King Tubby

Seeing the name King Tubby in the title or in the credits is as much of a guarantee of quality as you could ever hope for when looking to purchase a dub album. Team him with horn genius Tommy McCook, crack studio outfit the Aggrovators, and producer Bunny Lee, and there's no possible chance of a duff album. King Tubby Meets the Agrovators at Dub Station proves this theory and then some. The 12-track session is dub at its trippiest, most melodic, and most inventive as the band takes on some of the biggest songs in reggae at the time (Johnny Clarke's version of the Wailers' "Put It On," Cornell Campbell's "Press Along Natty Dread," Delroy Wilson's version of "Get Ready," and Linval Thompson's "Long Long Dreadlocks") and Tubby shows the wide range of his production techniques. He can be restrained and subtle ("A Creator of Dub," "Joy Soy Dub"), tough and almost punky ("Inspiring Dub," "King Tubby Dub"), or wonderfully woozy ("Caretaker Dub"). He even manages to connect the dots between dub and David Axelrod on the mighty and dramatic "The Dub Station." The hissy sound of Lee's trademark "flying cymbal" sound can get a bit tiresome (at times sounding like the tape is on the verge of disintegrating), but the album is over long before it wears out its welcome. The Trojan reissue from 2007 adds another 12 tracks of equally awesome dub that use the same template of ecstatic horn lines, reggae classics, and the artistry of King Tubby. King Tubby Meets the Agrovators at Dub Station in any incarnation is a vital piece of a dub reggae collection and more proof that Tubby is the ruler. ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide