The old hippie Chuck Foster is a household name in American reggae circles and California. He became really well known as a presenter for the Reggae Central program on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles and as a longtime columnist for the defunct Beat Magazine and the Reggae Festival Guide. Chuck Foster is the author of two non-fiction books on "Roots Rock Reggae: An Oral History of Reggae Music From Ska To Dancehall" and "The Small Ax Guide To Rocksteady."
He started his career as a musician, working in some of the best recording studios in LA. That was long before he started his career as a radio presenter. In addition to his Sunday radio show, which he has hosted for over 20 years, Foster has returned to his roots as a songwriter, interpreter, producer and label owner of "Catch Me Time Records" in recent years. He now has five own song albums plus some on his label Dub-Pendants released. His most recent releases are a vocal set "It's Time" and the one that goes with it DubSet "Hotter Fire Dub“(Catch Me Time Records). All tracks were recorded in the Rough Sounds Studio in Redondo Beach, California. The musicians involved were Chuck Foster (vocs, git.), Mike Irwin (bass), Tony Bird (keyb.), Rex Bailey and Alberto Fernandez (lead-git) as well as Prince Fatty's old buddy, the English drummer Horseman.
Chuck Foster's style on “Hotter Fire Dub"Is solid, traditional reggae /Dubthat is deeply rooted in the classic, golden reggae era. So don't expect big bells and whistles with a thousand effects and acoustic gimmicks, it's just rock solid Dub with beautiful west coast guitar sounds. On the album, Chuck Foster makes use of a wide variety of musical styles, while “Dance”, which comes along with a Ska-like tempo, has country and western guitar riffs. With “Wicked Dub"Subtle Rocksteady influences cannot be ignored and in"Dubbing The Blues “blues bonds were skillfully processed. A homage to the classically relaxed, guitar-heavy music of California are then "West Coast Version" and "Homeless Encampment Version", here we hear beautiful, dubbig and typical west coast guitar riffs. The 15 tracks on the album were mixed by Chuck Foster himself and bassist Mike Irwin. As with the previous ones Dub-Albums Foster and Irwin stay true to their lineage and present solid 70s Dub with fat bass lines, one drop and free floating scraps of guitar riffs that get lost in echoes and reverbs. Like Chuck Foster, I believe that Dub is the purest form of reggae, so the "essence" of it all.
Well done…
6 replies to “Chuck Foster: Hotter Fire Dub"
Very cool the disc!
I think the year would have to have 366 days so that we could catch a day when we disagree on music terms. (Although, there was something with stick figures once, they don't work with you ...)
I don't always need acoustic bells and whistles with a thousand effects and gimmicks. I am fully satisfied when the "Dub - and Hall lock gates ”are as wide open as here. That creates the space or SPACE that I am involved in Dub most need. I'm really excited about how open the space is here. Which is especially exacerbated by the guitars. However, there is so much reverb on all the other instruments that there is no longer any doubt that the universe is infinite. As you know, the word "overproduction" doesn't actually exist in my vocabulary. But just to improve my understanding of this word a little, I would ask the question whether you could say “Hotter Fire Dub“Could describe as overproduced.
I really don't mean the "overproduction" as a criticism (if it applies at all). Because for me there are none
Overproduction.
The disc is cool! (where can you buy them?) ……………… .. lemmi
hi lemmi,
I'm happy that the record is well received. I would have missed Chuck Foster, too, had it not been pointed out to me by a dear old friend who has lived in San Francisco for over 35 years.
Anyone who has already been to Foster's all Sunday show is impressive. Live guests of his radio show over the years have included: Dennis Brown, The Mighty Diamonds, Burning Spear, Alton Ellis, Etana, Stranger Cole, Freddie McGregor, Phyllis Dillon, Lucky Dube, Morgan Heritage and many many more.
In my opinion, Hotter Fire is Dub by no means overproduced, every tone and echo / reverb is right and fits. The crystal clear guitar sound that Foster adapted into reggae really caught me. (That has nothing to do with reggae now, California bands like Grateful Dead & Quicksilver Messenger Service have been with me my whole life, I love this fine, transparent guitar sound, which has also shaped my taste in music significantly).
Chuck Foster certainly has similar starting points as me, he lets everything that has shaped him musically flow into his music. I can only say that none of his (Dub) Albums are boring or overproduced, everything is actually right and his spectrum includes all of American music, which he merges with reggae with great virtuosity.
Because of this quote alone, we have to love him: "Dub has always been one of my favorite aspects of reggae, "says Foster. "Dub is really the essence of reggae ".
You remember that im here im Dubblog once put forward the daring thesis that our enthusiasm for Dub possibly represents a higher level of incarnation. Who knows ...
Chuck Foster is a discovery and his others Dub-Albums are:
Chuck Foster - Rebel Dub
Chuck Foster - Righteous Dub
Chuck Foster - California Dubbin
Chuck Foster - Conscious Dub
Even if I give my mustard here from time to time in the form of a review, I will still participate in our conversations / discussions. So far ...
Stay tuned ...
My dear Ras Vorbei ……
But now you've dug up a real treasure chest! Chuck Foster is just awesome.
So I'm not entirely convinced of globalization, but it is urgently time for one DubGlobalization !!!
Can't be that one Dubs go through the rag. It may be that there are no stupid questions, but there are DubI think that not knowing s is “stupid” …… .. a very bad knowledge gap !!! .... ;-)
Who knows what we don't know yet? …………………………………… lemmi
Greetings,
thank you, I'm glad that Chuck Foster not only meets my taste.
Logically, I've been seeing his more recently Dub Albums brought to mind. There really isn't an album that is mediocre, the man knows what he's doing. On his very first work, “Conscious Dub“From 2013, mariachi trumpets and some Mexican influences can be heard. You can hear and feel the "easy going" of Southern California in every beat. Actually every album should be given a review ...
By the way, Chuck Foster neither has dreadlocks nor does he sing patois, he just does his thing and he does it really well for me.
High Ras Vorbei !
I'm off-topic here again but I would like to thank you very much for your support in the strange other forum. And a big "Big Up" for your elaborate eloquence. Yes, I also know a few swollen foreign words ;-)
I can't really write anything more about that guy, because what I have to say about it, you can't really print anymore. The thing about the mosquito and the elephant was at least on the tip of my tongue. I can't put into words how stuffy I find the guy. In purely formal terms, he is probably right when he tells me
"Objectification" really only reproaches if everyone wants to turn the mosquito into an elephant.
From my point of view, the guy does something for which I have always felt the deepest contempt. He uses the fact that he is formally in the right to exercise power over other people. For example in the form of a “yellow card”!
For me, this is a trait that goes wonderfully with the Sesselfurzern people in Brussels, who watch out all day to see whether the cucumbers are all nice and straight. But you can't blame him for that, because he's far too self-conscious for that.
I've never wanted anything to do with orcs like that. That's why I feel like you, I'm gone.
And reggae hears something like that …… .. tssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ……. I find it hard to believe.
Well Ras Vorbei, eventually we will run into each other because we will find a point where differences of opinion or perception are simply too great. Now I am very happy that at least you are receiving the frequency on which I transmit.
JAM FM ……………… lemmi
It was a party for me, lemmi!
We clash? I can't imagine it, especially not because of a flippant remark.
And never musically. You know: it's all a matter of taste, said the monkey as he bit into the soap ;-)))