Dub / Reggae: An Idiot's Guide

I bought the Keith Hudson 7" for Turn The Heater On off eBay this week. Can't wait for it to show up.

Bloody Eyes 12" is in my order, is Turn the Heater On a non-album track? Wanted to get some Wackies but it's all too pricey. Def am wary of falling into the vinyl heroin trap.

I really want to get into dubby Reggae but I find it hard to find an inroad. A lot of dubs are so noodly and recapitulated, and it's hard to find something to anchor it all together.

There are a few cuts on Trinity's 'Shanty Town Termination' that I really like. 'Congoman' by The Congos is one of the earliest examples I've found of a drum machine in reggae. This is a great track. Jackie Mittoo's got some pleasant stuff on 'Macka Fat'.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnIe1hEviBs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeKghD6exeY

And right now I'm getting into Linton Qwesi Johnson, a 'dub poet'. I think it's more interesting to listen to than a lot of 'toasting' deejay records because there's more of a point to what he's saying. Then at the end of a lot of his record everything goes all dubby --- so it's the best of both worlds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykU4T7lPna4

I wish I was as discerning as you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpxMmSm0Ek

this is really good

Isn't King Spinna, Barrow's new label?

Since there isn't a Pressure Sounds thread this'll have to do. Anyone heard the last couple of Lee Perry Pressure Sounds releases? The Sound Doctor looks especially good. Also news of a Yabby You collection of rare 45s and whatnot. Odd.

"King Spinna is a brand new label founded by Bob Harding and Dom Sotgiu, formerly of Blood and Fire."

would assume they'd mention Barrow if he was involved. Yabby You could be great. I haven't heard any of those Scratch collections--last thing I got on PS was the Clancy Eccles/Tubby dub set.

yeah its by other b+f dudes. barrow's thing was 'hot pot'

Hot Pot is dead too. Even the supposed last B&F thing (the General Echo one) came out on Equalizer or something.

Barrow is doing an album cover book for Soul Jazz.

The Dancehall comp he did for Soul Jazz was great. I wish that had turned into a proper series--they might have even eventually gotten to the 90s

Alex you mean the Sound System Scratch and Return of..., right? They're not essential and the sound quality of a couple of the source tracks is awful but I'd still recommend them to any Black Ark lovers.

Yeah and there is a new one The Sound Doctor that just came out.

Just ordered it

Kinda weird that all these odds and scraps Perry things come out and no one can figure out how to re-ish To Be A Lover as an example.

Trojan repackaging Open The Gate as Disco Devil (pretty awesome tracklist though):

Norman – Max Romeo & the Upsetters
Bad Weed – Junior Murvin
I Forgot to Be Your Lover (aka To Be a Lover) – George Faith
Know Love – Twin Roots
Rainy Night in Portland – Watty Burnett
Disco Devil – Lee Perry & Full Experience
City Too Hot – Lee Perry
Words – Sangie Davis & Lee Perry
Roots Train - Junior Murvin & Dillinger
Open the Gate – Watty Burnett
Neckodememus – The Congos
Rasta Train – Raphael Green & Doctor Alimantado
Ketch Vampire – Devon Irons & Doctor Alimantado
History (Of Civilisation) – Carlton Jackson
Sons of Slaves – Junior Delgado
Party Time – The Heptones
Free Up the Prisoners – Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Garden Of Life – Leroy Sibbles

I apparently missed that TROJAN did re-ish the original Jamaican version of To Be A Lover as:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Eight-George-Faith/dp/B007EN9KUC/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1352174904&sr=1-1&keywords=george+faith+super+eight

So there you go.

It's not the "original Jamaican version," but rather the Island version in the original sleeve. I'm sad to say . . .

Is there a difference? I haven't heard of one (though I've never looked, I always thought "TBAL" the weakest of Perry's run of late 7s Island LPs.)

(Still v v good though, obv.)

Yeah I think it's basically the same mix slightly reordered and with an add'l track.

No additional track, the Trojan page just makes it look like there are nine songs instead of eight. It's the same mix, I have the JA version, which is pretty different, so this is just deceptive marketing on Teojan's part.

That said, I think this album is underrated. Not as good as the Congos' work with Perry, but more solid than Junior Murvin's "Police And Thieves" as an album, and to my ears about as cool as "Super Ape" - the primary difference being that this album pays homage to American soul of the period rather than dub and insanity.

Yeah Upsetter.net was what indicated the add'l song.

I love the George Faith album.
Has anyone heard "Lee Scratch Perry Presents Candy Mckenzie"?

I love Yabby U (You) and have just ordered the new collection on Pressure Sounds. Clips sound terrific. Figured some people reading this thread would be interested. The ltd ed. 2xLP is only 67 copies (>65 now :)

http://www.pressure.co.uk/store/PS77/yabby-you-deeper-roots/

i put this on the youtube. so cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIqnV037bec

put this up too. great instrumental and awesome proto-rap staple singers sample at the beginning. from 1972.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VqMnzxANEg

whoah wtf how did they do that

oh man total ear candy

http://www.johnnyspencer.info/imagetexts16/tubbysinfullswingLK.htm

http://boomkat.com/cds/620423-keith-hudson-torch-of-freedom

With the Basic Replay imprint now dormant, I was worried that this crucial piece of the Keith Hudson puzzle might never get reissued. But there is now a CD version of Torch of Freedom out and it's a doozy. Wish they'd do vinyl on it but still...

That's funny, my copy of Torch of Freedom just arrived in the mail today, and I was driving around enjoying it deeply. The relative hit "Turn The Heater On" holds up especially well. The sound's great and the packaging is true to the original, with excellent liner notes.

It's tough to recommend Keith Hudson to the reggae novice, since he has a strange (some would say awful) voice and (as the liner notes say, "Keith Hudson's dubs often took the form of meandering instrumentals that would lose all shape after a spliff or two. Impressionistic in feel, it was as if they had no beginning or end." In other words, it's not foe everyone! But I like his odd voice, and there's some sort of zen beauty in his "formless" dubs that's consistent enough that it comes across as a well-defined style, and if you like one or two, you'll probably end up liking most of them. The album is kind of a "showcase" album - meaning the dubs follow the vocal versions.

i love full-length LPs where the dub follows the vocal mix. kinda my favorite thing. i have two john holt records like this and they are real faves of mine.

Got my copy of Torch of Freedom recently as well. It's really great and a perfect compliment to the Basic Replay reissues. Other than those 3 reissues, the 2 CD collection of Hudson productions, Brand and Pick A Dub are all essentials.

So I guess Hot Milk is new. Neat.

THREE releases on Basic Replay? What am I missing on CD - I've got the following:

Brand (Pressure Sounds)
Entering The Dragon (Trojan)
Flesh Of My Skin (Basic Replay)
Greatest Hits, Volume 1 (Sky High & Mau Mau)
Pick A Dub (Pressure Sounds)
Rasta Communication - Expanded Edition (Greensleeves)
Too Expensive (Virgin)
Torch Of Freedom (Hot Milk)
Studio Kinda Cloudy (Trojan)

I don't have "Playing It Cool." What else is there?

nuh skin up
from one extreme to another

Sorry, i'm replying on my phone so was too brief in my last comment. There are only 2 Basic Replay reissues but I included the Torch of Freedom in my '3 reissues' comment since they're similar in quality and vibe. In addition to what you have, I highly recommend The Hudson Affair 2CD set and you absolutely should get Playing it Cool immediately. I believe most of Nuh Skin Up is on the reissue of Rasta Communication but you should get that if you're missing any of the tracks on there. From One Extreme to Another is a bit spotty in my opinion.

What is the greatest hits vol1 disc you have?

Cool, thanks for the advice. I actually have The Hudson Affair and Nuh Skin Up - just forgot to list them. I don't recall ever having heard about One Extreme To Another, but it looks like it's vinyl only (?)

The Greatest Hits, Volume 1 CD is on a label called Sky High & Mau Mau - I think it was a one-off label, and was put out by his family. Here's the tracklist:

Rasta Country 2:56 (different mix than the one on Rasta Communication)
Rasta Side 2:52
Bloody Eyes 3:02 (different mix / version from the one on Rasta Communication)
Rasta Communication 2:22 (different version from the one on Rasta Communication)
Instant Skank 2:02
Melody Maker (dub) 2:10
Goliat 3:09 (with vocals from U Roy)
Riot (dub) 3:00 (seems the same as Soul Syndicate's "Riot," but vaguely different mix)
Bouts Up 1:40
True To My Heart 2:09
Though You Knew 2:11
Write Me 2:35
Write (dub) 2:10
Flesh Of My Skin 2:23 (about a minute shorter than the album version, different mix?)
Skin (dub) 2:01 (dub version of the song above)
In The West Indies 2:24
Fight A Revolution 2:02 (same as Fight For Revolution?)
Torch Of Freedom 2:23 (very spooky instrumental / dub version, different than the LP version)
We Can Work It Out 2:45 (1:48 shorter than the Too Expensive version, but same mix)
Too Expensive 2:40 (2:17 shorter than the Too Expensive version, but same mix)
Darkest Night 2:50 (same as the version on Flesh Of My Skin)

Some versions are *completely* different, some songs aren't on any of the albums I have, but I don't have "Flesh Of My Skin" handy . . . although the only song that could be the same is the last, I just can't compare it right now. Possibly these are single versions or something. It's a pretty cool collection, though, and worth it for the radically different takes on familiar songs. Holds together well, but long out of print.

I'll trade a CD-R copy (AIFF files direct from CD), especially if anyone could do the same for CD-sourced copies of these way out-of-print titles:

JUNIOR BYLES jordan
CLANCY ECCLES & THE DYNAMITES nyah reggae rock

THE EQUALS black skin blue eyed boys (double CD version)
FLYING LIZARDS top ten 

CHARLES HAYWARD live in japan: near & far
SCIENTIST V PRINCE JAMMY big showdown at king tubby's

. . . but if you don't have those and are desperate, I'll hook you up anyway! Just e-mail.

O/T because DJ not dub but on the subject of Keith Hudson productions it's really worth keeping your eyes peeled for the Militant Barry LP, "Green Valley".

This cut, "Pistol Boy", which concerns Sid Vicious, was legendary to me for years because Ranking Roger out of The Beat namechecked it in Smash Hits in 1980 or something. Took me a long time ot track it down. I'm often surprised it's not cited more often by punk rock historians looking for material evidence of reggae-punk connections and getting a bit stuck after "Punky Reggae Party".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6TOIib14O8

got some pretty silkscreened dub that will probably end up in france. for now i can gaze lovingly at them. and play them.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/554515_10152032647472137_1465086686_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/528837_10152032647387137_1176983129_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/184763_10152032647372137_311400935_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/408481_10152032647597137_246477131_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/76347_10152032647712137_1362439568_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/73386_10152032647817137_1833919250_n.jpg

!!! Bloody hell. Have only ever seen one of these, and even that one not in that cover. Guess these are really very rare, huh? What label design, Scott?

so pretty.

sick, i bet those go for lots of $$$

forgot how good this guy is

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/01a37a732db45d9c51582adcee9a25f1/611699.jpg

Granny Scratch Scratch is 100%

no idea re the sounds but i love the cover art on these ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFDzv7_84SU

put another dub up that i like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwT-RVtrR0