King Tubby
★★★★
The Roots Of Dub
GREENSLEEVES. DL/LP
Remastered limited vinyl of a superlative dub LP.
The electronics technician and transformer specialist Osbourne Ruddock was crowned King Tubby for the sound system he operated in the Waterhouse ghetto of western Kingston, JA, earning the epithet ‘The Dub Inventor’ in the early 1970s for the sonic remix experiments he undertook on customised equipment in a converted front room. Released in 1975, The Roots Of Dub was among the first long-players issued in his name and it remains one of the best dub albums of all time, the gritty Aggrovators rhythms supplied by Bunny Lee stripped down to their core of drum and bass, with just a smattering of top-end phasing and snatches of studio dialogue keeping the listener firmly gripped throughout. Outstanding hits by Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell and others are transformed through the mixing artistry, and this pressing has given the bass notes greater clarity.