If you ever see an affordable copy of King Tubby Meets the Aggrovators At Dub Station on cd or vinyl buy it and then give me a call. I've been after it for some time. Recorded in 1975 (and reissued on cd in 2007 and currently out of print) it is a superb dub reggae album. The cd reissue is currently priced on Discogs at getting towards £45. A vinyl copy on Amazon marketplace is being offered at £134.00. Yup. So if you chance upon a copy in a charity shop, car boot sale or second hand shop that doesn't check Discogs, buy it. You won't regret it and it may just become a handy nestegg. Not that you'd want to sell it.
A Youtube uploader has handily put the whole album up and the bonus disc of another twelve songs. Bunny Lee (on the phone above) assembled The Aggrovators as the house band at his studio an throughout the 70s and 80s they included the cream of Jamaica's musicians. Jackie Mittoo, Sly and Robbie, Aston Barrett and countless others passed through the ranks. King Tubby was Bunny Lee's go-to man for dub effects and this album showcases Tubby's skills with tape manipulation, echo, sound effects and all manner of tricks. The band, particularly the rhythm section, are on fire throughout- bouncy and punchy on the faster tracks, spaced and stoned on the slower ones. Horns and woodwind provide fanfares and melody, riding above the stunning bass.
That's my early morning listening taken care of. I hope the neighbours are up and about. If they're not, they soon will be. Bliss.
ReplyDeleteI spend 40 quid on the vinyl version of Jah Lion Colombian Colly a few months ago. Theres a record shop in Toronto Kops or something its called. They have loads of classic Dub on vinyl along much else. I damn near nearly jazzed myself when I got it. The scariest piece of Dub I think. Sounds like apocalypse. The title tune was worth the price
ReplyDeleteI spend many monies!. Jaysus me typing is muck
ReplyDeleteKops is a brilliant shop, have got a quite a few pieces of soul and 60s garage things from there. The postage is much less prohibitive than that from the States not sure why.
ReplyDeleteSinger in my old band gave me a pile of dub as mp3 6 years ago as a congrats present when my boy was born. The extended reissue of this was among them. So he's one of the lucky ones to have the cd.
ReplyDeleteTis really good stuff.