Basslines #9: Robbie Shakespeare was widely regarded as the king of reggae bass guitarists, usually as one half of the “Riddim Twins” with drummer Sly Dunbar.

He played on and produced literally thousands of tunes. And not just reggae greats like Burning Spear and Black Uhuru: he recorded with Bob Dylan and Grace Jones.

There were 20 albums with The Revolutionaries, the house band at Channel One Studios where he created the aggressive “rockers” style of reggae, moving into dancehall and hip-hop in the Eighties.

But from a very wide selection that might include Peter Tosh’s Downpresser Man and Grace Jones’s Pull Up To The Bumper, The Mighty Diamonds’ Pass The Kouchie – and maybe even Chaka Demus and Pliers’ Bam Bam, I’m going for his work with Black Uhuru.

Sly and Robbie produced and played on their debut album Showcase – and put it out on their own Taxi label – as well as their breakthrough Sinsemilla and Grammy-winning Red.

Even there I’m torn between several songs: Shine Eye Gal is hard to beat but I’ve already posted it a couple of years back so I’m going with the later Botanical Roots, widely cited by bassists as one of the most rhythmically complex and mind-bending basslines.

Once again produced by the duo themselves, it showcases Robbie’s basslines to the full, not least on this spectacular dub version engineered and remixed by Paul ‘Groucho’ Smykle.