MUSIC ON VINYL
Limited to 750 copies on numbered 180g orange vinyl, this reissue of the 1982 Trojan classic comes in the year the legendary label celebrates its 50th anniversary. While the song titles – Buck Rogers In The Black Hole, Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker – and Ade Cruft’s sleeve design are a playful salute to sci-fi, Linval Thompson’s compositions make little concession to the subject on what is an early-80s dub staple. Canyon-deep echo and reverb-drenched snare hits are of course the order of the day from the Roots Radics band, with the King Tubby-mentored pair at the controls at Channel One Studios and Tubby’s own Jamaica HQ. One of the best examples in his sizeable catalogue, …Strike Back! captures Scientist’s innovative production and masterful use of delay, reverb and filter effects. His vocal flickers briefly into focus on the opening Storming The Death Star, “sailing sailing” before melting away into an intoxicating spiral of tape delay and rock-steady bass that takes hold into the final notes of the brilliantly titled closer C-3PO + R2-D2 = The Force.