King Tubby Dub from the Roots LP

There are very few individuals who command the respect of dub aficionados greater than "The Dubmaster" himself, King Tubby. On Tubby's venerable 1974 release, Dub from the Roots, he introduces us to the "Shalom Dub," a method of mixing flying cymbals with horns in what he describes as "going in and out in a dub way." Borrowing from the forty-fives of Johnny Clarke, Jackie Edwards, Cornell Campbell, John Holt, and Horace Andy, King Tubby takes the listener on a journey through a vast array of different emotions, rhythms and soundscapes. One of the standout cuts, "Iyahta" explores Tubby's use of deep electric basslines to evoke a melodic calmness in the listener, while "Mine Field" and "Hijack the Barber" bring you back with the cavernous echoes of stabbing guitars, horns, and cymbals. Though previously released by different labels on a variety of dusty pressings and formats, Clocktower's reissue of Dub from the Roots is the definitive edition of this "Dubmaster" classic, featuring audio mastered from the original analog tapes.

Dub from the Roots is an excellent example of Tubby's brilliant mastery of the mixing board and use of production as an invaluable instrument in and of itself. The compilation's 14 tracks swim in the grainy, glorious wash of reverb and delay that defined early dub, with Tubby isolating the various elements of the songs in a nearly scientific manner, dissecting classic rhythms and reshaping them into new, exciting forms track after track.