JOE FERRY - CONNECTED: MOB STORIES AND
REGGAE RIDDIMS
DUBROOM REVIEW
DUBROOM REVIEW
WWW, April 2014 - He won a Grammy award multiple times, and that's just for his musical works. His teaching and writing skills have not gone unnoticed either. Talking about Joe Ferry, dr. Joe Ferry: widely acclaimed bass player and record producer as well as talented writer. But this is about the music. Music with King Tubby and Augustus Pablo to be precise.
We're talking about "Perfida DUB", unmistakably a Jamaican Roots Rockers tune from the seventies. A Dub carrying King Tubby's mixing skills as well as musicians playing in ways that super stars can only dream of. 555 Crown Street carrying the works of Augustus Pablo is a true classic, needs no introduction or description other than the remark it is present on this album. Which says a thing about Joe Ferry!
Of course, these two tracks are appetizers. Appetizers for what is coming. And what is coming is more fat DUB and Reggae in the Roots tradition. Solid riddims, excellent works by the musicians and the engineer, matching perfectly with the classic historic recordings on "Connected". You'll even hear resemblances of Black Uhuru recordings in the guitar play ("Unwind" by Menace).
It's not only Dub even though the album is truly all about the Dub. There's a vocal track by Uzimon and The Dons called "Don't Go Bang", a thing which makes you realize something about the title of the album. Makes you want to listen to the Dub of the track as well... There's Victor Rice again (reviewed at mp3.dubroom.org), bringing you "Bango" which is kind of a hybrid between Dub and a vocal track. There's the Big Ska Band with a Dub that could be taken off a secret Dub album by the Skatalites.
If Joe Ferry's "Connected: Mob Stories and Reggae Riddims" resembles anything of the book that this release accompanies, you might want to check that out as well. The album surely brings that upfull yet intense vibe only Reggae Dub can bring especially when it is played in, as said, the Roots Tradition.
