King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (song)

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"King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown"
King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown single.jpg
Dutch single cover
Single by Augustus Pablo
from the album King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown
B-side "Baby I Love You So"
Released1974
Genre Dub, reggae
Length2:58
Label Mango
Songwriter(s) Augustus Pablo
Producer(s) Augustus Pablo

"King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown" is a dub instrumental track by reggae musician Augustus Pablo, first released under the title "King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown" as a single in 1974 on Island Records sublabel Mango Records. [1] It is a dub version of the Jacob Miller song "Baby I Love You So", also produced by Pablo. [2] [3]

Contents

Island issued it as a single again in 1975 in the US, Canada, UK and Netherlands. As "King Tubby's Meet Rockers Up-Town", it was also released in Jamaica in 1975 as the B-side of "Baby I Love You So". With the title "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown", it was later included on the 1976 album King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown . [4]

At a time when other dub musicians emphasized bass lines and drums, Pablo and sound engineer King Tubby accentuated the melodica melody line in this cut using four-track recording technology. [5] Musicology professor Michael Veal wrote that the track's appeal stems partly from "Pablo's dynamic backing rhythm, built from an insistent, eighth-note bass pattern anchoring a I minor-IV minor chord sequence". [6]

Critical reception

AllMusic claimed that the song is "widely regarded as the finest example of dub ever recorded". [7] The Guardian wrote: "Miller's impassioned voice drifts in and out like a haunted soul in a psychic cul-de-sac, tormented by the remarkable barrage of Carlton Barrett's doubled-up ­drumming and Pablo's mournful melodica". [4] It was listed as the third best song ever recorded by Mojo .

In 2021, it was listed at No. 266 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". [2]

"Baby I Love You So"

"Baby I Love You So" is the vocal song on which the dub version "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown" is based. [8] It is sung by Jacob Miller and was produced by Augustus Pablo. [9] AllMusic called it "a masterpiece" and wrote: "It says much about King Tubby's genius that his phenomenal dub of this number would eclipse Jacob Miller's own sublime vocal version". [10]

British band Colourbox released a cover of "Baby I Love You So" as a single in 1986. It is a dub remix itself, but with the vocals, sung by Lorita Grahame, fully in place. [11] It peaked at number four on the UK Indie Chart and was ranked number 12 by New Musical Express on their critics' list of the best singles of 1986. [12] [13]

Other use

The track was featured on the reggae radio station K-Jah West in the soundtrack of the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , released in October 2004.

Related Research Articles

Horace Michael Swaby, also known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and a multi-instrumentalist that was active from the 1970s until his death.

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<i>East of the River Nile</i> 1977 studio album by Augustus Pablo

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<i>King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown</i> 1976 studio album by Augustus Pablo

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References

  1. ↑ Watson, Michael (21 November 2014). "Ten Things You Didn't Know About Jacob Miller". Midnight Raver . Archived from the original on 22 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone . 2021-09-15. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  3. ↑ Embley, Jochan (28 April 2020). "WFH album of the week: King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown". The Standard . Retrieved 13 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 "1000 albums to hear before you die: Artists beginning with P". The Guardian . 21 November 2007.
  5. ↑ Hardy, Phil (2001). The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music (3rd ed.). Faber & Faber. p. 750. ISBN   9781849720922.
  6. ↑ Veal, Michael (2013). Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae. Wesleyan University Press. p. 123. ISBN   9780819574428.
  7. ↑ Anderson, Rick. "King Tubby's Meets Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  8. ↑ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5 (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 764–765. ISBN   978-0-19-531373-4.
  9. ↑ Anderson, Rick. "Who Say Jah No Dread - Jacob Miller | Review". AllMusic .
  10. ↑ Greene, Jo-Ann. "Baby I Love You So – Jacob Miller – Review". AllMusic.
  11. ↑ Leland, John (September 1986). "Singles – Stealing the show". Spin . p. 36.
  12. ↑ Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits: 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. ISBN   0-9517206-9-4.
  13. ↑ "NME's best albums and tracks of 1986". New Musical Express. December 1986.
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