King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown is a dub studio album by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby, released in 1976. 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. 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. 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.

Critical reception

King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown was ranked number 96 by New Musical Express on their 1985 critics' list of the greatest albums ever made. It 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. The album was listed in the 1999 book The Rough Guide: Reggae: 100 Essential CDs. In 2022, Treble magazine named King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown one of the ten essential remix albums. 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".

Colin Larkin wrote that the album "features the mixing talents of King Tubby let loose on some of Pablo's finest rhythming". Steve Barrow claimed that King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown "demonstrated conclusively that a studio engineer could be considered as creative as the singers, musicians and visionary producer who made the music", and that "it is the first of all dub CDs to acquire for any collection". The Guardian opined that it "represents a pivotal moment in modern music".

Track listing

Track listing taken from Clocktower Records LP CT0085<br>

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

<ol start="13">

<li> "Black Gunn" </li>

<li> "1 Ruthland Close" </li>

<li> "1-2-3 Version" </li>

<li> "Silent Satta" </li>

</ol>

Personnel

  • Augustus Pablo – melodica, piano, clavinet, organ, producer
  • Robbie Shakespeare – bass guitar
  • Aston "Family Man" Barrett – bass guitar
  • Carlton "Carlie" Barrett – drums
  • Earl "Chinna" Smith – guitar
  • Richard "Dirty Harry" Hall – tenor saxophone
  • Bobby Ellis – trumpet
  • Vincent "Don D Junior" Gordon – trombone

;Technical

  • King Tubby and Errol Thompson - mixing engineer
  • Glen Osborne - executive producer, design
  • Michael Scudder - photography

References

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Bibliography

  • Roots Archives