Search - King Tubby :: Dub From Roots

Back in the '50s and '60s, an engineer named King Tubby mixed Studio One's two-track tapes with the vocals on one track and the instruments on the other, then put the final results on an acetate master tape. He had the habit of dropping the vocals out for a chorus to check their quality, then mixing or "dubbing" them back in, but he soon realized that this in-and-out musical fan dance created a wonderful teasing tension of its own. One night, he brought several acetate tapes of his "dubs" to a dance promoted by Studio One's don, Coxsonne Dodd, and the crowd went crazy. Other producers--initially Bunny "Striker" Lee--hopped on board, adding reverb, echo, and even weirder sound effects, and set off a reggae dub craze that's never waned since. In partnership with Lee, Tubby was soon anointed the king of dub, and this collection skims the cream from Lee and Tubby's many collaborations. These classic dubs illustrate why the form has such enduring popularity. Propelled by reggae's leisurely "one-drop" rhythm--heavy on the bass, underscored by the drums and dramaticized by rhythmic slashes from keyboards and horns--dub's appealing brew of earth-anchored beats and outer-space effects works equally well as either background or foreground soundtrack to life, and, best of all for those who need to understand the lyrics, it knows no language barriers. --Elena Oumano