When it first arrived on the reggae scene dub music was so exclusive and so expensive that you had to be both fanatical and rich to even attempt to try and keep up with it. At the height of this musical maelstrom dub albums, usually retailing at four and five times the price of a regular release, would appear and then promptly disappear from the shops never to be seen or heard of again. The subsequent history of the music has seen even the most diehard devotees delighted to see long lost classics that eluded them at the time eventually given a re-release. The down side, and one that has done much to devalue the true worth of the music, has been the constant drip, drip, drip of substandard re-releases and newly compiled releases all claiming to be 'long lost classics'. It would often have been better if they had remained lost forever.
Bringing us neatly on to 'Sound System International'… this Clancy Eccles produced dub set is so incredibly obscure that no-one (and we mean no-one) on the scene had ever heard of it until a lone copy surfaced at the start of this year. News of the album's discovery spread like wildfire among the cognoscenti. The set featured ten thrilling King Tubby's deconstructions of a selection of Dynamites rhythms produced by Clancy Eccles where Tubbs spins the tunes around and comes up with something very, very special. Anyone who really wants to know what King Tubby's early mixing style was all about need look no further as he takes on these straight forward reggae songs and turns them upside down and inside out taking them on to somewhere completely different.
The CD echoes the origins of dub in Kingston's sound systems and comes with five bonus tracks including 'Phantom' Lynford 'Andy Capp' Anderson's next cut to 'Herb Man' one of the earliest ever dub mixes; two outings from 'The Ugly One' foundation deejay King Stitt including his riposte to U Roy"You say you rule the nation with version…" entitled 'King Of Kings' and the amazing 'Dance Beat' where Stitt and Clancy discuss the early days and characters of the sound system scene and finishing up with The Dynamites' stirring 'Tribute To Drumbago'.
Originally released in a plain cover rubber stamped with only the title and track listing 'Sound System International' now comes replete with superb graphics, stunning contemporary photographs of King Tubby and extensive sleeve notes detailing the origins of the dub and deejay phenomenon. The set has also been totally re-mastered. We at Pressure Sounds were thrilled to be able to negotiate the release of this awesome rarity where, for once, the hyperbole is all for real. But you don't have to believe us… just give it a listen and see, and hear, for yourself!
Side One
1. Garrison
2. Red Moon 3. Dub Star 4. Kingston Dub Star
5. King Banga
Side Two
6. Down Town 7. Uptown Shuffle Dub 8. King Tubby's City Dub
9. Joe 10. House of Darkness
