| Mikey
Dread called him "apprentice
master", and that was two years before
he mixed this album. The apprentice was a
youth and his teacher was none other than
King Tubby himself.
Another word which would very well
describe young Overton Brown as he took up
the challenge by King Tubby's who told him
there was no way in which he would be able
to mix a good DUB, would be
"prodigy".
The Scientist, as he was called pretty
soon after his initial mixing works, became
the most innovative Dub engineer after King
Tubby's back in the late 1970's, early
1980's.
It was a time wherein Reggae Music
changed from Roots Rockers into Rub a Dub, a
time wherein the Roots Radics had just
replaced the Revolutionaries as Channel
One's studio band.
Producer Henry "Junjo" Lawes
was very impressed by Scientist's Dub mixes
and a series of albums were released on the
UK based Greensleeves label.
This album is a part of that
series.
Ten outstanding Dub mixes, wherein the
Scientist shows his ability to completely
transform a danceable Rub a Dub riddim into
a totally spaced out trip into realms where
no one had gone before.
Every knob on the mixing board is
touched. Every instrument is treated with
layers of effects, even the bass guitar.
There were only two hands mixing, but it
surely sounds like the Scientist was mixing
with 20 hands.
Most of the tracks follow each other in
an almost unnoticeable manner, while subtle
and not-so-subtle use of effects takes you
from one event into the next.
Vocalists like Eek a Mouse and the
Viceroys enter the mix only to leave again,
soaked in echo's and reverbs. The drum and
bass seem to cause explosions at every hit
of the snare drum, and a host of other
instruments (especially the guitar) provide
a multitude of extraordinary moments.
You don't listen to an album like this,
you experience it.
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