Jim the Boss and his Hi Fi Rockers studio band have released “Dubs from the Grave“ (Hudson Soul) has put together an album full of spooky effects that is perfect for the season. Just in time for Halloween, after a five-year creative break, there is a new mini-album for fans of the Celtic holiday and reggae/Dubgenre, dealing with themes such as duppies, ghosts, vampires, zombies and other undead creatures. This album is the ideal soundtrack for any Halloween party. But that's not all: belief in ghosts, which is deeply rooted in African culture, has always been omnipresent in Jamaica. You really only have to think a little and you'll come up with lots of songs that deal with this theme: The Wailers - Duppy Conqueror (1970); The Upsetters - Haunted House (1970); Devon Iron - Ketch Vampire (1976) or Peter Tosh - Vampires (1987). Among the albums, "Scientist Rids The World Of The Evil Curse Of The Vampires" (1981) is particularly noteworthy, with titles such as "Your Teeth In My Neck", "Plague of Zombies" and "Night Of The Living Dead".
Just in time, the Dub-Maker Jim the Boss and his HiFi Rockers are back to bring us a new album of reggaeDub-titles. The 7 tracks are peppered with spooky sound effects, monster laughter and voice effects from 'Dr. Frankenboss' - Jim's alter ego for this album. The original versions of the tracks were recorded in recent years and are brought to life in this remix. "Big Man Dead" was already released in 2014 on Miserable Man's "American Sessions" EP and "The Dark Art" is a new edition of the "Dark Art" riddim that was already heard on the "Hudson Soul" album. The two tracks "Halloween Town" and "Queen of the Dead" - a Dubversion of Jah Adams' "My Love For You" – were released as radio-only promos throughout 2017.
“American Horror Story” is a danceable, spacey and dubbig track where you can't avoid moving your hooves.
“Queen of the Dead” is just as physical, with spooky laughter and sound effects. A driving riddim that rides on a nice fat bassline.
I think “Halloween Town” is particularly worth mentioning, performed in a rather funny (African?) accent. We hear a powerful and haunting version of the Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Stingers riddim: “Give Me Power”.
“Big Man Dead” reminds me in lyrics and flow of Linton Kwesi Johnson and his Dennis Bovell Dub Band
“The Dark Art” begins with the exemplary laughter of an evil witch and culminates in a beautiful piece of music, peppered with precise saxophone passages by Dave Hillyard and bouncing keyboards.
“Throw me Brain” is a remake of the Studio One classic “Throw me Corn” and the intro is by Lee “Scratch” Perry.
All in all, I like this small but fine (Dub-)Collection really fun and this more traditional Dub-Reggae offers much more than just seasonal Halloween tracks. I, for one, can and will certainly listen to the album all year round.