ALBUM REVIEW :: VARIOUS ARTISTS - 21ST CENTURY DUB

Current mood: RIGHTEOUS REGGAE
Category: RIGHTEOUS REGGAE Music

Picking friends on the basis of music taste is a very dubious way of going about things, but is myspace promoting that? To be quite frank, who gives a fuck what myspace is promoting, I'm sure we're all strong enough to look after ourselves, BLAH BLAH BLAH etc etc (introduction done)…

But if there's one type of music that's divided my friends down the years, it's been Dub Reggae. Yes boss, I've known more people who've had a distaste for Dub than anything else except maybe the Goth sound and style…

So are you one of those who doubts the importance, power and soul of quality of the original sound of Jamaica?

If you are and definitely if you're not, you need to be getting your juicy paws on a copy of 21^st Century Dub, because this record is one hell of a compilation and a very fine introduction to everything that's good and diverse in the golden sound of the Caribbean..

Originally released in 1980, this compilation was the brainchild of Japanese percussionist Pecker. Often a collaborator with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Pecker approached Bob Marley with the idea of doing a dub/reggae album, and Marley hooked Pecker up with some of the best musicians in Jamaica (including Sly & Robbie, Augustus Pablo, Rico Rodriguez, Mikey Chung, Carlton and Aston Barrett, and Earl "Wire" Lindo), culminating in this rather stunning showcase of sound.

Yes boss, there's everything on this LP. Beautiful smooth vocal OOHSS to watch clouds by, experimental soundz to rattle your gillet, more traditional dub and it all works..

Specifically, tracks like Beggar Suite Pts 1-3 are perhaps at the more regular and known end of Dub, but are very good with it. The vocals on Concrete Jungle are anything but conventional, and the sounds of International Orchitis and Pecker Power Part One make one wonder if the digital age wasn't in fact invented in Jamaica in the late 1970s.

Yes boss, we're not only talking high quality dub reggae, but diverse and beautiful dub reggae and if you'd told me this was made yesterday I'd believe you.

Oh, and one other last reason why this LP is completely grand, is because it's a supergroup that isn't crap. Yes, this is a collaboration of enormous talents that focuses on getting the best out of the music, rather than being a poorly conceived wankfest run by record companies who don't know the meaning of the word 'enough'…..

So, I have no idea how I can across this particular feast. I'm in the very fortunate position whereby people keep sending me links to all manner of free downloads and blogs that hold unbelievable wealth and I'm not very good at keeping records of what comes from where, so if the person who put me onto this one reads this can remind me of it's precise location or anyone else knows a good place to buy or download a re-issue of this, hook the link onto a comment down below…

Thanks))

Currently listening : 21st Century Dub By Various Artists Release date: By 20 April, 1999

1:58 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	maryJane	...ive never really been an active listener of dub. or any reggae, for the most part. but i absolutely loveee the history and evolution of the music. and that, if nothing else, makes me appreciate the riddems. Posted by maryJane on August 17, 2007 - Friday at 4:01 PM [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Well, if you were to allow just one Dub LP into your collection, I'd recomend this be the one... Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on August 17, 2007 - Friday at 4:05 PM [Remove] [Reply to this]

Time Traveler

Marleys the man. One love and peace! Puff puff pass... Posted by Time Traveler on August 19, 2007 - Sunday at 5:30 AM [Remove] [Reply to this]