Legendary dub album presented in digital clarity

Java Java Java Java is a legendary and extremely rare dub album released in 1973 on the Impact label. It’s considered to be the very first dub album in competition with Lee Perry’s Blackboard Jungle Dub and Herman Chin-Loy’s Aquarius Dub released the same year.

Now Java Java Java Java is reissued through VP Records, and it’s essential to any fan of dub or reggae.

The man responsible for the basic – compared to techniques used only a few years later – mixing is Errol Thompson, who later moved on to form the Mighty Two with producer Joe Gibbs.

These ten tracks contain a minimum of studio trickery or effects. It is more or less an instrumental album with stripped vocals and the bass turned up loud. But that works fine when the riddims are as strong as these. Less is more as they say.

It kicks off in fine style with Guiding Dub, a version of the Heptones’ Guiding Star, originally recorded at Studio One. Other vocalists that drop in and out are Dennis Brown, Max Romeo and Junior Byles.

This is a brilliant album from start to finish, but two tunes deserve a special mention. E.T. Special is a cut of the rock steady instrumental Swing Easy with saxophonist Tommy McCook in great shape, and Java Dub is an adventurous version of Augusts Pablo’s epic Java. It starts off like the original version, but after 30 seconds it’s stripped to the bare essentials – bass line, hi-hat and bass drum.

Java Java Java Java is presented in digital clarity on LP, CD and digital download. Don’t miss out on this one.