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Burning Spear
Living Dub, Vol. 5
(Burning Music)
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2006, Volume 13, #11
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
Music has always been an amorphous form of expression, but these days, things
are changing more rapidly than ever. A song no longer is simply a song, and
often a subsequent variation on a tune becomes its definitive rendition.
Recognizing this trend, some performers — such as Ben Harper and Beck
— have taken matters into their own hands and offered re-imagined renditions of
their recent albums. Naturally, there is a commercialized incentive for
following this path, and the worst of these sorts of affairs have been nothing more than
callous attempts to appeal to new markets. On occasion, however, the updated
versions of albums and songs — Neil Young’s second stab at Living with War,
for example — have provided artists with the means of addressing the perceived
deficiencies and flaws that they later discovered in their recordings. For the
past five years, Burning Spear, whose real name is Winston Rodney, has been
working to reinvent Calling Rastafari, his masterful
effort from 1999. The
result is Living Dub, Vol. 5, a brilliant and revelatory endeavor that
stands as a true rarity among re-conceptualized outings.
Perhaps a little cultural and historical context is in order. In the reggae
world, dub is strictly old-school — a style of music that predates the current
remix craze by at least 25 years. Dub grew out of Jamaica’s competitive
sound-system culture, where DJs strove to attract customers to their dances by
playing versions of current hits that could not be heard anywhere else. A dub
version was usually recorded as the B-side of a single, where the drums and bass
were emphasized and the melody lines and most of the vocals were erased. This
allowed the DJ to talk, rap, or sing over the recording. In the 1970s, most
singers recorded dubs of their songs, and some artists and producers, such as
Lee "Scratch" Perry and Mad Scientist, released full-length dub albums. These
early recordings influenced the evolving sounds of hip-hop, techno, jungle, and
ambient music. American musicians like bass player Bill Laswell continue to
expand and blend pure dub sounds, pushing them into new territory, but for the
most part, Jamaican dub reggae has fallen into repetitive and wholly clichéd
drum and bass patterns that offer little to a listener who is hearing the tracks
outside of a dance hall’s heady atmosphere.
What a treat, then, it is to hear Jamaican dub move into new, conceptual
frontiers! Not merely a restatement of the tunes from Calling Rastafari,
Living Dub, Vol. 5 is a hard-hitting journey through the history of
reggae. Sometimes roots-y and sometimes futuristic, Rodney’s vocals and congas
weave the tracks together in order to form a musical pilgrimage that runs the
gamut from dirt road acoustics to outer space keyboard jams. Bound by a lyrical
and melodic sensibility that is missing from most dub music, the tracks on
Living Dub, Vol. 5 flow seamlessly from one to another as new sounds and
samples from Burning Spear’s sonic palette stealthily reveal themselves with each
journey through the endeavor. The sense of joy that emanates from the album is
inescapable, and each song is full of enough killer horn lines to brighten even
the bleakest November days. Living Dub, Vol. 5 is a testament to the
healing power of song, and it serves as a reminder to listeners that music
exists primarily to uplift the human spirit. This is a crucial and essential
recording! 
Of Further Interest...
Burning Spear - Living Dub, Volume 6
Lee "Scratch" Perry - The End of An American Dream
Ticklah - Ticklah vs. Axelrod
Living Dub, Volume 5 is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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