Title - 'In Dub: Deluxe Edition' [Import]
Artist - Jah Wobble
If you don't know who Jah Wobble is, allow me to quickly bring you up to speed, my friends. John Joseph Wardle, known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums.
Following his departure from PiL, he went on to a successful solo career, continuing to the present. In 2009, he published his autobiography, Memoirs of a Geezer. In 2012, he reunited with fellow PiL guitarist Keith Levene for Metal Box In Dub and the album Yin & Yang. Since 2013 he has been one of the featured pundits on Sunday morning's The Virtual Jukebox segment of BBC Radio 5 Live's Up All Night with Dotun Adebayo.
In Dub: Deluxe Edition [Import] is a 2CD collection that features most all of Jah Wobble's unique niche of musical workings on his infamous bass guitar. Drawing on myriad musical styles for his prolific output of over 40 albums (yep, you read that right - 40 albums!) and countless collaborations, and following the critical acclaim afforded to last year's six CD box set Redux, Jah Wobble's new album In Dub: Deluxe Edition is an affordable entrée to one aspect of his highly intelligent brand of music.
Disc: 1: 1. Cleopatra King Size
2. I'd Love to Take You Away
3. I'd Love to Take You Away (Dub Version)
4. Orion
5. Metamorphosis (Burnt Umber Youth Dub)
6. Blacksmith
7. Blacksmith Dub
8. Club Scene Dub
9. Kojak Dub
10. On the Right Road
11. On the Right Road Dub
12. Symphony of Palms
13. Forest Funk Dub
14. Dragon and Phoenix
15. Dragon and Phoenix Dub
16. Universal Dub
17. Invaders of the Heart (Decadent Disco Mix)
Disc: 2: 1. Last Days
2. Last Days Dub
3. L1 Dub
4. Nice Cop: Nasty Cop
5. Forest Gate Dub
6. The Way I Feel (Alias Sweetest Feeling) (New Mix)
7. Lam Saravane
8. Lam Saravane Dub
9. Alam Dub
10. Night
11. Appearance and Thing-In-Itself
12. I Remember That Time
13. I Remember That Time
14. (Dub Mix)
15. Inspector Out of Space
16. (Youth Inner Space Dub)
17. Once Upon a Time in the East
18. Tyger Tyger
With highly-productive Jah Wobble also having released a brand new album of music this past September 16th, the also-brilliant Everything Is Nothing - produced by Jah Wobble and Youth - is yet another album you need to have in your collections, trust me.
But I digress, for In Dub: Deluxe Edition is a sweet collection of 35 tracks that, at times might sound very similar to each other, I'll give you that, but for the most part are stunningly original, and very much inspiring to aspiring musicians of the same genre ilk.
Indeed, that very same genre ilk, and musical styling with which he is most commonly associated, and yet is somehow so difficult to define, is in full force here on this double CD set. Compiled and annotated by Jah Wobble himself, he has also contributed some of his paintings for the front cover and the booklet.
I guess, for all intents and purposes, In Dub picks up where Redux left off, sampling his 30 Hertz catalogue from the mid-1990s onward while also dipping back into his 80's solo work. In Dub also boasts four brand new recordings, which is rather nice (as a fan) to take in and listen to amongst all the older material.
'Metamorphosis (Burnt Umber Youth Dub)' and 'Inspector Out Of Space (Youth Inner Space Dub)' are taken from Wobble's new aforementioned album with legendary producer Youth, Everything Is Nothing, while 'Forest Funk Dub' and 'Forest Gate Dub' are brand new tracks, also recorded by the new-look Invaders Of The Heart. In addition, In Dub includes a previously un-issued mix of ‘The Sweetest Feeling’ from 2007’s Heart & Soul album (re-named ‘The Way I Feel’).
So, it is plain as the nose on your face that Jah Wobble has once again proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is a master of the notes, of the rhythms, of sounds, of those spaces between the notes, and the freedom of expression within music. I mean, what else would you expect from a man whose stage name was actually acquired through the drunken, mumbled version of Wardle's name by the Sex Pistols' very own Sid Vicious, which Wobble kept because "people would never forget it"!
www.JahWobble.com
Cherry Red Records 'In Dub: Deluxe Edition' CD Purchase Link