Jamaican roots reggae crooner
Johnny Clarke had a hot streak from the moment he dropped his first dub-friendly crossover track, "None Shall Escape the Judgement," in 1974. Teaming hitmaking production from
Bunny Lee and skilled engineering from dub innovator
King Tubby,
A Ruffer Version: At King Tubby's 1974-1978 collects the brightest gems from
Clarke's halcyon days of smoking-hot singles and pairs them with
Tubby's explosive dub remixes. Highlights are many over the course of the collection's 23 tracks, including the bass-heavy Rasta rhythm hymn "Enter in His Gates with Praise" and the classic ska-touched slink of "Move Out of Babylon Rastaman." As was the case with many hits from the era when dub was dawning, multiple versions and remixes were cut of the same rhythm tracks with different vocalists, lyrics, or instrumentation comprising very familiar but ultimately brand-new songs from the base elements.
Ruffer Version has some moments when it milks an awful lot of different angles out of a single rhythm, as with four different takes on the basic framework of "None Shall Escape the Judgement," but all told, the repeating grooves lend themselves to the creation of a hypnotic state before they become grating.
Clarke's smooth voice competes for top billing with
Tubby's blasted production style, and several of the tracks included here are nothing short of essential to anyone even remotely interested in Jamaican music. ~ Fred Thomas