Dub / Reggae: An Idiot's Guide

Just got a dozen cds from there in the mail myself, including a Barry Brown discomix thingee mixed by Scientist. It's good, but nothing stands out much as of yet. Sadly I think I've reached the point of diminishing returns w/r/t reggae.

!! say it ain't so! My reggae/dub collection is still pretty small compared to what all is available tho...

Haha well I bought 3 Capleton CDs for $2 each and I will say that by the end of the third that there might have been some diminishing returns. But then the collections of Fatis and Tony Kelly productions perked me up again.

to me this genre is like a bottomless pit of riches (similar to Brazilian music) - I know that if I'm bored and want to hear something new but nothing is quite hitting the spot, I can always return to this buried treasure trove and get something worthwhile that I've never heard before.

Yup that's pretty much how I feel about Jamaica (I feel less so about Brazil because I don't like newer Brazilian stuff as much as I like dancehall.)

I'm still playin catch-up with Brazil - I don't think I have anything that's later than like 1985

Yeah honestly I have no idea what happened in Brazil between the weird post-punk comps (which end in approx. 85 and prob aren't representative of what most folks were actually listening to) I have and the funk comps (which start in approx. 01 and are mostly Rio specific).

It is a bottomless pot of riches for me, too, but lately there's nothing that's really blown me away, you know? Nothing that's unique enough relative to everything else I've heard to really grab my attention and make me go "whoa, what is THIS?" It's like I've heard the best (or some % of the best) of each subgenre/style, and everything I get lately is good & sometimes great, but it's very rare that I hear something new (to me) that I'd file amongst my favorites. It's the same way with funk: now something has to be pretty eccentric for me to really dig it.
Unfortunately I'm not too keen on newer Jamaican OR Brazillian stuff :(

Alex what is that Fatis and TK collection called?

"Fat Eyes Dancehall Attack + Dee-Lite" ($2!) and "Triple Spin 2" ($1.50!) respectively.

this thread gonna cost me a lot of money

it sipple out deh

i have scientists Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires - anyone know what his best albums are to get? and also, any dub thats from this same sort of period? i like the sound/heaviness of it. any super heavy dub would also be cool.

That's one of his best ones. vs Space Invaders is Linval Thompson productions as is the amazing Dub Landing 1 & 2 (2 features King Jammy) (the other Auralux disc World At War is a slightly less amazing.) King Tubby's Dangerous Dub is from the same period and it's great as well.

http://roots-archives.com/artist/86

Scientist was unbeatable at the beginning of the 80s.

I love Meets Space Invaders, Heavyweight Dub Champion, Big Showdown V. Prince Jammy, Scientist and Jammy Strike Back, Sugar Minott's Meet The People In A Lovers Dubbers Style is also a great showcase for Scientists' work. Dub Landing 1 and 2 (cd reissue has both). Dub In The Roots Tradition, In Dub Volume 1, Heavy Metal Dub, King Tubbys meets Scientist In A Midnight Rock Dub Vol. 1, King Tubby Meets Scientist at Dub Station, Prince Far I - In the Vocal House of Dub (w/ Tubby), Albums by Barrington Levy, Eek A Mouse and Johnny Osbourne from the early 80s with Roots Radics and Scientist at the controls are pretty spectacular. Toyan - How The West Was Won is also great, produced by Scientist w/ Roots Radics at King Tubby's studio.

That's a start but there are others...just go down the line in that Roots Archives page and listen to them all until about 83/84.

Scientist and Jammy Strike Back

this is one of the best

this is good too http://roots-archives.com/release/4142

i've got it but i haven't given it much time other than Babylon Don't Touch My Sensy...guess i'll put that on today.

you'd probably like anything featuring the Roots Radics, dub or not. But for dub, in addition to the ones already mentioned, I like Roots Radics Meet Scientist in a Dub Explosion.

"Roots Radics"

need to check them out.

thanks for the other tips btw.

"you'd probably like anything featuring the Roots Radics"

Which is basically anything produced in Jamaica between 1979 and 1985 haha.

http://www.roots-archives.com/release/702

^I remember this being great, but I somehow forgot to put it on my ipod so I can't confirm.

xp haha pretty much yeah

their guitarist played a machine gun

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q202/payakaa/bingy_bunny.jpg

all i know about RR really is that they did a lot of sessions for eekamouse (whose newish greensleeves best of i want to get... badly... but is a bit pricey).

oh shit, that Most Wanted from Eeek A Mouse is fantastic!

this is awesome: http://www.roots-archives.com/release/598

^^^ it is!

i hate how every greensleeves cd has their company design on the cover....

Hate it, but love the records. Every album they've reissued lately has been awesome.

true, they're on a streak right now and the discs sound great.

http://www.unionsquaremusic.co.uk/covers/large/SESHDCD211.jpg

As with all the recent Sessions/Union Square Music 2CDs, the cover art is way too much like Atari 2600 cartridge art, but less awesome. And there are tendencies to overlap certain tracks between 2-3 comps in this series..

but the comps themselves are really good for budget priced genre comps. Dub Sessions is no exception.

The website has tons of spelling errors. :( The comps far less so, even though they exist.

1 Tubby’s Vengeance – Yabby U & King Tubby

2 Emmanuel Version – Dennis Brown

3 Fugitive Dub – Skatalites Meet King Tubby

4 Love Thy Neighbour Version – Yabby U & King Tubby

5 Rockers Rock (version) – Augustus Pablo & King Tubby

6 I’m All Right – Keith Hudson, Family Man & Horace Andy

7 Congo Man Chant – The Upsetters

8 Wicked Tumbling Version – Glen Brown & King Tubby

9 A Heavy Dub – King Tubbys

10 No, No, No – Gussie Clarke & King Tubby

11 Superfly – I Roy

12 House Is Not A Home – Augustus Pablo

13 Ital Ites Dubwise – Horace Andy

14 Time Is Cold – Roots Radics & Tubbys

15 Dancing Roots – Cornel Campbell & King Tubby

16 Burial Dub – Augustus Pablo

17 Too Bad Cow – Upsetters

CD2

1 Riverside Rock – Upsetters

2 Kutchi Dub – Niney

3 Lightning & Thunder – Morwell Unlimited Meet King Tubbys

4 A Little Version -- The Love Grocer featuring Cheshire Cat

5 Herb Vendor – Horse Mouth

6 The Long Way – Junior Byles

7 Tenament Yard Dub – Niney

8 Dub Investigation – Bunny Lee & Prince Jammy

9 Satta 3 – Augustus Pablo

10 Dub-Ology – A Class Crew

11 No Apology – Glen Brown & A-Class Crew

12 Brothers Of The Blade – Prince Jammy

13 Takes A Magic Dub – Dean Fraser

14 Corn Man – King Tubby & The Observers

15 More Warning – King Tubby & The Aggrovators

16 Goldmaster Allstars – Push Harder

17 Sunshine Dub – Hydrophonics

18 A Friend In Need – Roots Radicals & King Tubby

Never mind. Dub Sessions (as well as others in the series) are now COLLECTORS ITEMS. WTFuckingF?

really ! the mind boggles. thought these were/are bargina basement filler compilations.

bargina!

Ragga Sessions and uh another one I have is great.

haha i always avoided those. i think it was the font :/

I avoided the dub version cuz I had 90% of it and I suspected the other 10% I might have with a slightly different name. THANKS A LOT TROJAN.

the 'chilled out' part of the title doesnt make me want to run to amazon lol.

Yes, the packaging and marketing of these Sessions comps are extremely embarrassing, but they are mostly great comps. Dub Sessions is good.

A quick sprint to Amazon shows a copy selling used for $11.

Considering these were going $10-12US *new*, that's still crazy (although not as crazy as 14 pounds used on amazon UK)

just wanted to say thanks for the ernie b's tip upthread, i got a bunch of cool stuff as a christmas present for my wife. really cheap too, it was something like 6 discs for $22 and one of those discs was $11 on its own (the radiodread - ok computer dub thing)

lol how is that radiodread

i should disclaimer my comment about the sessions comps by saying that this comp.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518VXW4FTTL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

is really good despite awful cover, awful title and that its label is Music Club

Ernie B's is god.

eman, i was about to post about the Chill Out comment above and mention that same compilation which is fantastic straight through. highly recommended.

not all of the radiodread works for me, but the version of'airbag' is pretty rad

Seeing this thread pop back up on New Answers inspired me to listen to Tougher Than Tough again. Pretty amazing stuff. If I tell you guys what tracks I really love, can you give further listening tips?

i haven't listened to it thoroughly, but the Radiodread thing is very well put together.

"If I tell you guys what tracks I really love, can you give further listening tips?"

Unless you want mento recommendations, probably (hell someone here can most likely even provide those, just not me.)

Has anyone heard Cornell Cambell's disc, The Gorgon? It just appeared on eMusic. I can't find more than a single review of it anywhere (tho there's been a lot written about the title track and I Shall Not Remove, both of which were on the Blood & Fire Cornell Campbell compilation). Anyway, all the samples sound intriguing.

According to the entry at Roots Archives it was produced in 76 by Bunny Lee and mixed by King Tubby. I'd get it based on that. Haven't heard this full album but his other albums during this era are split ~50/50 on lovers tunes and rasta lyrics/rockers style.

i've heard a few of those tracks on comps, i'm sure its decent. pretty much any of these are going to be good

1973

* Cornell Campbell

1975

* Dance In A Greenwich Farm
* Natty Dread In A Greenwich Farm

1976

* Stalowatt
* The Gorgon

Calling all dub experts!!!

What is the dub that appears at 15:40 into Don Letts' The Punk Rock Movie? The movie is here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4101813390428941237#

You can skip to 11:35 underneath the image. That "eeeefah eeeefah eeeefah eeeefah" has been haunting me for decades.