Long before Bristol had become a recognized stronghold for downtempo trip-hop and spy-soundtrack dubs, the duo of
Rob Smith and
Ray Mighty teamed in the late '80s for two early breakbeat tracks, "Walk on By" and "Anyone Who Had a Heart." The anachronistic fusion of sophisticated
Burt Bacharach productions with laidback hip-hop prefigured trip-hop's later fascination with the more polished end of '60s adult-pop. The pair also produced the Top Ten hit "Wishing on a Star" for the Fresh Fours, then signed with ffrr Records (who were looking for a production team with crossover abilities similar to
Soul II Soul).
The label later rejected both
Smith & Mighty's debut album and several subsequent recordings -- claiming they were unsuitable for release -- so the duo formed their own label, More Rockers. Five years after their initial brush with major-label shenanigans, they released
Bass Is Maternal.
Smith & Mighty also worked on production for More Rockers signee
Marxman, and released a volume in the
DJ Kicks series in 1998.
Big World, Small World followed two years later.
Smith has also recorded with the trip-hop trio
Jaz Klash.
–
John Bush, Rovi