American reggae pioneer Chuck Foster is an important figure in the American music scene. As the long-time host of the Reggae Central show on California radio station KPFK, he has made a significant contribution to spreading the reggae feeling in the Bay Area. He is also known as a successful musician and author.
His latest and eighth album “Dub Journey“ (Catch Me Time Records) is the one Dub-version of his song album from last year “Long Journey". "Dub Journey” is typical Foster Dub-Reggae album accompanied and recorded by experienced session musicians. What particularly excites me about Chuck Foster's albums is that his music always sounds authentic and is recorded "live". Seasoned musicians are also playing in his current band again: for example, Tony Chin, the guitarist from Soul Syndicate, is back in the game. Another band member, John Morran, sets interesting accents with his violin and harmonica, which is particularly beautiful and haunting in the track “Ghost Story”. As usual, the tracks were mixed at Rough Sounds Studio in Redondo Beach by Chuck and Mike Irwin, with Irwin also responsible for bass and melodica. Occasionally Chuck's vocals can be heard fragmentarily in the tracks. The Dubs are solidly embedded in the appealing mix, and the men don't skimp on sound effects. There is plenty of echo and reverb. But like the previous albums, “Dub Journey” avoids exaggerated effects and flourishes. Rather, the album once again perfectly captures the atmosphere of the pre-digital reggae era. A typical element of all Chuck Foster productions is the frequent use of beautiful guitar solos, which is not always for everyone in reggae, but it illustrates very well that Chuck Foster comes from the West Coast rock and blues corner. Another example of this is the “Shady Lady Dub“, which is reminiscent of the Shady Lady motif in many West Coast songs of the late 60s. With the guitar sound of “Riding In The Wind” we arrive at western film music, which Lee “Scratch” Perry also liked to experiment with. The unmistakable, significant guitar sound appears again and again and, together with the retro organ sound, has become Chuck Foster's trademark in almost all of his compositions. The album’s final chord, “Way Out Dub“, impresses with its Pablo-esque sound and gives the entire musical journey an atmosphere of calm and depth. The piece is a wonderful and successful conclusion to the album.
2 replies to “Chuck Foster: Dub "Journey"
Chuck's contributions to Reggae music are remarkable. From his Southern California outpost, he's one of the pioneers of Reggae radio in the USA Dub Journey is a real deal Dub workout that cements Chuck's true vision of classic Dub theory with original intellect. His newest output is tastefully crafted and doesn't get bogged down with
excessive mixing methods that can ruin these great riddims. Really nice!
I met Chuck Foster through you Ras Vorbei !
As I his DubWhen I heard it for the first time, I was completely blown away. Lots of traditional bass lines and a nice, clear, analog sound with various instruments around it and with a lot of "Dub“Tinsel” decorated. For me, too, it is the guitar sound that further refines the entire sound experience. Personally, it's a complete mystery to me that there are people who aren't quite as happy with guitar solos in reggae as I am. A reggae tune isn't necessarily bad if there's no guitar solo, but it's 100% better if there is a guitar solo. Every guitar solo enhances and lightens up every music, including reggae. (There may be other opinions, but they are wrong ;-) …)
There were also DubAlbums by Chuck Foster that no longer impressed me so much and I then lost track of him a little bit, even though all the productions actually left nothing to be desired. But well, shhh…. Once again it was the bass lines that sometimes left me hungry.
Here at Dub But once again everything is right for Journey. All the wickets of the Dub are wide open and all echoes echo through space and time as if there had never been any boundaries anywhere. A firework of effects paints my brain and almost feels like a massage with a happy ending... or something like that.
And the BiassLines also leave nothing to be desired for me and find their highlight here – as before – with the “Stalag – Riddim”.
A really great one DubDisk, in my opinion, which will unfortunately disappear into the swamp of data because there will definitely be nothing haptic to buy again. "Really great" ………………….
What I haven't quite understood yet are your comments about the effects. What are “exaggerated” effects or “excessive mixing methods”? … ;-)
Greetings ……………… .. lemmi