Sometimes you have to go through the mill to realise why you were put on this Earth. So it is with the Dub Pistols, the reggae-breaks-jungle mashup, the gangster-swaggering festival stalwarts whose rollercoaster story reads like a rock’n’roll cautionary tale on a grand scale. When big beat ruled the clubs the Pistols were snapped up for $1.5m by legendary Interscope magnate Jimmy Iovine and anointed Geffen Records’ priority act for America. But Geffen put their album out the week that 9/11 happened, so the Dub Pistols ended up broke and label-less instead of US superstars. This is how it happens. They get knocked down — but they get back up.
Over an 18-year career the Dub Pistols have worked with heroes like The Specials, Busta Rhymes, Horace Andy, Madness and Gregory Isaacs. They’ve burned through different members and hundreds of thousands of pounds on assorted capers and hedonism, and done — in the words of dapper frontman and prime mover Barry Ashworth, a ducking, diving South London graduate of the Summer of Love generation who started a band because he loved Happy Mondays and never looked back — “more f*cking drugs than we knew what to do with.”
It should have been a recipe for oblivion. “We’ve got a saying in this band,” says Barry: “Whatever can go possibly wrong, will go wrong.” Instead it was the making of the Dub Pistols. The band that started out in the mid-90s with Barry DJ’ing while musicians jammed over the top (“a right f*cking racket,” he laughs) has metamorphosed into a mighty reggaematic bass-driven live machine, a super-tight festival regular that keeps winning over new fans at Glastonbury, Bestival, Beat-Herder and across Europe
@steviebee
Incidentally, if it interests you, check out the Sony Legacy 2 CD sets of Peter Tosh Legalise It & Equal Rights albums.
Legalise It similarly to Catch A Fire contains the original JA mix of the album and demo tracks.
Equal Rights contains session out takes, alternate JA mixes and Dub Plate versions.
Really good booklets as well.
Not sure if any of the above has been on vinyl.
I’m really annoyed at having missed the vinyl version of Catch a Fire as I have been waiting for it ever since having heard the un-sweetened version on the deluxe CD issue. It’s a bit confusing but it seems that this version is pressed at Tuff Gong in Jamaica and that may be why there are limited numbers available. You can still order it from the UDiscover site in the US but I didn’t go ahead as it was going to be so expensive, not to mention that I would probably have pay the tax and admin on top as well. I am just hoping they will do a European pressing to meet the demand.
I wasn’t aware of that Peter Tosh deluxe version - looks like one to get.
Yes, I found about it on the Hoffman forum but people there were also warning about the potential for it to be a poor pressing. That was another reason why I decided not to pay a massive price for it. Let’s hope a further pressing is made more widely available.
Tbh I would just go for the 2CD Deluxe Edition. I’ve had it since it was released back when. Its good SQ and I’ve not found myself wanting. The new vinyl pressing is very likely from a digital file anyway.
Ive collected Jamaican music for 45 years or more but Jamaica hasn’t really had a physical music industry for many years now. In its heyday JA used to press literally hundreds of new records every week but just about all its pressing plants now closed down. So it may be pressed in the US which could be good dependent on the source used. But if it’s definitely a JA pressing then it’s going to be a gamble and I think unlikely to better the Deluxe CD.
Incidentally @CliveB@steviebee
Another worth a listen is the 40th Anniversary 2CD of Exodus which has a new remix of the album by Stephen Marley, I like it a lot.
There is a similar remix edition of Kaya but I’ve not heard that one.
Yes, I have also had deluxe Catch a Fire CD since it was released as I particularly wanted to hear a mix without all the musical additions added to make the music more palatable to the western market. I have always hoped since for a good vinyl version to go with my original Zippo release.
From what I have read the forthcoming Tuff Gong releases are definitely pressed in Jamaica which is supposed to be a selling point I guess. I too have one or two Jamaican pressings and the vinyl often looks dodgy!
I have bought some of the other deluxe CD editions including Exodus and therefore passed on the 40th version of that. I also have them all on vinyl from back in the day so there comes a time to draw a line!
Just ordered the Deluxe CD set - looking forward to hearing the JA mix! I’m so used to the ‘London’ mix, this should be quite an ear-opener.
All my other BMW is on original LP. Never really thought about getting their CDs before. Hmm…wonder what’s out there for Rastaman?
(Wouldn’t mind a new solid LP sleeve for that, my copy’s spine is pretty unreadable now!)
Even if you have all the other Deluxe editions etc. The 40th Anniversary Exodus remixed by Stephen Marley really is worth a listen.
Yes it’s ironic that for a musical genre that was often all about collecting rare Jamaican vinyl that they couldn’t press it properly. It always conflicted me, my love for the music but my frustration at the pressing quality. Whereas hard core collectors would always want the horribly noisy JA pressings I often used to baulk and look for UK or US versions.
Vinyl is still my preferred format but conversely my first love of Jamaican music is often better served by CD and Digital. CD was a god send to Jamaican music lovers in terms of SQ and has imo benefitted well from digital technology, it was such an irony that when Reggae started appearing on CD that Lloyd Bradley wrote a book Reggae On CD. What! Reggae?..On CD? Your kidding!
When Burning Spears classic Studio One material was put out on CD by Soul Jazz, many who had grown up with the bacon frying sound of the original JA presses just couldnt listen to the clean sound of the digital, so ingrained had the crackly murky sound become in the consciousness of the Reggae fraternity. I remember Dub Vendor selling it with a disclaimer re the cleaned up sound!
Much of the best contemporary Reggae now goes straight to digital platforms with no physical format. Ghetto artists and producers can now have more control, not needing to navigate the corrupt and dysfunctional physical JA record industry.
It’s how the Wailers originally recorded it. Chris Blackwell gave them, I think it was £500, to record the album. According to Blackwell he was warned by associates not to sign and give them the money he wouldnt see them again. £500 wasn’t a lot of money even back then, Blackwell says that when they delivered the completed master tape back that he could tell every penny and more had gone into it, so good it was. Criminal then really that he felt the need to tamper with Jah Music to make it friendly to Babylon.
Blackwell’s messing irked Peter & Bunny sowing the seeds of the groups split. The follow up Burnin’ without intrusive Rock overdubs, to me prior to the release in 2002 of the JA mix of CAF, Burnin’ always sounded a more authentic record.
Thereafter Peter & Bunny went their own way, Peter would often refer to Blackwell as Chris Whiteworst.
Anyway nuff of my rambling, I’m sure your going to enjoy it, do check back with your thoughts. See my comments above re the Peter Tosh Legacy Editions & 40th Anniversary Exodus as well.
@steviebee@CliveB
Thanks for the heads up on this. I’ve had a look and yes they are JA pressings, but it says from Tuff Gongs “newly refurbished” pressing plant. I guess it depends what newly refurbished means?
I still have a quite rare vinyl box set from Tuff Gong in JA of the Island Songs Of Freedom anthology that came out way back when. Half the records in the set are just unplayable, pressed on goat sh*t!
My original vinyl copy still sounds great nearly 40 years on.
The Beat’s second and best album. The lovely warm playing of Jamaican Saxophonist “Saxa” contributes massively to this album. Cedric Myton (formerly of The Congo’s who’s classic Lee Perry produced Heart Of The Congo’s was released by The Beat) guests on Doors Of Your Heart. And of course the unique toasting style of Rankin’ Roger.
