Making it to the end of the week feels like some kind of small achievement- the darkest time of the year, the virus rampaging around us and a long way to go before we start to come out of this can make everything feel a bit hopeless at the moment. Take your victories where you can. It's Friday, another week chalked off. Dub always improves things, always lightens the load.
In 1980 The Scientist released his first album, The Best Dub Album In The World. Scientist, real name Hopeton Brown, grew up loving electronics and landed a job at King Tubby's Kingston studio (Tubby would have celebrated his 80th birthday next week had he lived). Scientist worked his way up through the ranks and in 1980 put out his modestly titled debut album, recorded with Sly and Robbie on the bass and the drums at Channel One and then mixed at Tubby's. The bass and drums are perfect throughout, the bubbling bass rhythms playing off against the splashy cymbals and rimshots. Organ comes and goes. Guitars are fed through FX units and sent spinning into space, all produced by a master of the art. Ten tracks, , nine of them under three minutes long but not feeling too short, and you can pick any one of them to demonstrate that the title of the record isn't far off. Try this one...
Friday evenings are always the best time of the week but at the moment they are exactly as you describe, another week ticked off, hopefully towards a future normality at some point.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the track btw. Spacey and unpredictable, good stuff.
Nine more slices of the same on the album Nick, well worth getting hold of.
ReplyDeleteGood little Radio 4 doc on King Tubby on Thursday. Worth your 30 mins.
ReplyDeleteOne of those rare occasions where this is arguably not an idle boast. Dubtastic.
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