King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown

by Rick AndersonIf you had to pick one album that best represents the pinnacle of the art of dub, you'd cull the candidates down pretty quickly to ten or 12, and it would get very difficult after that. Few would fault you for ending up with this one, though, which stands as perhaps the finest collaboration between two of instrumental reggae's leading lights: producer and melodica player Augustus Pablo and legendary dub pioneer King Tubby. Among other gems, this album offers its title track -- a dub version of Jacob Miller's "Baby I Love You So" -- which is widely regarded as the finest example of dub ever recorded. But the rest of the album is hardly less impressive. "Each One Dub," another cut on a Jacob Miller rhythm, possesses the same dark and mystical ambience, if not quite the same emotional energy, as "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown," and the version of the epochal "Satta Massaganna" that closes the album is another solid winner. Pablo's trademark "Far East" sound (characterized by minor keys and prominent melodica lines) is predominant throughout, and is treated with care and grace by King Tubby, who has rarely sounded more inspired in his studio manipulations than he does here. Absolutely essential. [Added to the 2004 reissue of the album are four bonus tracks taken from Jamaican singles and are based around tracks on the Rockers Uptown rhythms: "Black Gunn" is a version of "Keep On Dubbing", "1 Ruthland Close" is a different take on "555 Dub St.", "1-2-3 Version" is a re-working of the record's title track and "Silent Satta" is a version of "Satta Dub".]