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)
NuDisc 