Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (1976)

“King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown” is a dub album by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, released in 1976. It features Carlton Barrett on drums, Robbie Shakespeare and Aston Barrett on bass guitar, and Earl "Chinna" Smith on guitar. Pablo produced the album and played melodica, piano, organ and clavinet. The album was recorded at Randy's in Kingston, Jamaica. A distinctly different mix of the title song with vocals and dub, titled "Baby I Love You So", can be found on the Jacob Miller and Augustus Pablo 1975 album, Who Say Jah No Dread.
He popularized the use of the melodica (an instrument at that time primarily used in Jamaica to teach music to schoolchildren) in reggae music. His album King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (1976) is often regarded as one of the most important examples of dub. If you had to pick one album that best represents the pinnacle of the art of dub, you'd cull the candidates down pretty quickly to ten or 12, and it would get very difficult after that. Few would fault you for ending up with this one, though, which stands as perhaps the finest collaboration between two of instrumental reggae's leading lights: producer and melodica player Augustus Pablo and legendary dub pioneer King Tubby. Among other gems, this album offers its title track a dub version of Jacob Miller's "Baby I Love You So" which is widely regarded as the finest example of dub ever recorded. But the rest of the album is hardly less impressive. "Each One Dub," another cut on a Jacob Miller rhythm, possesses the same dark and mystical ambience, if not quite the same emotional energy, as "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown," and the version of the epochal "Satta Massaganna" that closes the album is another solid winner. Pablo's trademark "Far East" sound (characterized by minor keys and prominent melodica lines) is predominant throughout, and is treated with care and grace by King Tubby, who has rarely sounded more inspired in his studio manipulations than he does here. Absolutely essential.
The title song was released as a 45 rpm single in 1974 on the Mango label, with Baby I Love You So as the b-side.
The album has been released on several different labels, often with slightly different artworks and track lists.


01. "Keep On Dubbing"  (H. Swaby)  - 3:09
02. "Stop Them Jah"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:54
03. "Young Generation Dub"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:36
04. "Each One Dub"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:57
05. "555 Dub Street"  (Augustus Pablo)  - 2:43
06. "Brace's Tower Dub"  (Augustus Pablo)  - 2:53
07. "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:34
08. "Corner Crew Dub"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:58
09. "Say So"  (H. Swaby)  - 3:05
10. "Skanking Dub"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:44
11. "Frozen Dub"  (H. Swaby)  - 2:54
12. "Satta Dub"  (H. Swaby)  - 4:20

Credits
Augustus Pablo – melodica, piano, clavinet, organ, producer
Robbie Shakespeare – bass guitar
Aston Barrett – bass guitar
Leroy Sibbles – Bass
Carlton Barrett – drums
Earl "Chinna" Smith – guitar
Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall – saxophone
Bobby Ellis – trumpet
Vincent "Don D Junior" Gordon – trombone

Mixed by King Tubby and Errol Thompson at King Tubby's Studio
Mixing Engineer : Errol Thompson & King Tubby
Producer : Augustus Pablo

Notes
Recording: Randy's Kingston, JA.
Genre: Roots reggae, dub
Length: 31:26

© Yard International/Clocktower Records