop production style, and very well-produced rhythm tracks. Sonically, Black Grape emerged fully formed: harder-edged and brasher altogether than the Happy Mondays; elements of funk, hip hop, electronic, and soul, all of which were present in the previous group's music (but to a lesser extent) became far more saturated and less understated in the new group's style. One British music journalist of the time rather enthusiastically described Black Grape's debut album as "the party Prince was describing in the song '1999'."

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