Included are some of the classic Dub tracks that Joe Gibbs produced that were to have huge influence with punk groups such as the Clash and the Pistols when first released partly on account of the strange sound effects that they would add to this music such as sirens, beepers and even flushing toilets!
Similarly the culture & roots music of The Mighty Diamonds and Culture, especially Culture's massive "Two Seven's Clash" were huge hits in the UK as punks found an ideological connection with the rebel sound of these groups.
But it is the breadth and quality of all the music that Joe Gibbs (and his partner/engineer Errol Thompson) produced in the mid-70s that makes this work special.
Joe Gibbs' house band of musicians known as The Professionals were usually led by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare and featured the cream of Kingston's finest session musicians. Their re-interpretation of classic Studio One rhythms in the mid-70s for Joe Gibbs (as well as Channel One) would become the basis for the arrival of Dancehall at the end of the decade.
Although
Joe Gibbs had begun producing at the end of the 1960s, this album starts
in the mid-70s and goes through to the 1980s. This roughly relates to
the arrival of Errol Thompson at Joe Gibbs studio who would go on to produce
all the material alongside Joe Gibbs under their joint name of The Mighty
Two. Thompson had first worked at Studio One and later Randy's where he
worked with Lee Perry who had an obvious influence on his production skills.
This record includes classic material from the cultural heavyweight likes
of Culture, Dennis Brown, Mighty Diamonds and Trinity alongside rare cuts
from the likes of Nigger Kojack and Liza, Shorty The President, Joe Tex
and U Black, and many more.
The album also comes with sleevenotes and classic photos from the likes
of Dennis Morris and Adrian Boot.
*back