Well well, miss Claire... you say you don't know much 'bout the DUB, but you have hit the nail on the head with thee above phrase!boudicca wrote:...arsing around with their effects and a reel-to-reel tape...
Dub came to life in the late sixties when some Jamaican dudes needed to have some 'exclusives' to play on their soundsystems (yu know, the big block parties outside a liquor store or so...) so they could stand out from the other soundsystems in town (there were many in those days!). The way they did that, was to arse around with effects and a reel to reel tape and to make an existing tune (preferably a huge hit on the streets already) into somekind of a 'remix'.... First job was to kick out the vocals, make the bass fatter and get the old echo box out of the cupboard.
Very soon those 'remixes' were more loved by the crowd/party peepz than the 'proper' tunes and then many a producer jumped on the bandwagon and started to produce dubs or the so called versions...
As always some producers just go with the flow, but a few of them really made history by being very creative with the medium. Osbourne Ruddock aka King Tubby, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Augustus Pablo, Errol Thompson & Keith Hudson are all of the more 'genius' kind and really lead the way...
Most important records to get (at first) are:
Lee Perry: Blackboard Jungle Dub (tracks Panta Rock, Drum Rock, Dub Organizer & the rest are all great!)
Augustus Pablo: King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (Rockers Rock, Frozen Dub, King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, 555 Dub Street etc are sublime!)
Keith Hudson: Pick a Dub (Pick a Dub, I'm Alright, Satan Side, Melody Maker are the best, deepest & moodiest dubs around!)
King Tubby was more the one to hire to get smart with your tunes and like that his stuff is all over the place... good places to start are the Dub Gone Crazy & Dub Gone 2 Crazy compilations on Blood & Fire records.
Joe Gibbs & Errol Thompson: African Dub Chapter 3 is another classic...
That is all old school stuff of course...
After that chaps like Mikey Dread, Jah Shaka & Mad Professor did wicked stuff in the UK, Bill Laswell in the USA, Rhythm & Sound in Germany...
...etc etc etc
It ain't easy to talk like this... without fuel I mean...
Next time you're in the neigborhood, come by the house and I'll guide you through the record collection, including many a fine anecdote and a wee likkle smoke or two
... or drop me a line