A Long, Long Winter: 5 Reggae & Dub Treasures from NHVV by Michael Polansky

To quote Camus, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”

Or, as Lee “Scratch” Perry puts it, “Lion – ROAARGH! Tiger – SLIIICE! Lightning – CRAAASH! The jungle – KABOOM! Thunder – BOOM! The sea splash – SPLASH!”

To get through February, we must reach for July. Here are 5 records with sweet harmonies and rumbling bass to shake the ice from your gutters:

1. Various - Scratch And Company - Chapter 1 The Upsetters

In 1973 Scratch built the Black Ark, where his genius was no longer constrained by recording conventions or earth-bound laws of studio physics (“It was only four tracks on the machine, but I was picking up twenty from the extra-terrestrial squad!”). Along with the unfathomable run of Dub and Roots albums he’d produce, these 7-inch singles show Scratch using the studio itself as a cosmic instrument.

2. The Silvertones - Silver Bullets

A beautiful early reggae album from one of the lesser-known vocal trios. In the early ’60s Jamaica caught American soul and R&B drifting in from Miami and New Orleans radio. The style of the Impressions fused with the upstroke guitar chop of ska and slowed into rocksteady, where space opened for harmonies and bass and drums came to the forefront. A fitting second pick: Scratch cut these backing tracks at the Black Ark, and the trio laid vocals at King Tubby’s studio in one “marathon, all-night session.”

3. Pat Kelly - Better Get Ready

One of my all-time favorite singers, Pat Kelly had a gorgeous falsetto and a gift for interpreting the American soul songbook; he was a damn good engineer to boot (see his Dub work on King Tubby’s Prophecies of Dub). In 1968 Kelly left the Techniques and went solo, and this compilation gathers selections from those late ’60s and ’70s sides. Worth grabbing for his cover of the Bee Gees’ “I Started a Joke” alone.

4. Bunny Lee - Kingston Flying Cymbals (Dubbing With The Flying Cymbals Sound 1974 - 1979)

Dub arrived in the early ’70s when producers began pressing instrumental “versions” of hits and sound system crowds responded jubilantly. From there King Tubby and Lee Perry worked with drop-outs, echo, and delay, turning those tracks into new creations, and the modern remix was born. This compilation captures a particular style of Dub, in which Bunny Lee's productions feature a driving hi-hat pattern (“Flying Cymbals”) that the Dancehalls loved. That sound can get a little monotonous, but what do you care— it's cold as shit, just keep dancing!

5. The Ethiopians - Slave Call

We end firmly in the Roots era: minor key brass sections and Nyabinghi drums supplanted breezy love songs, and by 1975 “non-Rasta singers were the odd ones out.” This record is nearly as indispensable as other 1977 masterpieces like the Congos’ Heart of the Congos and Culture’s Two Sevens Clash. The title track is a haunting, incantatory chant, and their cover of “Let It Be,” with its “Move On Up” wah-wah guitar, is funky as hell. Stay warm and light up the spliffs!