AUGUSTUS PABLO: "IN FINE STYLE"....My first DUB CD ever was Mr. Pablo's classic early 70s "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown", featuring the ghostly echoes and haunting melodica that not only defined his career but the genre itself. My next foray into his work was the "El Rocker's" CD, but that turned out, give or take, to be a slightly rehashed mix of "King Tubbys" and didn't really open that new mental portal I'd been hoping to explore. This new one on Pressure Sounds, on the other hand, is the real deal. Subheaded "Original Rockers -- 7" and 12" Selection 1973-1979", these are thick, meaty slices of ultra-heavy reverbed dub from the genre's golden days. You can't cut through the pot-haze density of this stuff without an industrial-grade fan; it's just a pack of 17 top-shelf instrumental studio killers that take reggae music about as far into deep-murk wizardry as it can go. Many of the 45s included on here are included only to give context to the longer, more tripped-out 12" "disco mixes". Truly fine style & one of the best unearthings of lost 70s reggae since the IMPACT ALL-STARS a few years back.

posted by Jay H. at 2:11 PM