Blood & Fire – 015
Glen Brown is one of the unsung heroes of Jamaican music. He began as a singer in the 60's, developed his skill as a melodica player, and then made his indelible mark as a producer in the 70's. His forte was the rhythm. Not the bouncing, melodic bass of Studio One, but the heavy pounding rhythms ideally suited to the era of Rasta militance. Typically he would develop a new rhythm, make umpteen cuts with various singers and DJs, hand them over to King Tubby for mixing, and then move on to the next one. He didn't have many rhythms, but boy were they good! Top titles too: "Leggo The Herb Man Dub", "Wicked Can't Run This Dub" and "Request Granted Dubwise" (possibly his best and a surprising omission from this compilation). They were well-suited to Tubby who keeps them simple - chopped, rewound and echoed to the max. Sometimes he interferes too much, when all you want to hear is the bass boom and the drums pound. But you can't really argue with the quality of tracks like "Father For The Living Dubwise" or "Melodica International". Blood and Fire have established themselves as reggae archivists without parallel. Respect granted dubwise.

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