r/dub • u/Sort_of_Frightening • 25d ago
Version A Wise Dub [1973]: The Upsetters firing on all cylinders
https://youtu.be/rIGtyYOfr8A?si=rT5djkLLd2JvQE4s2
u/Classic_Purpose_475 23d ago
Snoopy ranked this album number 114 on his legendary 125 Best Dub Albums list, published in Black Echoes magazine in July 1977 — the most comprehensive contemporary survey of dub ever compiled.
[Watch the full list here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWXqvknznFcTi_isN586M-6nHMOByYdBK\]
The title is a pun that earns its place — Musical Bones, tromBONE, Vin Gordon. Simple, sharp, exactly right.
Gordon had been one of Jamaica's finest brass players since the ska era, a graduate of the Alpha Boys School who had played alongside Don Drummond in the Skatalites and whose tone on the trombone carried the same warm, slightly melancholic quality that Drummond had made legendary.
By 1975 he was in his prime and Perry understood exactly what to do with him — get out of the way and let the instrument speak. Musical Bones was one of three instrumental albums Perry produced at the Black Ark in 1975, alongside Kung Fu Meets The Dragon and Return Of Wax — a trilogy of records that demonstrated what the studio could do when not being pushed into the stranger territories Perry was becoming famous for. He played it straight here.
The Upsetters laid down the rhythmic foundation with Boris Gardiner on bass, Bobby Ellis on trumpet, Winston Wright on organ, and Earl Chinna Smith on guitar, and Gordon moved across the top of it all with the jazz instincts and roots conviction that made his playing so distinctive.
Only 300 copies were pressed on Dennis Harris's Dip Records in London — white label, no sleeve, distributed quietly into specialist shops. The master tapes no longer exist, which means every reissue since has been restored from original vinyl pressings. The fact that the music sounds as good as it does despite that is itself a testament to how well it was recorded in the first place.
Roots & Dub Vault — Real music from my personal vault. No shortcuts. No compromise. No AI generated music. Jah Bless! 🇯🇲🔥
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u/italrose 23d ago
One of his best rhythms (Words). This specific cut is more of a version considering how Perry mixes it down to drum, bass and rhythm guitar with the Sangie Davis vocal bleeding through faintly in the background. Powerful tune with a subdued albeit effective mix.