The Stones Throw News: RUB A DUB: Foundation Come Again, written by Danny Holloway

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RUB A DUB: Foundation Come Again, written by Danny Holloway

• October 18, 2013

We have just restocked vinyl copies of Dub Club's Foundation Come Again. The album was summer 2013 and contained one of the last recordings by the legendary Prince Jazzbo. 

The dub versions of the album have been collected together on iTunes: Signs and Wonders in Dub. We are down to our last copies of the limited edition vinyl Bubble Dub(Foundation Dubs Vol. 2).  Original vinyl copies of Vol. 1, Signs & Wonders are completely sold out and will not be reprinted.

Here are the liner notes of Foundation Come Again, written by Danny Holloway, covering the history of the record and the Dub Club itself. Danny Holloway is a DJ and producer who worked at Island Records in the 1970s with Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Toots & The Maytals, Jimmy Cliff and The Heptones.

The performers on this album represent an explosive period in Jamaican Dancehall history: Rub A Dub. The rydims here are sparse and fiery with fierce basslines and ferocious snare bombs.  Over that, the Don Dada, toaster or reggae rapper commands the microphone center with acrobatic flows and rousing wordplay.

Some of the talent on this album defined the style and era. Men like BIG YOUTH, BRIGADIER JERRY, DILLINGER, JOSEY WALES and PRINCE JAZZBO were among the foundation fathers of reggae rapping. Others chatters were around before U-ROY and BIG YOUTH, but those two blew apart the JA music scene when they arrived in the early 70s. Their template inspired later talent, including American rappers.

It’s now a part of hip hop history: modern day rapping was influenced in a big way by Jamaican toasting. When KOOL HERC moved to the South Bronx from Jamaica in 1973, he brought with him the ripe sounds of mc’s like U-ROY, BIG YOUTH, DENNIS ALCAPONE, SCOTTY, I ROY and the rest.

The Dancehall scene has always been frantic, with more than it’s share of lively characters. Musically, an artist either rocks the dance or steps aside. The tradition of shooting off guns in the dance began with off-duty policemen and grew to become an excitable vocal chant heard internationally: “Bo! Bo! Bo! Bo!”

ECHODELIC SOUND produced and assembled these steaming tracks over a 5 year period in Jamaica and Los Angeles. For 12 years now, Echodelic has thrown the best Roots Reggae weekly in Los Angeles: the DUB CLUB. Virtually everyone who is anyone in the Reggae scene has performed there. All the artists on this CD plus: Damian Marley, Jimmy Cliff, The Heptones, Cornell Campbell, Black Uhuru, etc.

Foundation Come Again was recorded in the 2000’s but recreates the halcyon 80s era when Rub A Dub ruled the dance. Rub A Dub lasted roughly from 1980 until Sleng Teng hit in 1984. Session bands played on Rub A Dub sessions, but from Sleng Teng until now, synthesizers have mainly been used to create the rhythm in Jamaican music.

Following the passing of BOB MARLEY in 1981, the Jamaican audience never sought a replacement for him or his music. Instead, they escaped full throttle into the seductive power of Dancehall music and remain so today.

Website: www.stonesthrow.com/dubclub