Aggrovation Time

For Record Store Day in April last year VP Records issued the excellent compilation “Dubbing At King Tubby’s (Volumes 1 & 2)" - four LPs and 44 tracks of prime 1970s dub. They are a repackaging of three hard to find compilations originally issued on the long gone Blood & Fire label back in the 1990s.

The albums are credited to The Aggrovators, King Tubby's studio band through which numerous luminaries passed. The credits read like a Who's Who of Jamaican musicians of the era - Sly & Robbie, Carlton and Family Man Barrett, Augustus Pablo, Ansel Collins, Dean Frazer, Jackie Mittoo and many more.

The list of producers involved is almost as starry. Most of the original tracks were produced under the watchful eye of Bunny 'Striker' Lee and as well as King Tubby himself there are mixes from the likes of Prince Jammy, Scientist and Pat Kelly.

Vinyl copies of the albums seem to be available from various sources or you can pick up a download version from Bandcamp via the link in the first paragraph. If the price there is a bit steep for your tastes you can also find it going for £10 at the tax dodgers' place, where your money can help to send Katy Perry back into space.

I could have picked pretty much any of the 44 tracks without a drop off in quality but opted for these versions of a few old favourites of mine:   "I Killed The Barber" (Dr Alimantado), "Standing Firm" (Jacob Miller) and "King Of The Arena" (Johnny Clarke). 

"The Poor Barber" - The Aggrovators

"Jah Love Rockers Dub" - The Aggrovators

"The Champion Version" - The Aggrovators

As a very special treat for you all, some more musical aggro from the 1970s. A dub version of this is long overdue.