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.