Forward The Bass (Dub From Randy's 1972-1975)

Owned by Vincent “Randy” Chin, Randy’s Studio 17 should be considered in the upper echelon of Jamaican studios. Lee Perry recorded a young Wailers there and Burning Spear cut his seminal Marcus Garvey there. House engineer Errol “E.T.” Thompson is responsible for the dark, sticky dubs collected on this set, released in a ludicrously small edition back in 1976. B&F’s striking cover image of cracked glass feels appropo here, as E.T. pushes everything to the breaking point. Bass throbs in the red throughout. The classic “Java” riddim gets blasted with nyabinghi drums on one pass and has an organ croaking like a toad on another. Best of all is when the fourth wall gets broken on “Ordinary Version Chapter 3” and the engineer’s tutorial on how to bring in the different sonic elements is overheard.