The Skatalites: Herb Dub – Collie Dub

Although the Original Skatalites with trombonist Don Drummond only existed from May 1964 to August 1965, they occupy an almost mystical place in Jamaica's diverse musical history.
Ten years after the death of Don Drummond and the sad end of the Skatalites, bassist Lloyd Brevett brought together some of his former bandmates for a reunion. The sessions were produced by Lloyd Brevett and Glen Darby, who sang for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One at the age of 14 and was a member of the Scorchers. The core line-up for this project was the hard core of the legendary Skatalites: Lloyd Brevett, Lester Sterling, Rolando Alphonso, Tommy McCook and Jackie Mittoo. But that wasn't all, the best studio musicians of the time such as Horsemouth Wallace, Benbow Creary, Augustus Pablo, Chinna Smith, Ernest Ranglin were also on board, and Don Drummond's trombone was replaced by Vin Gordon. But the biggest coup, in my opinion, was the addition of the Sons Of Negus Nyahbinghi Dummer Bongo T, I-Marts and Sidney Wolf. Lloyd Brevett wanted a sound like the one he had experienced as a teenager at the grounations in the Rasta camps of Wareika Hills and Bull Bay, because these chanting and reasoning sessions had a lasting impact on him both musically and mentally.
Lloyd developed the melodies and rhythms for the upcoming studio sessions together with Tommy McCook during a number of jam sessions at his house in Henderson Avenue, Waltham Park Road. The Nyahbinghi drummers are said to have already taken part in the sessions.
After that, they went to Black Ark Studio, where three tracks from the album were recorded. Brevett recalls that he, McCook and the Nyahbinghi drummers were accompanied by Benbow Creary, Augustus Pablo and Chinna Smith. The remaining five tracks on the album were recorded at Aquarius Studio by Herman Chin Loy. At Aquarius, the list of musicians was expanded to include Rolando Alphonso, Lester Sterling and Johnny Moore. Ernest Ranglin replaced Chinna Smith, and Benbow was replaced by Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace. The album was released in 1976 under the title "The legendary Skatalites". Later editions were simply called "African Roots". Some time later, the Dubversion of the album under the title “The Skatalites: Herb Dub – Collie Dub“ in a mini edition of 200 copies. The tapes produced at the Black Ark were taken to King Tubby in Dromilly Avenue, Kingston 11, who made three fantastic Dubs. For the instrumental tracks recorded at Aquarius Studio, Lloyd Brevett suggested that the Dubs directly mixed by Herman Chin Loy. But Clive Hunt insisted that the mixing be split between him and Karl Pitterson. Although the album was recorded in two completely different studios, the sound is homogeneous, complex, profound and of the highest musical quality. Glen Darby remembers that for the musicians involved in this album it was always more than just another recording session. "They didn't really do it for the money. They wanted to revive the band, the Skatalites." It became a reunion album, because three years later the Skatalites were on tour again. In any case, the Skatalites' recordings never sounded like they did on this album before or after. This is not ska, this is real Nyahbinghi roots reggae Dub of rare quality, wonderfully played and mixed. An essential album that is finally being re-released on vinyl by LB Records/Studio 16 and definitely belongs in every collection.

FYI: Since I couldn't find the 2024 re-release on any streaming platform, I unfortunately had to resort to the compilation of the 2001 release, but in my opinion that's not a big deal, because it offers a lot more.