Semi precious
Prince’s uneven 13th LP gets the super-deluxe box set treatment.
By Tom Doyle.
Channel One Sound System
★★★★
Down In The Dub Vaults
GREENSLEEVES. CD/DL/LP
Roots anthems and their dub counterparts, curated by esteemed selector.
Known as the ‘Roots Defenders of the Notting Hill Carnival’, Channel One Sound System made their name playing the hardest Jamaican reggae and dub, alongside compelling roots cut in England. For Down In The Dub Vaults, David Katz selector Mikey Dread has trawled the Greensleeves archives to gather a mix of familiar and obscure, with 10 danceable vocals followed by hefty dub versions. The compilation naturally favours the sound of the Roots Radics working at the Hoo-Kim brothers’ Channel One studio, as heard on the Wailing Souls’ Kingdom Rise Kingdom Fall, Michael Prophet’s Just Talking, Triston Palma’s Joker Smoker and Linval Thompson’s One More Chance, their delay-heavy dubs ably mixed by Scientist. Elsewhere, Hugh Mundell disses an ex on Can’t Pop No Style, Reggae Regular blast politicians on Black Star Liner, and Tetrack relates a slavery narrative on Trappers.