In the history of reggae and dub, most attention gets focused on two, key Jamaican studios: Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark and the definitive tastemaker, Channel One, founded in 1974 and 1975 respectively. Largely forgott... more »en is Randy's Studio 17--a place frequently used by Perry before Black Ark--founded by Vincent "Randy" Chin and in operation from 1968 to the mid-1970s. Chin's son Clive is the one responsible for this fascinating collection, originally issued in a scanty run of 200 LPs in 1975. Clive produced all the tracks on this expanded CD and, while conservative in comparison to King Tubby and others, demonstrates considerable dub chops. The music is sleek and more instrumentally broad than much 1970s dub, integrating copiously bouncy reverb on the bass and drums, horn solos, weird tape manipulations, and a more song-like approach to trance-heavy rhythmic underpinnings. The All Stars here are awesome: Augustus Pablo, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Sly Dunbar, Ansel Collins, Eric "Bingi Bunny" Lamont, and many others. --Andrew Bartlett« less
In the history of reggae and dub, most attention gets focused on two, key Jamaican studios: Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark and the definitive tastemaker, Channel One, founded in 1974 and 1975 respectively. Largely forgotten is Randy's Studio 17--a place frequently used by Perry before Black Ark--founded by Vincent "Randy" Chin and in operation from 1968 to the mid-1970s. Chin's son Clive is the one responsible for this fascinating collection, originally issued in a scanty run of 200 LPs in 1975. Clive produced all the tracks on this expanded CD and, while conservative in comparison to King Tubby and others, demonstrates considerable dub chops. The music is sleek and more instrumentally broad than much 1970s dub, integrating copiously bouncy reverb on the bass and drums, horn solos, weird tape manipulations, and a more song-like approach to trance-heavy rhythmic underpinnings. The All Stars here are awesome: Augustus Pablo, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Sly Dunbar, Ansel Collins, Eric "Bingi Bunny" Lamont, and many others. --Andrew Bartlett
CD Reviews
Unusually tone-sensitive dubs
dasmith@iei.net | U.S.A. | 04/07/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Those hooked on the crunching bass and psychedelic effects of the King Tubby dynasty and Lee Perry may be disappointed in this collection of early to mid-1970's dubs issued by the team of Clive Chin, Errol Thompson and a broad cast of musicians. But the effect of these tracks is primarily musical as opposed to pyrotechnic. While E.T. manipulates the vocal track in a startling way on "Extraordinary Version" (a prototype of Skratch Picklz-style turntablism) and some intriguing mixes are found elsewhere, the engineering mainly puts the excellent music tracks into a more atmospheric perspective, maintaining and even in some cases improving the tone of the original performances. I get the feeling this will be one of the more overlooked B&F releases, but it shouldn't be."
Dub Jam Session
gentlebenn | Los Angeles, CA United States | 09/25/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album is an example of what you get when you gather together a group of some of reggae's most talented musicians and let them do their thing. "Forward The Bass..." plays out like a dub jam session, with Clive Chin's mixing technique serving to accentuate, rather than manipulate, the sound of such respected musicians as: Tommy McCook, Augustus Pablo, Sly Dunbar, Mikey "Boo" Richards, and The Barrett Brothers, among others. "Forward The Dub..." is that rare dub album that focuses on great musicianship and instrumentation rather than over-
produced splashes of sound on top of "cookie cutter" riddims."
Sparse Early Dub
Jasper | New England | 01/24/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This disc starts out promisingly enough, with the five star instrumental workout 'Jaro,' which takes a catchy melody and fills it in with plenty of grooving sax, eastern guitar, and tasty bongos. Never, during the course of the remainder of the disc, do we reach such heights. This is early dub, and what that usually amounts to is the tracks being stripped down, rather than being manipulated in ways that enrich them. So, we have a lot of very, very sparse rhythms, and not a whole lot else happening. Every so often some promising little instrumental bit will come in, and we hope that this will blossom into something interesting, but more often than not, we are left wanting more.
There are a handful of good tracks on here, a couple of exellent ones, and a number that have no meat on their bones whatsoever. I find the vast majority of these tracks too stripped down and too dry. Previous reviews seem to take the position that the instruments are more accentuated than on later dub (a la Tubby), but I find that the fine musicians working here are not heard much at all."
Awkward meets amazing
David E. Clifford | Clermont , FL USA | 02/20/2009
(3 out of 5 stars)
""Foward" starts out blazing and occasionally surprises with some wicked dubs. The two "java" based dubs are pretty tough. "extraordinary" and "sabotage" are also classic.
The issue I have with this recording is that some of the dub effects seem forced. Three of these tracks have a harmonica player that seems out of place. I also think that the two "just another" tracks are quite bland."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1