Dub / Reggae: An Idiot's Guide

But never mind me and my minor griping. Have I thanked you all for your recommendations yet? I haven't gone out and bought anything, mind you, but when I do, you'll be the 10th or 11th to know.

You just can't get it loud enough at home. It's gotta be so heavy that you can feel the bass from your fingers through to your toes. I'd pay $25 for that--then again, I'm Canadian. Don't know whether I'd pay $25 US.

Bring on the Scratch, Jammy, and Tubby...and forward the bass.

Soon Forward and Mr. Isaacs are incredible. Smooooth mofo.

A step back a little further to rocksteady can't do any harm

Love love love rocksteady. Anybody who likes American soul music should check into it. Some favorites: John Holt (and the Paragons), Slim Smith (and the Techniques/Uniques), Pat Kelly, Ken Boothe, The Heptones.

The Pressure Sounds comps are great too.

The Royals singles compilation on Pressure Sounds, 'Pick Up the Pieces', has been kicking my ass recently. Classic from beginning to end. Dubwise, the Joe Gibbs comp. 'No Bones for the Dogs' is quality throughout as well.

Other shit that I've been hooked on and can usu be found at a good price: Delroy Wilson 'Good All Over' (rocksteady at the cusp of reggae), Dub Over Dub (27 tracks of Errol Thompson's mixing, with solid tracks as a base), the Wailing Souls self-titled debut (superb, utterly beautiful singing and catchy yet rough tunes), Scientist vs Space Invaders (um, it's early 80s Scientist. nuff said), Gladiators 'Proverbial Reggae' (you know reggae is the shit when an album this good hardly gets discussed)

Born Fi Dead by Laurie Gunst is also essential to get that time, tho less about music than politics.

Ian, check Jammyland in the East Village. Might be more $8-$12 but the selection is all essential. Everything above and more. In JA fashion, will play you 45s and LPs if you ask. If you can make it out to Moodies in the north Bronx, it's also amazing. More stuff straight from JA distributors. VP, of course, too in Queens.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008LKHZ/ref=sr_aps_music_1_1/202-0254809-4916649

if you stick to Blood and Fire, Pressure Sounds, On-U, Trojan etc at first you should avoid the real stinkers, although all these labels have been guilty of barrel-scraping with certain releases.

On what discs is Blood & Fire ''barrel-scraping''? I mean, I've only got about 25 of their discs (RIP to B&F, BTW), but I haven't heard any ''barrel-scraping.''

Forget Heart of the Congo's, overrated.

-- Omar, Wednesday, October 31, 2001 8:00 PM (6 years ago)

huh

i just ordered that jammys book mentioned upthread

5 dolla

'Nother good dub/reggae book is supposed to be Michael E. Veal's Dub: Soundscapes & Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae (2007).

Also 5 dolla, perhaps?

I just randomly found Lee Perry's Ape-ology, BTW. Will be spinning it this evening. Should I prepare myself to be disappointed or is this a "change your life"-type experience (or does it fall somewhere in between, perhaps)?

judy mowatt.
gregory isaacs.

I just randomly found Lee Perry's Ape-ology, BTW. Will be spinning it this evening. Should I prepare myself to be disappointed or is this a "change your life"-type experience (or does it fall somewhere in between, perhaps)?

-- Daniel, Esq.

I like Ape-ology but prefer the Arkology boxset which is full of great vocalists (Max Romeo et al.) and is therefore a bit more accessible. Ape-ology is a much heavier / claustrophobic proposition.

Ape-ology is just Super Ape (super awesome) + Return of the Super Ape (not as awesome) + Roast Fish, Collie, & Cornbread (awesome, but Perry vocals get a little wearying after a while), right? Yeah Arkology is better.

i agree with the poster that said heart of the congo is overrated. there are a couple of very nice trax on it, but....
why come nobody has mentioned Black Uhuru on this thread? i can't think of a better reggae group from the eighties - Anthem and Red are both pretty stellar

Anyway the answer to the original B&F question is that Congos and Burning Spear and Tubby stuff that were among their original releases were so strong that for a while everything else kind of paled in comparison and so a lot of reggae trainspotters got down on the label. Specifically I recall the Morwells, U-Brown, Impact All Stars getting a lot of flack (needlessly frankly.)

re: congos being overrated

this is truly an idiot's guide

Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Cornbread is classic Perry. Also a big fan of "Kung Fu Man" on The Mighty Upsetter.

Hell, I haven't heard any Perry I didn't like. Double Seven and Blackboard Jungle Dub also get a lot of play around here.

Yeah Arkology is better.

No option for yesterday, as Ape-ology is all this place had. However, some time earlier I did find The Upsetter Selection at the same place. Not bad for a Border's Bookstore music section.

been on a bit of a dub binge lately - Scientist, Prince Far-I, Culture (almost all at the recommendation of some other ILM dub thread - thx ILM!)

I'm really enjoying Ape-ology. I vaguely remember somebody upthread saying it's heavy, dark-ish dub/reggae, but I think the psychadelic touches (n.1) give it a lighter-touch than a lot of other (great in its own way) dub/reggae I've heard, e.g., Blood & Fire's stuff.

___________________________
(n.1) I also want to say the guitars give it a lighter sound, at least I think it's guitars I'm hearing on at least the early cuts on Super-Ape.

A lot of people would argue that Super Ape is exactly the opposite of light. Rather than being dub reduced to drum/bass/echo, it's MAXIMALIST dub with every track featuring more more more production touches, effects, instruments and even vocals. Either way it's great.

Either way it's great.

Agreed, from what I've heard so far. "Maximalist Dub" is a good term for it (unlike the more hollowed-out, minimal sound of, say, Tubby or Hudson).

"i can't think of a better reggae group from the eighties"

There's not much competition here ya know. Steel Pulse? Misty in the Roots? Reggae groups are pretty much the minority anyway.

Umm

I’m making a playlist of pub music from the bass continuum (yeah yeah), which obviously starts and ends with reggae/dub.

“River Niger” by Sly Dunbar is such an anthem it’s an obvious choice no? Was inspired to look up the lyrics for a good old singalong but I can’t find them anywhere? (I think I’ve got the chorus down at least. ROOTS ROCK REGGAE. ROOTS ROCK REGGAE.)

heard this for the first time the other day, so heavy and so good (and uh, timely title i guess?)

Jackie Mittoo - Ayatollah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovdsWF8E2y0

excellent

been listening to a lot of reggae music in this moment, finding a lot of strength and solace in it. some of it spurred on by some excellent recommendations over on rob's album exchange poll. here's some tunes i've been spinning on repeat, thought others might want to share some too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4E1Va3GHRk
Ethiopians - Never Get Burned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kld_9seMiQ
Abyssinians - Forward Unto Zion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqw4SqW9V2w
Lopez Walker - Send Another Moses

Abyssinians tune is the newest one to me, discovered it today in fact. obsessed with how pristine it sounds, it has a kind of quiet, crystalline power. brings to mind some of Willie Mitchell's mid-'70s productions maybe

been listening to a lot of reggae music in this moment, finding a lot of strength and solace in it.

otm <3

I love that Ethiopians tune. tbh one of my favourite bands ever, though I don't tend to think of them in those terms they were pivotal for me getting into reggae when I was 18. And they are, unfortunately, timely. I blasted "Hong Kong Flu" a lot at home during the early Covid times lol. Everything crash, things a get bad to worse...

I've struggled with the Abyssinians album that song is from in the past — my ears were trained on the dusty Studio One sound, so that pristine quality always turned me off. But with those expectations eroded over time, I'm listening now and this is very lovely, thanks for posting it!

I post about it on ilx a lot but "Send Another Moses" is on the Blood & Fire Phase One comp Chantells & Friends: Children of Jah, one of their absolute best releases. Lots of apt lyrics on it too, my all-time favourite being "Assemble Not Thyself" which is mostly mashed-up Bible verses, but hits hard when the iniquity workers are so busy working every day.

btw, I have another Ras Michael recommendation for anyone who was following that conversation on the album exchange thread: Rastafari, which is his most famous album as it turns out but was slightly hard to find on streaming for mysterious reasons. The opening track, "Mr Brown" is funky as hell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcoDo7f3ERY

yeah abyssinians are all time. satta massaganna of course but arise is also a tremendous album

^Arise is sounding great too, thanks JCLC

And they are, unfortunately, timely

lol I forgot there's an instrumental on Reggae Power called "Robert F. Kennedy"

man sharing sweet reggae tunes in this fucked up time is really a good feeling, thanks to viborg for waking up this thread. in recent years the vocal groups have really been my sweet spot, there's always great dub mixes if that's what I want and the live harmonies reach me really deeply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXOi2uB7OZo

also this is a chance to share one of my favorite things ever, Michael Rose via Niney the Observer "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," which takes the title of a movie where the title was being deployed with tense irony instead has the question posed in earnest: "Guess who's coming to dinner? Natty dreadlock!" and then they smoke a bowl and give thanks and praise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfDI8Y04_uE

hell yeah love that song!

the many voices in this song (The Soulettes, "Deh Pon Dem") are truly sublime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yJLF7AJ4zQ

Some great suggestions here.

For more roots, Wailing Souls - Fire House Rock really hitting the spot today.

The opening track, "Mr Brown" is funky as hell

I've loved this track ever since I discovered it via a documentary on Jamaican music that I found on this board.

I suppose "funky reggae" is a subjective term, but another entry into the canon would have to be this Bobby Aitken and Val Bennett track, "One Way Street," the opening of which sounds like a Meters tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPrW2KnevhE

I heard yesterday that Sly Dunbar debuted recording on Double Barrel by Dave and Ansel Collins. Great track.

I saw Adrian Sherwood and African Headcharge last week at the Barbican. Sherwood did his version of Scratch Perry's "Makumba Rock" and it was so good, so heavy (Doug Wimbish on bass!) and then this thing happened that I love about reggae, and which makes me wish I was more of a cognoscenti. I was like - this sounds familiar, it sounds like a minor key version of "Your Love Got a Hold On Me" by Dennis Brown, so when I got home I listened to it and yeah, it basically is, so what's that riddim, aha it's Heavenless. Look that up, lo and behold it turns out there's a NEW (ish) Vin Gordon and the Real Rock Band album with a new version of Heavenless on it, in fact the whole album's fantastic, and like the little greedy bastard I am I want it, I want it immediately, but it goes for silly money. But what else has Vin Gordon been up to? Well quite a bit it seems! So I've absolutely fallen down a Vin Gordon rabbithole and I've never been happier with a decision

Would love to have seen that. I recently stumbled across Akwaaba, one of the few albums without Sherwood producing. It is a big, big step down although it's interesting to hear what AHC sounds like on their own.