Dub, Reggae & Roots From The Melodica King
(Ocho) Used 2xLP $20.00 (Out-of-stock)
A pretty fantastic collection of some of Pablo’s best early material. While there is overlap with previous releases, there are some nice dubs and alternate mixes on this 2000 collection. Jacob Miller’s “Baby I Love You So” gets a superb melodica reading on “Cassava Piece,” and the guitars of “Give Praise” slip, slide, and submerge under water on “Silent Satta.” Lee Perry contributes a haunting revisitation of Pablo’s “Java” rhythm (“Dub Ethiopia”) and the outstanding and oddly understated “Black Ants Lane.” King Tubby’s mix of “Black Gunn” (led by Pablo’s ringing xylophone) is wonderfully bizarre, and “New Style” (a dub of Bongo Pat’s “Young Generation”) is rock-solid dub 101. Excellent liner notes detail Pablo’s evolution during the period and point the way to the original sources for many of the rhythms.
East Of The River Nile
(Jet Set) Used CD $15.00
A must-have classic, originally released in 1977 on the Message label, by one of Jamaica’s canonical reggae and dub musicians. Recorded in Lee “Scratch” Perry’s legendary Black Ark Studio and mixed by the Scientist of Sound King Tubby, backed by a first-rate band that includes Robbie Shakespeare on bass, drummer Aston “Family Man” Barrett, and guitarist Earl “Chinna” Smith. This 2012 reissue delivers a nondub instrumental album — meditational with a dark undercurrent and a surreal atmosphere — that serves as the syncopated soundtrack of the Rasta nation. Sealed
El Rocker's
(Pressure Sounds) Used LP $12.00 (Out-of-stock)
Focusing on the rhythms and tunes that make up the epochal King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown album, this 2000 release was the first major re-issue of the work of the legendary Jamaican musician-producer following his death in 1999. Seventeen tunes, all rare alternate cuts and hard-to-find gems. With liner notes insert.
Skanking With Pablo – Melodica For Hire 1971-77
(Earmark) Used 2xLP $20.00
Concentrating on the early rebel rock period of the melodica master’s outstanding career, this 2003 Italian pressing gathers the best of Pablo’s recordings for producers like Lee Perry, Joe Gibbs, Clive Chin and Derrick Harriott.
This Is...
(Above Rock) Used LP $12.50
A 1997 edition of one of the greatest collections of Jamaican instrumental music and an essential part of reggae history. With future Wailer Tyrone Downie on keyboards, Aston “Family Man” Barrett, “Fully” Fullwood and Lloyd Parks on bass, Carlton Barrett, “Santa” Davis and Lloyd “Tin Leg” Adams on drums and Earl “Chinna” Smith on guitar, Errol Thompson at the mixer, the simmering rootsy sound percolates with reggae beats and minor keys that conjure wondrous atmospheres. Many of the melodies are variations on classic songs, or, in the case of “Jah Rock” (a version of “Ol’ Man River”), Hollywood greats. The music swings across the spectrum from the classically tinged “Please Survive” to the almost poppy “Pretty Baby,” encompassing the deep dub of “Point Blank” and “Pablo in Dub” to the jaunty “Too Late.”