King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown

Pablo, Augustus

Head-Nodding Dub Hipness

Dub arrives at its magic by subtraction—removing vocals and other elements exposes the hypnotic stuff underneath. The Jamaican style began when, in the late '60s, the engineer and sound system operator King Tubby scrapped the lead vocal tracks from a reggae single he was mixing. The spare sound caught on with dancers, and pretty soon artists were doing dub versions for the B sides of singles. On these, the basic rhythm section would be put through all kinds of sound effects, until the building blocks of reggae were rearranged. Sometimes clattering percussion would be the "star"; sometimes the only thing going would be the steady thud of deep bass.

Among the followers of King Tubby was young producer Augustus Pablo, whose chosen instrument was the wind-powered child's keyboard known as the melodica. Pablo brought his projects to Tubby for final mixdowns, sessions where the two would "deconstruct" the songs, part by part, until something entirely new emerged.

This mostly instrumental collaboration began when King Tubby heard Pablo's production of "Baby I Love You So" by Jacob Miller. Weaving tiny bits of Miller's vocal between Pablo's percussive chords, Tubby created, in an afternoon, what became "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown," a slithering minor-key piece with transfixing mystical overtones. The rhythm section, whch includes the esteemed bassist Robbie Shakespeare, becomes the star, rattling off head-nodding and endlessly danceable dub variations. Dub's earthy minimalism has enchanted many pop artists—see No Doubt's Rock Steady (p. 554), which was partly inspired by this and other Pablo efforts. If you've never quite gotten dub, don't give up until you try this record. It's one of the form's few sacred texts.

Genre: World, Jamaica
Released: 1976, Shanachie
Key Tracks: "Keep On Dubbing," "Young Generation Dub," "Stop Them Jah."
Catalog Choice: East of the River Nile.
Next Stop: Lee "Scratch" Perry: Arkology
After That: No Doubt: Rock Steady
Book Page: 572