Shalom Dub [Dub]

Originally released in 1975, Shalom Dub showcases dub master King Tubby at a white-hot creative peak, deconstructing classic reggae cuts and establishing many of the signature sounds of his soon-to-be-classic dub style. The microscopic layers of echo, negative space, and shifts in frequency and mix arrangement show up on every single track of this collection, a veritable template of roots reggae-derived dub at its pinnacle. Shalom Dub is culled from the same era that resulted in the vibrant collections of Tubby's productions issued on Blood and Fire Records in the late '90s, and the same otherworldly production tricks that made those collections so astonishing show up on the mellow "Country Boy Dub" and "Move Out of Babylon Dub," a ska shuffle that Tubby submerges in aquatic reverb and thick atmosphere. ~ Fred Thomas