King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown

King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown
Studio album by
Augustus Pablo
Released1976
StudioKing Tubby's Studio, Kingston 11, Jamaica
GenreDub
Length31:26
LabelYard International/Clocktower Records
ProducerHorace Swaby
Augustus Pablo chronology
Ital Dub
(1974) 		King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown
(1976) 		East of the River Nile
(1977)

King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown is a dub studio album by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, released in 1976.[1] It features Carlton Barrett on drums, Robbie Shakespeare and Aston Barrett on bass guitar, and Earl "Chinna" Smith on guitar. Pablo produced the album and played melodica, piano, organ and clavinet. All sessions with the musicians were recorded at Randy's studio in Kingston, Jamaica, and then Pablo took the tapes to King Tubby for mixing.[2] The album has been released on several different labels, often with slightly different artworks and track lists.

The title song is a dub version of the Jacob Miller song "Baby I Love You So", also produced by Pablo.[3][4] It was released as a 45 rpm single in 1974 on the Mango label (MS-2001), with "Baby I Love You So" as the B-side.[5] A distinctly different mix of the song with vocals and dub can be found on the Jacob Miller and Augustus Pablo album, Who Say Jah No Dread, released in 1992.[6][7][8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music[10]
All Music Guide: The Experts' Guide (3rd ed., 1997)[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[12]
MusicHound World, Craig Harris[13]
MusicHound World, David Poole[14]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide[15]
Rolling Stone[16]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[17]

King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown was ranked 5th best reggae album and 470th overall in the 1994 book All Time Top 1000 Albums, for which Colin Larkin collected votes from professional musicians and critics, as well as from the record buying public.[18] The album was listed in the 1999 book The Rough Guide: Reggae: 100 Essential CDs.[2] In 2007, The Guardian included it in their list of "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die".[19] In 2022, Treble magazine named King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown one of the ten essential remix albums.[20] It was chosen as the second best reggae album of all time by Mojo magazine in their 2024 list of "The 50 Best Reggae Albums Ever".[21]

Colin Larkin wrote that the album "features the mixing talents of King Tubby let loose on some of Pablo's finest rhythming".[18] Steve Barrow claimed that King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown "is the first of all dub CDs to acquire for any collection".[2] The Guardian opined that it "represents a pivotal moment in modern music".[19] MusicHound World wrote: "There were dub albums before King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, [...] but none had the impact of this recording".[13]

The title track was ranked number 266 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[22]

Track listing

Track listing taken from Clocktower Records LP CT0085
All tracks composed by Augustus Pablo

Side one

  1. "Keep On Dubbing"
  2. "Stop Them Jah"
  3. "Young Generation Dub"
  4. "Each One Dub"
  5. "555 Dub Street"

Side two

  1. "Braces Tower Dub"
  2. "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown"
  3. "Corner Crew Dub"
  4. "Say So"
  5. "Skanking Dub"
  6. "Frozen Dub"
  7. "Satta Dub" (Unlisted)

2003 Deluxe edition bonus tracks

  1. "Black Gunn"
  2. "1 Ruthland Close"
  3. "1-2-3 Version"
  4. "Silent Satta"

Personnel

Technical

References

  1. ^ Clasper, Oliver (4 August 2013). "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown - an appreciation". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 13 October 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Barrow, Steve; Dalton, Peter (1999). Reggae: 100 Essential CDs. Rough Guides. pp. 121–122. ISBN 1-85828-567-4.
  3. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 15 September 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  4. ^ Embley, Jochan (28 April 2020). "WFH album of the week: King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown". The Standard. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  5. ^ Watson, Michael (21 November 2014). "Ten Things You Didn't Know About Jacob Miller". Midnight Raver. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014.
  6. ^ Barrow, S.; Dalton, P. (1999). Reggae: 100 Essential CDs. Rough Guides. pp. 109–110. ISBN 1-85828-567-4.
  7. ^ Anderson, Rick. "Who Say Jah No Dread - Jacob Miller | Review". AllMusic.
  8. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5 (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 764–765. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
  9. ^ Anderson, Rick. King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown at AllMusic.
  10. ^ Bush, John (2001). "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown". All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide to Popular Music (4th ed.). Backbeat Books. p. 979. ISBN 0-87930-627-0.
  11. ^ Boisen, Myles (1997). "King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown". All Music Guide: The Experts' Guide to the Best Recordings from Thousands of Artists in All Types of Music (3rd ed.). Miller Freeman Books. p. 927. ISBN 0-87930-423-5.
  12. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 6 (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 375. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
  13. ^ a b Harris, Craig (2000). "Augustus Pablo". MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 589. ISBN 1-57859-039-6.
  14. ^ Poole, David (2000). "King Tubby". MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. pp. 392–394. ISBN 1-57859-039-6.
  15. ^ Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John, eds. (1983). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2nd ed.). Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 375. ISBN 0394721071.
  16. ^ http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/6591045/a/King+Tubby+Meets+Rockers+Uptown.htm[dead link‍] King Tubby product notes at CDuniverse.com
  17. ^ Miles, Milo (1995). "Augustus Pablo". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. p. 285. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  18. ^ a b Larkin, Colin (1994). All Time Top 1000 Albums (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing. pp. 317, 374. ISBN 0-85112-786-X.
  19. ^ a b Cameron, Keith (21 November 2007). "1000 albums to hear before you die: Augustus Pablo – King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976)". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  20. ^ "10 Essential Remix Albums". Treble. 19 May 2022.
  21. ^ "The 50 Best Reggae Albums Ever!". Mojo. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  22. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 16 February 2024.