One year after his
Taxi Productions debut with the
Gregory Isaacs hit
"Soon Forward," Sly Dunbar released his fifth album of
dub instrumentals under the name
Sly & the Revolutionaries.
Black Ash Dub boasts a great lineup, including
Dunbar himself on drums and his mate,
Robbie Shakespeare, on bass, plus
Ansel Collins on organ,
Bingy Bunny on guitar, producer
Jah Thomas, and mixing by
Prince Jammy and
Scientist. Though
Dunbar made a much better producer than he did an instrumentalist, the sheer accumulation of talent on this session assures great results. Each track a tribute to a drug (or in the case of
"Rizla," drug paraphernalia), the album hits with plenty of great ideas:
"Marijuana" is a takeoff on a classic rhythm (
the Heptones'
"Pretty Looks Isn't All"), while the
dub classic
"Collie" sports
carnival-like horns and a loopy sense of
dub time. A solid latter-day
dub album by a great lineup. ~ John Bush
