Dub reggae

[ken garner]

I agree with Alasdair: I recall lots of vocal reggae peel sessions, but v few (if any?) wholly 
dub. There are a few, however, with an attempt at a dub feel in some tracks - remember it 
was BBC engineers twiddling the knobs - the most notable being perhaps the long lost 
one by New Age Steppers, produced by Adrian Sherwood himself at a commercial studio, 
restored to the BBC Archive by Martin W of this parish, I seem to recall. There is of course 
also the Prince Far I session, and perhaps fleeting dubby bits in various sessions by 
Dreadzone, Zion Train, Steel Pulse, Twinkle Brothers...

k


--- In peel@yahoogroups.com, "Alasdair Macdonald" <wewalkforonereason@...> wrote:
>
> I can't immediately think of any Peel sessions that are specifically
> dub, although there are of course a healthy number of vocal reggae
> sessions.
> 
> And I'm not even sure that I can think of online resources at this
> time of day - but I can offer some buying advice:
> 
> Firstly the big names:
> 
> Lee Perry - there are many "unofficial" albums that carry Lee Perry's
> name; supposedly sometimes the contents aren't as Perry-releated as
> they imply. However, if you at least start off with the box sets -
> Arkology, Lost Treasures Of The Ark, the Trojan Upsetter Singles
> Collections (volumes 1 - 4), you can't go wrong. There's are also an
> incredible number of 3-CD box sets on Trojan (and some of those 3xCD
> sets are packaged into 9-CD boxes comprisong 3 of the 3xCD sets);
> there are Dub and Perry titles in this series and it's hard to fault
> the quality of the music or the price. Once you start looking at
> standard Lee Perry CDs, try to establish if they're "canon" or
> compilation and focus on the canon / sanctioned releases of at all
> possible. I must admit I'm not terribly fond of his most recent
> releases, although the newest, which I don't yet own, is produced by
> Adrian Sherwood. Don't miss out on Super Ape, and don't miss out on
> "Heart Of The Congos" (by The Congos) - it is to reggae music what
> Smile is to pop music - that is to say, a rich tapestry that
> transcends genre. Note that most regular Lee Perry albums aren't dub
> per se, although they may contain dub versions in addition to regular
> versions. But with Perry, there's no such thing as conventional, so
> even the records he created for the pop/chart market have his own
> special touch.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Box_Set
> 
> King Tubby - I don't have more than a handful of King Tubby
> compilations, I can't offer any advice here, except of course you do
> need to have Tubby in your collection.
> 
> Augustus Pablo - Watch out for the same material endlessly repackaged.
> The ones you need are Meets The Rockers Uptown and East Of The River
> Nile. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Pablo
> 
> Adrian Sherwood / ON-U Sound. Material on ON-U sound falls into at
> least 2 camps - twisted reggae and twisted funk. On the reggae side
> you have New Age Steppers, Creation Rebel, Singers And Players,
> African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate (and Bim Sherman, but less dub
> there). You can't go wrong with NAS, Creation Rebel or S&P, although
> the first couple of African Head Charge albums are more
> "experimental", before they settled down to becoming a real band. On
> the funk side you have Tackhead, who are steeped in dub and
> occasionally very noisy. Suffice it to say you can't go wrong with
> anything on ON-U sound, or with Adrian Sherwood's name attached. His
> own "solo" album may be a place to start.
> 
> Prince Far-I : Buy ANYTHING by Prince Far-I.
> 
> Mad Professor : has released many albums under his own name but also
> does remarkable work for others, Massive Attack in particular.
> 
> Some less familiar names:
> 
> Alpha & Omega - a UK duo that have made around 20 albums. Get Dub
> Plate Selection Volume 1 or 2; if these aren't to your taste, move on,
> but if you enjoy them (and I can't think why you wouldn't), try the
> rest of their releases (although the aforementioned are their best).
> The only one I have have qualms about opens with a reggae version of
> the X Files music, which I think is too obvious and frankly spoils the
> whole album for me. I think that is "Serious Joke", but I could be
> wrong.
> 
> A few album recommendations:
> Lee Perry - Super Ape
> Dr Alimantado - Best Dressed Chicken In Town (lots of Lee Perry on this)
> Any of the Cry Tuff Dub Encounter series (some or all of these may
> carry Prince Far-I's name).
> The Mad Professor dub versions of Protection
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Protection_(Massive_Attack_album) and
> the Ruts (Rhythm Collision Dub)
> Congos - Heart Of The Congos (don't feel you have to buy the 2 CD
> edition, the extras are quite redundant) - but let's be honest about
> this it's not necessarily dub.
> http://www.smokeyroom.net/albums/heartofthecongos.htm
> Burning Spear has/have a few Dub albums.
> 
> An honourable mention should go to Jah Shaka, whose show you shouldn't
> miss if you ever have the opportunity, but I know nothing about his
> commercial releases. http://www.jahshakasoundsystem.com/
> 
> http://www.infinitewheel.com/infinite_wheel.html
> 
> 
> Others here should be able to add more.
> 
> 2009/1/18 John Gray <jt.gray@...>:
> > Hi Guys - I have developed an interest in dub reggae, and am trying to
> > learn more/hear more, but buying CDs has been a bit of a hit and miss
> > business.  Could anyone recommend any particular Peel sessions - or
> > any oyher online sources for a newbie, for that matter?
> >
> > In return I offer you this link - to the online version of a fine
> > magazine, of which no doubt some of you may already be aware:   
http://www.biguntidy.com/
>