Bulldog and Jackhammer Present: Your Introduction To Reggae

Bulldog · 09-09-2009, 09:06 AM

Mad Professor - Beyond the Realms Of Dub (1982)

Seen as one of the leading lights in the second generation of dub music and thus one of the producers instrumental in seeing a smooth transition for dub through to the digital age, Neil 'Mad Professor' Fraser gets the nod from me here as one of the essentials of the genre. Seeing as after his humble beginnings as a small-time producer of various lover's rock artists on his own label, he branched out to release hundreds of EPs and LPs as well as collaborate with such greats as Lee Perry, Sly & Robbie and Horace Andy, he's well worth a mention too.

The clincher for me, though, would be his 12-part Dub Me Crazy series of LPs. Alright, I'm not lucky enough to have all of them myself, but I'd call the main standout of the bunch Beyond the Realms Of Dub. There are a few reasons for this, one of which being that it's basically the sound of dub remixing ethics going into overdrive with the sheer weight of synthesised sounds, studio treatments, percussive reverbs and vocal overdubs which make for stylistic tour de force of dub. Also, the title track in the video below is among my favourite dub cuts of all time. Enjoy!

Keith Hudson - Pick a Dub (1974)

And then there's Keith Hudson, aka 'the Dark Prince Of Reggae', one of the most influential producers being one of the first such professionals to experiment that way with a mixing desk, like his contemporaries King Tubby and Lee Perry. His is also a name that you'll find popping up in various places in early reggae history, from organising concerts with schoolmates Delroy Washington and Bob Marley to producing his first record by a band which would later evolve into the Skatalites, not to mention his classic Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood album being among the first genuine reggae albums and not just a collection of singles.

That was in 1975, so rewind to 1974 and then we're talking proper context. Pick a Dub here is as highly regarded as a classic as the aforementioned album but, as you may have guessed, for very different reasons, the most important of them being that if this wasn't the first deliberately thematic dub album, it was certainly one of the very first examples of a selection of dubs (among them revisions of the Abyssinians' Satta Massagana and Declaration Of Rights) mixed and stitched together in order to make up a full-length LP of dub music. As a result of the superb production and mixing from Hudson, we have a classic, groovalicious album, backed up in places by the sparse use of his rasping kind of vocal, of unrelenting quality that just fits together seamlessly. An absolute must.

jackhammer · 09-18-2009, 05:33 PM

2 new Dub albums up very soon from myself (Bulldog feel free to clean up these superfluous posts when the reviews are up).

Bulldog · 09-20-2009, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

2 new Dub albums up very soon from myself (Bulldog feel free to clean up these superfluous posts when the reviews are up).

With pleasure

I'll be looking forward to seeing what you pick - this list's been so long in the making, I've forgotten what it was we came up with together

jackhammer · 03-25-2010, 04:07 PM

Bloody hell, we never finished this! Looks like I will be cranking some Dub this weekend and update this thread.

Bulldog · 03-25-2010, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Bloody hell, we never finished this! Looks like I will be cranking some Dub this weekend and update this thread.

I've forgotten the rest of the albums I had in mind

Funnily enough, I'm in the mood for dub spree too. It's been too long since I last listened to the stuff. I'll get my thinking cap on over the rest of my entries.

zeppy111 · 03-25-2010, 11:21 PM

Looking forward to the last few entries.

My dub collection is very small, and needs some expanding. Scientist, Augustus Pablo, Sly & Robbie, Black Uhuru(Dub album) and i think that is about it.

Bulldog · 03-27-2010, 05:55 PM

Moving things on...

BlackBeard - I Wah Dub (1980)

Born in Barbados and having moved to south London with his family at a fairly early age, Dennis Bovell here's a man who immersed himself in reggae culture in slightly more of an outside-looking-in way than a lot else you'll find on this list. Not only did he, through his obsession with dub music in the late 70s, set up the Jah Sufferer sound system in London, but he also had a hand in his early career in the evolution of lovers' rock, seeing as he was an engineer at the lovers' rock-oritented Dip Records not long before he started taking after idols like Lee Perry and Keith Hudson by releasing albums of his own. Quite an influential figure then, and one that's worked with the artists such as the Slits, the Pop Group, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Madness, Orange Juice, I-Roy and a load of others throughout his working life.

Anyway, both of Bovell's first LP releases were published under the pseudonym BlackBeard and, of course, this album is one of them. Strictly Dub Wize was the man's debut, and is perfectly good in itself, but I Wah Dub here is probably my favourite of the two. Absolutely ideal for the beginner too, seeing as it's simply the archetypal dub album which shows off all the strengths of the genre in one tasty and juicy package. The riddims are as good as any you'll hear, comprising of slow, reverb-heavy drum tracks and pumping basslines pushed right to the front of the mix that just get your head nodding all the way. The studio overdubs, samples and synth effects are absolutely spot on too. So, yeah, well worth having.

jackhammer · 03-27-2010, 06:22 PM

Never even heard of this album! PM please

I have 2 reviews in the pipeline coming very soon.

Bulldog · 03-27-2010, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackhammer

Never even heard of this album! PM please

I have 2 reviews in the pipeline coming very soon.

On the way!

Take your time with your next reviews too - gives me more time to think about my albums for the next list

jackhammer · 03-27-2010, 07:36 PM

Sly & Robbie - Version Born (2004)

Outside of The Funk Brothers (Motown), Sly & Robbie are probably the finest rhythm combo (Bass guitar and Drums) with a reported 200,000 tracks in their belts (it's not a misprint), with credits including Black Uhuru, Bunny Wailer, Culture and even Madonna.

Choosing a dedicated release for the duo is quite difficult as they have made comparatively few albums as a duo and instead lend their hand to other established artists. A few Dub compilations are around of their work and they have done some sterling work with producer Howie B but they did release this album in 2004 that comprises Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Ambient and a couple of Dub only versions of their work with artists such as Black Uhuru.

It is not a 'pure' Dub album and that is why I have included it in this list as an example of how the Dub sound permeates many forms of music without people not even realising.

Version Born was produced by the prolific Bill Laswell (Matisyahu for a quick reference) and features artists such as Black Thought, Tricky and N'Dea Davenport but this is not a feeble attempt for recognition or to crowd please. It's merely a chance for the boys to make an album for themselves without adhering to their usual employers wants and needs.

From the stunning chilled out cover of the Eurythmics 'Here Comes The Rain' to the Rap heavy 'Subzero', it's an album that fits into many genres with ease yet it still retains that organic vibe of Dub that they carry out with consummate ease.

Well worth a listen if the initial thought of a pure Dub album is a little too adventurous.

09-18-2009, 05:33 PM	#62 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	2 new Dub albums up very soon from myself (Bulldog feel free to clean up these superfluous posts when the reviews are up). __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

03-25-2010, 04:07 PM	#64 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Bloody hell, we never finished this! Looks like I will be cranking some Dub this weekend and update this thread. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

03-25-2010, 11:21 PM	#66 (permalink)
zeppy111 16, so? Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: South Africa Posts: 630	Looking forward to the last few entries. My dub collection is very small, and needs some expanding. Scientist, Augustus Pablo, Sly & Robbie, Black Uhuru(Dub album) and i think that is about it. __________________ My Blog (album of the day): http://musicfromthesouth.blogspot.com

03-27-2010, 06:22 PM	#68 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Never even heard of this album! PM please I have 2 reviews in the pipeline coming very soon. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

03-27-2010, 07:36 PM	#70 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	Sly & Robbie - Version Born (2004) Outside of The Funk Brothers (Motown), Sly & Robbie are probably the finest rhythm combo (Bass guitar and Drums) with a reported 200,000 tracks in their belts (it's not a misprint), with credits including Black Uhuru, Bunny Wailer, Culture and even Madonna. Choosing a dedicated release for the duo is quite difficult as they have made comparatively few albums as a duo and instead lend their hand to other established artists. A few Dub compilations are around of their work and they have done some sterling work with producer Howie B but they did release this album in 2004 that comprises Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Ambient and a couple of Dub only versions of their work with artists such as Black Uhuru. It is not a 'pure' Dub album and that is why I have included it in this list as an example of how the Dub sound permeates many forms of music without people not even realising. Version Born was produced by the prolific Bill Laswell (Matisyahu for a quick reference) and features artists such as Black Thought, Tricky and N'Dea Davenport but this is not a feeble attempt for recognition or to crowd please. It's merely a chance for the boys to make an album for themselves without adhering to their usual employers wants and needs. From the stunning chilled out cover of the Eurythmics 'Here Comes The Rain' to the Rap heavy 'Subzero', it's an album that fits into many genres with ease yet it still retains that organic vibe of Dub that they carry out with consummate ease. Well worth a listen if the initial thought of a pure Dub album is a little too adventurous. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”

09-09-2009, 09:06 AM	#61 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Mad Professor - Beyond the Realms Of Dub (1982) Seen as one of the leading lights in the second generation of dub music and thus one of the producers instrumental in seeing a smooth transition for dub through to the digital age, Neil 'Mad Professor' Fraser gets the nod from me here as one of the essentials of the genre. Seeing as after his humble beginnings as a small-time producer of various lover's rock artists on his own label, he branched out to release hundreds of EPs and LPs as well as collaborate with such greats as Lee Perry, Sly & Robbie and Horace Andy, he's well worth a mention too. The clincher for me, though, would be his 12-part Dub Me Crazy series of LPs. Alright, I'm not lucky enough to have all of them myself, but I'd call the main standout of the bunch Beyond the Realms Of Dub. There are a few reasons for this, one of which being that it's basically the sound of dub remixing ethics going into overdrive with the sheer weight of synthesised sounds, studio treatments, percussive reverbs and vocal overdubs which make for stylistic tour de force of dub. Also, the title track in the video below is among my favourite dub cuts of all time. Enjoy! Keith Hudson - Pick a Dub (1974) And then there's Keith Hudson, aka 'the Dark Prince Of Reggae', one of the most influential producers being one of the first such professionals to experiment that way with a mixing desk, like his contemporaries King Tubby and Lee Perry. His is also a name that you'll find popping up in various places in early reggae history, from organising concerts with schoolmates Delroy Washington and Bob Marley to producing his first record by a band which would later evolve into the Skatalites, not to mention his classic Flesh Of My Skin, Blood Of My Blood album being among the first genuine reggae albums and not just a collection of singles. That was in 1975, so rewind to 1974 and then we're talking proper context. Pick a Dub here is as highly regarded as a classic as the aforementioned album but, as you may have guessed, for very different reasons, the most important of them being that if this wasn't the first deliberately thematic dub album, it was certainly one of the very first examples of a selection of dubs (among them revisions of the Abyssinians' Satta Massagana and Declaration Of Rights) mixed and stitched together in order to make up a full-length LP of dub music. As a result of the superb production and mixing from Hudson, we have a classic, groovalicious album, backed up in places by the sparse use of his rasping kind of vocal, of unrelenting quality that just fits together seamlessly. An absolute must.

03-27-2010, 05:55 PM	#67 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Moving things on... BlackBeard - I Wah Dub (1980) Born in Barbados and having moved to south London with his family at a fairly early age, Dennis Bovell here's a man who immersed himself in reggae culture in slightly more of an outside-looking-in way than a lot else you'll find on this list. Not only did he, through his obsession with dub music in the late 70s, set up the Jah Sufferer sound system in London, but he also had a hand in his early career in the evolution of lovers' rock, seeing as he was an engineer at the lovers' rock-oritented Dip Records not long before he started taking after idols like Lee Perry and Keith Hudson by releasing albums of his own. Quite an influential figure then, and one that's worked with the artists such as the Slits, the Pop Group, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Madness, Orange Juice, I-Roy and a load of others throughout his working life. Anyway, both of Bovell's first LP releases were published under the pseudonym BlackBeard and, of course, this album is one of them. Strictly Dub Wize was the man's debut, and is perfectly good in itself, but I Wah Dub here is probably my favourite of the two. Absolutely ideal for the beginner too, seeing as it's simply the archetypal dub album which shows off all the strengths of the genre in one tasty and juicy package. The riddims are as good as any you'll hear, comprising of slow, reverb-heavy drum tracks and pumping basslines pushed right to the front of the mix that just get your head nodding all the way. The studio overdubs, samples and synth effects are absolutely spot on too. So, yeah, well worth having.