A
lot of people speak about Studio One as
being very important in reggae history, and
rightfully so. Studio One is the place where
many reggae riddims came to exist. Channel
One is another very important studio, where
some of the hardest and heaviest Roots
Rockers tracks have been recorded. With the
mighty Sly and Robbie as the backbone of the
Channel One studio bands in the 1970's, this
ought to be no suprise. Subtitled "Dubs
& Instrumentals From Channel One (Remastered)",
UK based PRESSURE SOUNDS suprises us with a
massive 16 track disc containing what I can
only describe as crucial hard rocking DUBS!
Several dubs from Dillinger's mighty CB 200
album, some cuts from the Mighty Diamonds,
and Leroy Smart, a very good singer who
should have gotten more attention than he
does. And that's not the complete list.
Not all tracks are DUBs in the sense of
heavy mixing, but most of them are. And
they're all "stricktly rockers",
as this kind of roots reggae music was
called in the late 1970's. Many drum rhtyhms
on this album are of the
"Steppers" kind, a rhythm said to
be invented by Sly Dunbar: a militant rhythm
with a bassdrum kick on every count, just
like many modern dance tracks utilize this.
Everytime I listen to this album, I get a
feeling to turn up the volume until it's so
loud that my heart and soul are totally
captured by the music! And how can a
response be dfferent, with this multitude of
crucial hard rocking roots Dubs?
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