Garvey’s Ghost

Released

The dub version of Burning Spear’s seminal roots album Marcus Garvey from 1976 is generally considered by reggae fans to be either diluted dub-lite or one of the finest dub albums of the time, with this writer falling in the latter category. Most dub reggae of this period was all about the space created by the judicious removal of musical parts and the addition of cavernous reverbs and feedbacking delays, but there’s very little FX trickery here. Instead, the production is dense, thick and incredibly detailed, the drums and percussion in particular pushed right to the front of the mix while the other instruments shift in and out of focus, sometimes buried away in the background or appearing as ghostly slivers of their former selves. It’s like an MRI scan of the original album, opening up each song so you can see how all the parts work together. Sublime.

Harold Heath

Suggestions
Non Stop Disco Style cover

Non Stop Disco Style

Ranking Dillinger
Dub Basket Chapter II: King Tubby’s Mix cover

Dub Basket Chapter II: King Tubby’s Mix

King Tubby, Rupie Edwards All-Stars
Satta Dub Strictly Roots cover

Satta Dub Strictly Roots

The Revolutionaries
Musical Bones cover

Musical Bones

The Upsetters, Vin Gordon
Sample Dub cover

Sample Dub

Dub Specialist
Rasta Dub ‘76 cover

Rasta Dub ‘76

The Aggrovators
Inspiration Information Vol. 2 cover

Inspiration Information Vol. 2

Horace Andy, Ashley Beedle
Leggo! Ah-Fi-We-Dis cover

Leggo! Ah-Fi-We-Dis

The 4th Street Orchestra
Revolutionary Sounds cover

Revolutionary Sounds

The Revolutionaries