ANSWER / NEVER LET GO

Slim Smith recorded “Never Let Go” for Studio One in 1967 over a Soul Vendors foundation with a heavy bass line and bright horn figure. The recording lived on long after the rocksteady moment that produced it. Years later, deejay Lone Ranger rode the foundation on “The Answer,” and that title became the name many listeners used for the riddim itself. Producers kept rebuilding it through analog and digital dancehall eras. The double name is useful history: one riddim can acquire a new public identity through the versions that bring it back.