Prince Far I & The Arabs - Dub To Africa (1979) [Reissue 1995]

A dub side that was originally issued in a very limited pressing in 1979, DUB TO AFRICA is a very welcome reissue from the good folks at Pressure Sounds. Great new renditions of classic reggae rhythms are featured, with just the round and clean basic tracks of drum, bass, and rhythm guitar to feast on. The mixing is restrained to simple yet seamless channel dropouts, with no extraneous echo, and unlike other Prince Far I dub productions there is only the occasional percussion overdub.

For this recording, Far I brought on board the phenomenally precise drummer Style Scott. The lovely fluidity of Far I's music, as delivered by his long-time bass ace Flabba Holt, is here rendered with a machine-like precision on the acoustic drum kit. Through this drum and bass meeting, the foundation was laid for the Roots Radics, the definitive working reggae group of the early '80s. The listener is also treated to Prince Far I's vocal intros to the tracks, plus a pair of even more rare and profound bonus dub tracks.