Monthly Archives: June 2023

Jun 27 2023
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Dub, Reggae

King Tubby & The Observer All Stars • Dubbing with The Observer [2CD]

I’ve been a fan of reggae – and especially dub – for quite some time. Just like a lot of people my age, my introduction to the music came in drips and drabs as a child. First record I can remember hearing that we would now call reggae (actually ska) was Desmond Dekker & The Aces’ “Israelites.” Then it was probably Eric Clapton’s hit of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.” Hey, we all had to start somewhere and I was a suburban Orange County California kid, so that’s where it started for me. Fast forward with whirring tape sounds to 1981 and I am a beginning DJ at my college radio station, KCMU (Seattle). That place not only had a large record library, but nestled inside was an entire reggae section used to augment the DJs’ own records for broadcast on both standard music shows AND the specialty show, Positive Vibrations. Two hours of nothing but reggae every Saturday morning. At first I wouldn’t tune in for very long, but as I got accustomed to the music and discovered what I liked most about it, I came to keep it tuned in (or observe the DJ in-person at the station) for the entire show. Wow! There was so much more than just Bob Marley! (With all respect.) Since then I have amassed a pretty nice collection of reggae releases, mostly dub artists like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Prince Jammy and the great King Tubby.

The latest addition is KING TUBBY & THE OBSERVER ALL STARS’ Dubbing with The Observer, a new 2CD compilation out on Doctor Bird Records. Boasting “22 tracks new to CD,” it’s a treasure chest of dub mixes done by King Tubby in the mid ’70s. All of the tracks were originally produced by Niney The Observer and the first baker’s dozen here originally appeared on an LP collection of the same name. The rest – a whopping 37 cuts! – were singles and rare dub plates that fill out this compilation very nicely. One thing about the credits on reggae – and especially dub – releases is that the artists’ names can be downright confusing. Not only are the titles on the CD, the traycard and booklet all slightly different, but the group credits, as in the name that the recording was originally attributed to, are myriad. And that can be a problem when you’ve added a new compilation to your stash and find out that you already have many of these tracks, but they were previously credited to somebody else.  (Let’s not even talk of the fact that many of the songs use the same basic tracks as their foundation! Yeah, it’s confusing alright.) Frequently, for instance, a compilation album today will be credited to the name of the person who mixed the tracks (Tubby, Perry, Jammy) and not the producer or even the actual artists themselves. But THAT shows you just how important the mix engineer is to this whole thing. For it is he (almost always a “he”) who conjures all of the magic, creatively mixing instruments and vocals in and out, adding more or less reverb or other effects, and so on. And THAT is what I love so much about dub!

Dubbing with The Observer is a title I had not heard of when I ordered it a few months ago. But being a king-size King Tubby fan, I knew I had to get it. Am I glad I did! The tracks originally came out on Jamaica’s Observer Records, Niney’s own label, with the musicians billed as too many different names to try and list here. There are some real clever mixes on this one, not a lot of vocals except those that come and go here and there, and top notch sound quality from start to finish. With 50 tracks in all, I’m sure this compilation will become one of my go-to CDs when I want to chill out with some tasty dub. – Marsh Gooch

4/5 (Doctor Bird/Cherry Red DBCDD122, 2023)

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Jun 24 2023
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box set, CD, compilation, Limited Edition, vinyl

The Teardrop Explodes • Culture Bunker 1978-82 [CD, LP]

You’d have to be completely off your rocker to add THE TEARDROP EXPLODES’ Culture Bunker 1978-82 to your music library. A 6CD set (also available in truncated vinyl form), this compilation includes a truckload of the obscure UK band’s even more obscure recordings – along with their semi-known “hit” singles – in a handy set that will sit alongside your other box sets crying out for your attention for years to come. I’m not saying you won’t occasionally pull it down from the shelf, look over its contents, and wonder if there’s time to dig in… because you will. But it could very well be that you’ll only play Discs 1 and 2: the ones with the familiar album and singles tracks that are really, truly, what keep you interested in The Teardrop Explodes in the first place.

As I sit in my chair (it’s not a rocker, incidentally) writing these words I’m actually listening to The Teardrop Explodes’ Wilder album, their second LP (from 1981). It’s easier to write about Julian Cope’s band by listening to the more tuneful stuff. What’s on Culture Bunker that is worth checking out is, I’m afraid, going to be appealing only to the most hardcore Teardrop fan, and quite possibly only once or twice in this lifetime. For instance, the live tracks on Disc 3 (entitled From Drug Puritan to Acid King; very apropos) are from the band’s very first gigs and have an annoyingly monotonous vibe – you know, the kind of gig you go to where you can tell the band is still trying to find its sound. The Teardrop Explodes were capable of coming up with some awfully great tunes, actually, like most of Wilder, so Culture Bunker serves what may be its ostensible purpose of showing how Cope & Co. got from point A (forming in Liverpool in 1978) to point B (breaking up in 1982), with a couple of handfuls of both highlights and turmoil in between to keep the thing afloat.

“What highlights are to be found in the Culture Bunker?” you ask. Well, there are multiple versions of Teardrop classics like “Sleeping Gas,” “Treason” and “Read It in Books” (original single and live versions), demos of later Julian Cope tunes “Screaming Secrets,” “World Shut Your Mouth” and “Pussyface,” and a rare cover demo of The Zombies’ “Butcher’s Tale.”  Naturally, there’s the stone cold killer “Passionate Friend,” and further good ones “Like Leila Khaled Said,” “Bouncing Babies” and “Reward.” In all there are 95 tracks on the CD version (and 81 on the vinyl) and nearly half of them are unreleased.

Do you need Culture Bunker? No. You need food, air and water. And friends. If you’re already a Teardrop Explodes aficionado, though, you may want to snap this box set up before they’re gone. Rumor has it that it is extremely limited, which isn’t surprising when you consider the cost of keeping something like this in print. The label could make a lot more money off of some Elton John/Rolling Stones/Beatles/insert-some-other-classic-rock-band box set; Culture Bunker is the kind of thing that gets released because some A&R person in charge of “catalog” has a hard-on for putting out something like this. I guess we should thank goodness for hard-ons, then. – Marsh Gooch

3.5/5 (Universal Music Recordings 3585940, 2023)

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Jun 21 2023
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CD, vinyl

The Baseball Project • Grand Salami Time! [CD, LP]

“Hey! Dying quails and frozen ropes or a can of corn…” What? It’s Grand Salami Time!, that’s what. When listening to THE BASEBALL PROJECT you’re gonna encounter a whole lot of catch phrases and slang terms, but don’t let that deter you from this (home) plate of rock ’n’ roll that just happens to be all about America’s National Pastime (baseball, that is). Actually more of a platter than a plate, there are fifteen – 15! – songs about baseball here, and this is the band’s FOURTH release! Jesus, is there really that much to say about a sport that seems to be in such decline these days? Apparently there is.

The Baseball Project, if you don’t already know, is made up of Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5/Young Fresh Fellows), Peter Buck and Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) and Linda Pitmon (Filthy Friends, Alejandro Escovedo) – a “supergroup” if you like that kind of term. And as you might expect from their pedigree, the band puts a decidedly alternative rawk spin on these songs about baseball, using all the “stuff” they can get away with to get you to take a swing… even if you’re not a fan of the game you’re likely to go into extra innings listening to Grand Salami Time! What’s really cool about this one is the songs aren’t all happy-go-lucky, ah shucks cornpone about the game. Because, as any true baseball fan will tell you, it ain’t all grand slams, triple plays and successful suicide squeezes. There’s a lot of melancholy, sadness and heartbreak (boo hoo!) in the game – just ask any Mariners fan – and The Baseball Project projects that, too. “The Yips,” “Screwball,” “Fantasy Baseball Widow” and the epically sad “Journeyman” are just a few that’ll bring tears to yer eyes. It’s definitely nice to get not only the lyrics but McCaughey’s play-by-play commentary about the songs in the liner notes, which helps explain what is or isn’t going on in the songs, especially if you’re not as hardcore about the game as these folks are. The album definitely knocks it outta the park/clears the fence/insert-your-own-favorite-baseball-cliché-for-a-good-thing here.

There may be other bands in the world dedicating themselves to one sport or another (have you heard The Duckworth Lewis Method, cricket fans?), but none are as engaging or prolific as The Baseball Project. If you’re a fan of hard hitting power pop ’n’ roll (or any of the bands these musicians are typically associated with) you’ll surely want to get out the rye bread and mustard, gramma… ’cause it’s Grand Salami Time! – Marsh Gooch

4/5 (Omnivore OVCD-517, 2023)

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