| Bob
Marley called him one his favorite Reggae
Singers. And many know him as the
"Crown Prince of Reggae".
Of course, we're talking about Dennis
Brown.
Unfortunately, he is no longer with us.
But his legacy is enormous. and even though
the multitude of Reggae Lovers know him, his
complete works remain to be discovered for
the multitude of people who love to dance to
the rhythm of the Reggae drum and bass line.
He sung on numerous albums and managed to
sing love songs as well as conscious lyrics
with the same skillfullness. And that is
kind of special. Classics such as
"Wolves and Leopards" surely
belong in the collection of every self
respecting Reggae collector.
Yes, a mighty vocalist he was. But not so
many people know, that he was a heavyweight
producer too. Junior Delgado, for example,
was produced by Dennis Brown.
And what happenned when this producer
takes his riddims to the mighty King
Tubby Studio, where Prince Jammy mixes these
tracks to some heavy DUBs?
It's DEBWISE Time!
DEBWISE stands for an a true Roots
experience brought to you by the creme de la
creme of what many call the golden years of
Jamaican Reggae. In DUB style!
Most of the vinyl which was released in
that day, has long been sold out. When
you're lucky, you'll find a copy on e-bay or
something, but that's it. Fortunately, we
are living in the age of re-releases and the
flood of crucial music just never seems to
stop.
This album is no exception.
UK based label BLOOD AND FIRE even took
two of such albums, remastered them for CD
and re-released UMOJA/20th CENTURY DEBWISE.
The result is therefore a disc literally
packed with Jamaican gems.
Almost everything released by Blood and
Fire is of extraordinairy value. And this
album is no exception to that golden rule.
21 tracks full of Roots and Culture, full
of vibes. Almost all of them are top notch.
Stricktly rockers: majestic horns and
cutting edge guitars, ultra-cool basslines
and tight drums, blazing reverbs and flowing
echo's.
Don't think that all tracks sound like
each other, though. The musicians play a
wide variety of styles, even though the
intensity remains pretty high throught the
whole album.
But that's the result of the skillfull
mix work of PRINCE JAMMY.
Prince Jammy is a protegee of King Tubby,
the Godfather of DUB. Jammy's surely knows
his way on the board and quickly developed a
very personal style of mixing. His works
with Inner Circle and Black Uhuru are just
two examples. The DUBs on this album can
surely compete with these classics.
UMOJA/20th Century DEBwise is not only
recommended, it simply is an essential!
Long, long echo's and quick shifts, the
legendary Spring Reverb, it's all there.
This is the sound that many try to imitate
and never manage to originate...
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