Unconquered People : Israel Vibration

This disc provides a great look at one of Reggae's sweetest vocal trios in their prime.  Original recorded material from about 1978-1980 and released on LP by Talent Music in 1978 and Greensleeves in 1980, then on CD in 1990 also by Greensleeves and again in 1996 on RAS.  Israel Vibration is a killer vocal trio with it's three legendary members: Skelly, Apple, and Wiss. Their albums from the seventies to early eighties are the heaviest, from the last great roots movement coming out of the '70's.  The backing musicians on this one include Augustus Pablo and the Barrett's (Aston "Familyman" and Carlton).  10 tracks total on this one.  Recorded at Tuff Gong - Kinsgton with mixing engineer Errol Brown.  These three tracks are a good example of what this album offers: #2 (Friday Evening), #5 (Top Contol), #10 (Practice What Jah Teach) this last track has a killer guitar riff and a great conscious message.  There's a little horns, piano/keyboard in almost all the tracks.  It's a well engineered and produced set.

Harder than the Best - Marcus Garvey / Garvey's Ghost : Burning Spear

These are two great albums that represent a great cross-section of Burning Spear Material.  With Garvey and Garvey's Ghost, you get the heart of the message of Burning Spears music.  Harder Than the Best was a short order compilation of sorts representing material from '75-'77 with eleven tracks total.  Originally released on LP in 1979 by Island and then again in 2000 on CD.  These two discs share quite a few cross-over tracks including : The Invasion, Marcus Garvey, and Slavery Days.  This disc has one of my favorite Burning Spear tracks "Man in the Hills".
Burning Spear 100th Anniversary is really the way to go, it includes both the Marcus Garvey & Garvey's Ghost (dub) albums.  This was also an Island release CD.  The Garvey's Ghost dub set is a nice instrumental dub with out too much effects.  This material was originally recorded in '76 and fits in with the other mid seventies tracks from Harder Than the Best.  You get a good twenty tracks total on the 100th Anniversary, including the killer dub "Farther East of Jack".  The music found on these two discs is a decent portion of the great seventies catalog that Burning Spear has presented to us and this time frame is were his most famous work is from. 

Shaolin Temple : Barrington Levy

Barrington Levy's Shaolin Temple is a great roots album from the Auralux label (CD) released in 2006 and the original LP release from Jah Guidance in 1979.  The CD release has 14 tracks with four extended tracks and a super-bonus of Jah Thomas / Lawes Rockers Version of Shaolin Temple.  It's a killer dub instrumental of the humbling title track.  This is probably the second best Barrington Levy (Non-Compilation) album only bowing to English Man.  Barrington displays the same vocal prowess executed in English Man and the Producer Junjo puts together the driven crew of experts that pushed this album out, including: Mixing Engineer Scientist and Backing Band  Roots Radics.  You'll hear many familiar Junjo rhythms, used by others such as Daweh Congo.  Track twelve shares the beat with Daweh's killer track Human Rights & Justice.  The best tracks on this fully outstanding album are track #3 (Bounty Hunter w/ an outstanding intro), and numbers #13 & #14 which are both extended version of the title track Shaolin Temple.  Another good source to find other versions of many of these tracks is the Roots Radics Dub Fi Junjo disc, a dub tribute to the late Junjo Lawes.

Dub Specialist : A Studio One Dub Compilation

This is a set of classic studio one instrumental-dub tracks that warps you through time back to the beginning of the roots dub movement.  You can easily keep this in rotation with your best albums.  This is a great disc to listen to straight through and that should really help you get the best feel for these great examples of some dub all-stars and pioneers classic cuts.  You can find solid dub tracks for several roots greats like: Cornell Campbell, The Heptones, Delroy Wilson,  Jackie Mittoo, Horace Andy, and a few others.  There are 17 tracks total on this 1995 release from Heartbeat - It's presented as an album by C.S. Dodd representing Studio One, but with the great line-up it has more of a compilation feel.  The best couple tracks on this one are: #2 (Dubbing Lecturer - The Soul Agents), #6 (Banana Walk), and #7 (Lost in Dub - The Heptones).  This is mostly very early seventies and late sixties classic roots dub, so if you're in to more heavy solid roots dub, this might not be the album for you.

Roots Archives : Reggae Database Website

If you need any info on a rare album or if you want to browse others discs and albums by your favorites artist, you should visit http://www.roots-archives.com/.  This is a great resource to find release dates, musician info, various pictures, and reviews.  Roots Archives has a great internal search engine for artists, albums, songs, labels, and more.  There's tons of info on older reggae from the golden seventies, sixties, and more contemporary artist info as well.  When you get a "new" album or disc to your collection it's nice to visit this site to fill in the little bits of info the CD booklet can sometimes miss and to see where the album fits in the artists' discography.  It's a nicely laid out website and the search tools are easy to use while you navigate the mountain of info you can find.

DC Dub Connection : Earl "Heptones" Morgan

This is a pure dub album produced by Earl Morgan (of the Heptones) and sporting the talents of Prince Jammy, Lee Perry, and Scientist as the mixing and recording engineers ; a great collaboration.  Not flashy or over technical, this is pure roots dub.  Most of these tunes you'll find familiar.  My copy of this album is a CD released by the Auralux label in 2007, the original release was on vinyl by Tele-Tech back in 1982.  Only 10 tracks on this one but all are solid.  My favorites on this one are #1 (Bo-Yarka Dub), #3 (Vibration Rock), and #7 (Party Time Dub).  The booklet that comes with the CD is a nice addition, with very in depth notes on the history of Earl Morgan and the the origin of the different tracks on this album.  The booklet notes were provided by David Katz and are about 5 pages of nicely written reggae history.

If Jah Should Come Now ( + Dub ) : Rod Taylor

This is a twenty track disc with the first ten tracks being the original vocal album release from 1979 off of the Hit Run label, the second half of the disc is the dub counterpart.  My copy of this disc is a Jet Star label release from somewhere in the 2000's.  Rod Taylor doesn't have many albums where he is the exclusive vocalist and central star, so that makes this album an interesting piece. His vocal skills can be found scattered across the reggae lanscape on compilations from several labels.  You can also remember that Hit Run later became Clocktower (out of Canada) and this Rod Taylor production was pushed through by that same talented engineering group.  To get the most out of Rod Taylor's music catalog it's best to go with one of the compilations ; Ethiopian Kings is my favored Rod Taylor selection featuring the hard roots tracks : Behold Him, In the Right Way, and His Imperial Majesty.  On this disc however, I favor a few of the tracks from the dub side over the vocal tracks.

Satta Massagana : The Abyssinians

The Abyssinians are one of the sweetest vocal trios on the roots reggae scene.  This is for sure the cornerstone album of the Abyssinians music library, which is really only a few truly different albums.  My copy of this disc is the 1997 Heartbeat release, the original release was in 1976 on vinyl.  The 1993 CD has 14 tracks, but there is another more recent release from 2007 within an additional four tracks including two extended mixes.  This is one of those albums were it's tough to pick out the best tracks because the whole set is just a great production.  Track #13 (Reason Time) features a haunting organ and bass line ; Track #14 (There is No End) has a great message of keeping your head up and looking forward not backward with a mysterious ambient electric guitar dancing in the background.  This is truly one of the top vocal trio albums in the history of reggae and I look forward to sinking my teeth in to the extra tracks on the 2003 release.

Dub to Africa : Prince Far-I & the Arabs

This is one of the finest examples of roots dub in my collection.  Prince Far-I brings his band of musicians (the Arabs including Flabba) in to a storm of dub with some heavy bass thunder.  Not too fancy, not too many effects, these are just solid and constant dub tracks that will drop you off in to a trance, almost hypnotizing.  Far-I gives a brief introduction before each track making his presence felt through the rough grumblings of his wise and seemingly ancient voice.  He's one of my favorites and most of his workings are solid, but this one is just the tops.  This album dropped in 1979 on LP from the Hit Run label with the original eight tracks, right in the middle of Far-I's Cry Tuff Dub Encounter series.  Then Pressure Sounds released in on CD in 2007 with two bonus tracks.  All ten tracks are strong pieces that put together an outstanding dub set when listened to all the way through.  Track #1 (Ace Bass) & track #2 (Dub to Africa) get things going and before you know it you are in the middle of the album.

MUNDELL Greensleeves Reggae Classics : Hugh Mundell

This is a Great Hugh Mundell disc originally released on LP by Greensleeves back in 1982 and released on CD in 2004.  Top to bottom, this set is all wonderfully unique roots from the the tragically short career of Mundell.  There are twelve tracks total on the CD ; the last four are considered bonus tracks that were added on to the original LP set.  This album has got the production works of Junjo Lawes and Scientist at the boards and features some great musicians like Flabba on bass.  These tracks were recorded at Channel One and then mixed over at Tubby's.  If you collect this disc and pair it with the albums "Blessed Youth" and "Jah Fire" (a Black Arrow label release with Prince Jammy mixing and production).  Really all the tracks on this disc are nice, but my favorites are #2 (Rasta Have the Handle) and #10 (Can't Pop No Style).  Their is a great live version of Can't Pop No Style out there.  It's extremely deep roots and extremely hard to find.

King Tubby meets Rockers Uptown : Augustus Pablo

This is for sure a classic roots set that shows you what reggae is all about.  This is a 1994 Abraham label CD release - originally released in 1977 on vinyl by Clocktower.  The material was recorded from '72-'75 with Chinna, Familyman, Dirty Harry, and others.  Clocktower is a reggae label that was formed in New York, but now works out of Ontario, Canada.  Abraham is another label name coming out of Clocktower and you can see similarities in disc production.  Pablo and Tubby blend bass and melodica  in and out of these tunes mixed down at King Tubby's with Errol Thompson.  There is also a 2004 Shanachie (US) label release with bonus tracks to the original 12.  All the tracks in this one are outstanding and you might recognize some of them as dubbed-out Pablo versions of popular Jacob Miller tunes.  This set of musical works is considered a prime example of seventies dub roots at it's finest - a cornerstone at the base of the Jamaican dub movement.

Rhythm Come Forward : Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Aswad,

This is a quick nine track introduction reggae compilation.  It starts with a little bit of old school Bob Marley and moves through some prime vintage Tosh (Stepping Razor & Legalize It).  The two Aswad tracks to follow are pretty good (Track ##5 - Drum & Bass Line) and then you get a little taste of Yellowman and some more contemporary Third World and Jimmy Cliff.  This disc was put out by Sony back in 1990 or CBS-Columbia in 1984 take your pick.  You can get a used copy off of Amazon for 1 Cent plus shipping.  Recorded material range from the very early seventies all the way through 1984.  This is really a decent set of tracks ; the first six songs are very competent selections that anchor this compilation. 

Vital Force Dub : Gato Negro

This seems to be the follow up disc for "Black Cat Dub" from the eccentric dub styles of Gato Negro.  It's a fairly good roots dub cd with a more contemporary sound at times, but that's kind of the Gato's thing.  This disc is a 1995 release from ROIR with 16 tracks total, about half of witch follow the lead of Gato's first CD.  The other half of the tracks seem to stray away from the original style that pulled me in with Black Cat Dub.  My favorites on this one are #3 (Muntu Dub), #5 (Power Light), and #14 (Never Endin' Dub) - this last one is a pretty killer track.  I wouldn't say this is a must have, but you can buy a used disc online for $1 plus shipping. 

Freedom Sounds in Dub : King Tubby

I know that the number of King Tubby CD's out there is enormous.  Even for a reggae fan who holds the art of dub close to their hart, the Tubby library is endless.  So where do we find the best King Tubby discs or top notch compilations?  Blood & Fire, that's where.  Just like it's issuing counterpart Dub in the Roots Tradition : Scientist, Freedom Sounds in Dub is a great example of how this large available library of tunes can be condensed in to a stand out compilation.  Even if you only want a few pure dub cd's to anchor down your collection, this is a outstanding representation of Tubby.  Although I can really listen to this one over and over on repeat I'll still pick out a couple of my  favorites.  #1 (Ethiopian Version), #2 (Leaving Babylon Dub), and #11 (Tinson Pen Dub) are the top few of this 15 track set.  The recorded material is from the late seventies ('76-'79) and has the solid backing of the Soul Syndicate. 

Rich Man Poor Man : Barry Brown

There are 14 tracks on this late seventies greatest hits with most of them ranging from roughly 3 to about 4 minutes.  The Revolutionaries, Roots Radics, The High Times Band, and the Aggrovators are all credited as backing bands on different tracks giving this a disc a wide variety in instrumental styles.  This is a true Kingston production going down at Harry J's, King Tubby's and Channel One.  This is a fairly good representation of the Barry Brown style and coupled with King Jammy presents Barry Brown you should get the best of Barry Brown.  This CD is from the Moll Selekta label with material from 1978-1980.  My favorites in this one are #1 (Fire Fire), #4 (Pass Up the Chalice), and #7 (Burial).  This version of "Burial" is my personal favorite of all the attempted covers - very nice pace - very nice vocal delivery.  The last two tracks on this disc are the title track and it's dub counterpart, a very nice way to end the set,  instead of starting the album with the title track.

Dub in the Roots Tradition : Scientist

This is a Greatest Hits compilation of the master-skilled Scientist ; presented to us by Blood & Fire back in 1996.  The Blood & Fire label did a ton of reissue work in the 90's and it's nice to see that Scientist made their list of musicians, engineers, and vocal artists to honor with a high quality production.  15 tracks of choice cuts on this disc and all straight up roots dub.  A lot of familiar rhythms on this one but Scientist has a way of twisting the sounds in ways the other engineers seem to overlook sometimes.  The tunes range from about 1976 - 1979, this is said to be the beginning stages of the Scientist's dub journey.  My favorites on this one are #1 (King Tubby's Awnser), #2 (Dub Bible), #5 (Don't Rush the Dub), and #11 (Sunshine Version).  Like most Blood & Fire reissue/compilation products, the booklet and liner notes provide a great insight in to the time lines of Scientist's accomplishments and associations with his contemporaries.  scientist is sometimes known as the second great student of King Tubby's behind Jammy.  He's worked all over the world with the finest reggae musicians such as Roots Radics and I was able to witness his skills live at the now defunct Malibu Inn (http://hbreggaeblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/don-carlos-malibu-inn.html).  This is a nice disc to have in the dub section of your collection.  It would fit rite in with some of your favorite Tubby's (King Tubby's Hidden Treasure) (Dub Like Dirt) and maybe a quality Jammy's disc (King Jammy Presents Barry Brown) to round out your seventies roots dub.

The Great Pablo : Augustus Pablo

This CD was released by "Music Club" under license from Trojan Recording in 2000. There are 15 tracks on my copy of this Greatest Hits type of CD. The recording material ranges from 1971 to 1975 ; said to be the heart of Pablo's works. The disc comes with a very short one page synopsis of Pablo's career. I wouldn't say the liner notes provided any new insight in to Pablo that I haven't found elsewhere already. My favorites on this one are : #1 ( East of the River Nile ), #2 ( River Nile Version ), #6 (The Great Pablo ), and #12 (House Raid ). This disc isn't totally instrumental, there's vocals and dj version on two or three of the tracks. Other classic songs Pablo dubbed out on this one like, #13 ( Curly Locks ), #14 ( Road Block ), and #12 ( House Raid ) which is a killer dub version of the classic "Burial" and the rest are excellent takes on these classic tracks. That's one of the things that makes this disc a nice addition to your collection - it fills a few of the gaps in the story of Augustus Pablo. Kind of a supplemental disc to the more classic Original Rockers : Augustus Pablo & Ital Dub : Augustus Pablo . I've done blogs on several other albums that include Pablo as musician, producer, and inspiration so check those out if you're looking for more quality discs.

Ten to One : Dillinger

This is a 2 Disc set with the second disc being the straight dub crossover of disc one. I'm reallly hooked on the dub set on disc 2 rather than the original vocal chant performance of Manchester, England's own Dillinger. This seems to be some sort of value pack offering from "Classic Reggae" by Secret Records in 2007. This set is produced by Niney the Observer and you can tell, the production work on the dub tracks is excellent. There are 14 tracks on each disc, I tend to favor the dub CD and my favorites on that one are: #5 (My Dub Leads the Way), #9 (Dub Jamboree), #13 (Foreign Dub), and #11 (Hurry Dub) which is a pretty tough "Stir It Up" version. The Bass is a clean and heavy as lead. This is great for the ride or the sound system. A lot of familiar beats including the stir it up version. Credits indicate this material was recorded at Channel One, Tuf Gun, and Joe Gibbs and engineered by the legendary Scientist & Errol Thompson. All tracks are backed by the Soul Syndicate band featuring Sly & Robbbie. Although I mainly talk about the dub set, some of the disc 1 vocal have killer lyrics. The best of CD 1 tracks are #2 (My Address) and # 5 (My Sound a Boom). You should be able to score this disc on the used internet market for less than $10 USD.

Dread at the Controls Dub : Gussie Clarke : The Revolutionaries

This is an original LP released on Gussie label back in 1978, my CD copy by Auralux and Gussie in from 2007. This is classic roots but with very little vocal interruptions. - tracks total 10. 5 listed as side A and the second 5 as side B. Not to be confused with Mikey Dread's "Dread at the Controls". My favorite tracks on this one are : #2 (Michael Campbell Theme), #4 (Mixed Up Stuff), and #9 (Midnight Clappers). This whole set is full of nice clean solid bass with new tracks and rhythms that I've never heard. Gussie adds the triangle and various percussion instruments reminding me of the style of classic dub album, "Macca Rootsman Dub" also by The Revolutionaries. The booklet has some nice notes by David Katz on the story of Gussie and his role in the growing Jamaican reggae sound wave emanating from the island. The last couple pages of the booklet notes get in to this specific album and explains more about certain selected tracks. Overall, this is a great selection to help highlight the dubwise section, of your collection.

Production Something : Culture

For fans of Culture and Joseph Hill this disc should be in the top two or three albums in their collection along with International Herb : Culture . This disc is set up so you get the dub version of each track mixed straight in to the end of the original vocal version - excellent. Apparently this is Joseph Hill's example of how patience and thoroughness in the studio and at the mixing boards paid off. The first few tracks are the prime examples of the Culture sound with clean instrumental roots dubs laced on to the end. My favorites on this one are : #1 (Too Long in Slavery), #2 (Garvey), and #7 (Dog A Go Nyam Dog). There's also an eleven minute version of Pyaka (#6). Only nine tracks total on this one, but they're all extra long chunky dubs. All the studio musicians involved are the highest ranking and the production of this disc is another solid effort from Heartbeat (1998). The booklet on this one explains quite well how this album came about and how this has affected the path of dub that culture began to integrate in to their musical path through the years.

Open the Iron Gate : Max Romeo

This disc is a greatest hits catalog showcasing Max Romeo's work from 1973 through 1977. This is a more recent Blood & Fire production of "Revelation Time" sharing many of the same tracks and adding the extra version and extended tracks here and there. I think there are 12 tracks total on this one and they are all roots classics that should be heard. The sound quality is nice and clear on this 1999 release. The booklet has a brief biographical story of Max Romeo that correlates the time line of political events with his songs. He collaborated with Lee Perry and many other producers so his work is scattered across the reggae landscape, but this is a nice compilation. This is reggae fueled by the bad feeling and hard times of the populous in Jamaica and Max Romeo is known for speaking his mind through hard metaphors delivered with the smooth voice of an soul superstar. If you are looking for just one disc to represent Max Romeo in your collection - this is a pretty good choice.

Nuh Skin Up : Keith Hudson

This album is known as a classic Keith Hudson take on the seventies roots dub out. There are 9 tracks on the original LP released by Joint International and 11 tracks on the newer CD release by Pressure Sounds. The Pressure Sounds CD edition includes a nice booklet that will help guide you in to the world of Hudson's music and explain his relationship with Junior Walker. The Nuh skin up CD release is from 2007. The producers are Keith Hudson and Junior Walker, who is a little heard of talent scout and producer from the seventies. Backing credits are given to The Soul Syndicate : Fully Fullwood, Santa, Robbie, Chinna, Tony Chin, and a few others. The CD release of Nuh Skin Up is a little different then the original LP with some original tracks replaced by dub tracks and the order of the tracks are shuffled around a little too. My favorite tracks on this one is #2 (Troubles) and #9 (No Commitment). Both of these tracks are fine examples of the Keith Hudson style, but he's presented a ton of work that is hard to find on CD. Check out what you can find from Hudson and hope they continue to reissue his past albums.

The Roots of Dub : King Tubby

This is a classic set of 12 roots dub tracks from the mind of Tubby. It was originally released by Total Sounds on LP back in 1975, but I recently picked up a CD copy released by Jamaican Recordings. This disc has a nice combination of familiar Tubby cuts with some different tracks mixed in. It's nice to find some different Tubby beats, rhythms, and versions. Jamaican Recordings does a good job putting together a quality disc with nice sound quality ; produced by Bunny Lee and the backed by the Aggrovators. And of course mixed at King Tubby's in Kingston, JA. The booklet is really only a two page semi-history of Tubby that includes a brief statement by Bunny Lee. Over all I would say that this disc is a good representation of Tubby's approach to roots dub from the seventies - a good look at the past.

Weakheart Fadeaway : Ranking Joe

Greensleeves and Ranking Joe released this 10 track set back in 1978, yet Joe's roots dj messages stay relevant in today's world. This seems like a short album when you look at the length and number of tracks, but each one is an excellent example of 70's roots dj at it's finest. My favorites on this one are #3 (Dread Earthquake), #4 (Natty Dread is a Trademan), and #6 (Weakheart Fadeaway) which is Joe version of Junior Byles "Fade Away" famous from the Rockers Soundtrack : Various Artists. This has got to be one of Ranking Joe's top 3 albums and with talent like Ansel Collins, Sly, and Robbie - I consider it a classic for sure. The studio engineering was done at Channel One by Ernest Hoo Kim, Maxie, and Barnabas - produced by Joseph Hoo Kim. I think the most recent release of this disc is a Greensleeves "Reggae Classics" CD from 2004. You should be able to pick it up for about $6-$8 on the used CD market.

Rockers International 2 : Augustus Pablo

This CD is a Greensleeves 1992 release with 15 tracks total. This roots, dub, and vocal material was recorded at various places all over Kingston : King Tubby's, Randy's, Channel One, and Dynamic Sounds and includes tracks by Hugh Mundell, Augustus Pablo, the Pablo All Stars, Jacob Miller, Earl "Sixteen" Daley, and a few more. These tracks are a really a good set of Pablo versions you might not have heard before especially the one's from Hugh Mundell (Selassie I Veranda) the other standout track to me on this album is Junior Delgado (Away with your Fussing and Fighting). The engineering credit goes to King Tubby, Prince Jammy, and Philip Smart on this mid-seventies compilation. I think this is a pretty good album, but these are a little more obscure tracks that should be paired with earlier Pablo discs such as Original Rockers : Augustus Pablo, This is Augustus Pablo - Rebel, Rock, Reggae : Augustus Pablo, and Who Say Jah No Dread : Jacob Miller. This is a harder CD to find these days and all your usual reggae vendors might not have it - your best bet is to get a hold of a used copy. I'd say overall this is a pretty good CD, I definitely like some tracks a lot more than others.

Willow Tree : Gregory Isaacs

This is a ten track set from the Jamaican Gold label collection. Classic 70's Gregory Isaacs roots vocal selection. My CD copy is a 1992 release and I noticed some similarities between this album and My Number One : Gregory Isaacs . They share a couple tracks including No Speech No Language and Lonely Teardrops. They also seem to share the same photo shoot for the album art. If you want to put one album up against the other head to head I would have to favor My Number One because of the extra Lonely Teardrops versions and the Border track with U-Brown. Willow Tree has outstanding quality tracks as well (#5 Everything is Going Alright) and really it's best to have both albums to give yourself a comprehensive look at Gregory during this great time in his career. The studio is at Channel One Kingston and the engineering by Ernest Hoo-Kim. The Producer is listed as Alvin Ranglin.

The Icebreakers with The Diamonds : Planet Mars Dub

This is a dub set from the Virgin Frontline series of discs, the material was originally released in 1978. Ten tracks total on this one. All the tracks are solid and dub fans can listen to this one straight through. Track #2 (Sweet Answer) and track #6 (Grand Rock) are the standouts. This one's nice and mellow, just nice cleaned up dub with a little Diamonds vocal in the background. The Mighty Diamonds meet up with the Icebreakers backing band. This is a heavy crew featuring Sly Dunbar, Chinna, and a few other regulars. An interesting note to this one is that was recorded and mixed in the Bahamas at Compass Point. Total Jamaican reggae with a little Bahamian flair perhaps. I dig the album art on this one - the "speaker flying saucers" arriving on the scene to perhaps share some fat bass lines with the dreads. This is one of my top ten PURELY dub albums.

Top Ranking Dub : The Revolutionaries

This CD review is a shot back at Rasta Dub ' 76 : The Aggrovators, from the latest HB Reggae Blog. Top Ranking Dub is a 10 track set from 1978 Duke Reid International productions (European import). Both of these roots dub selections are from the mid to late seventies and both are solid to listen straight through. Ansel Collins, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare take the lead on this instrumental set. The dub engineering and mixing by Crucial Bunny seems more like audio management as he just puts the finishing touches on a great instrumental effort by the Revolutionaries. The rear album sleeve says this album is volume 1, but I can't seem to track down any following editions and I don't even know if they're out there. The album art gets a quick mention for the totally seventies zombie gorilla German soldier - I'm not sure what to think of this choice for the cover, but I am entertained by it.