Vivian Jackson Jamaica レコード& CD

Review: The 'Gates Of Zion (Dub)' is a time-honoured fixture of the catalogue of Yabby You (real name Vivian Neville Jackson), the reggae vocalist and producer whose largely autodidactic and self-released work lent him a special credo during dub's 1970s heyday. With the original first appearing as a collaboration with Scientist and Michael Prophet on the album At The Dub Station in 1981, under the name 'Free Up Your Heart', the versions featured here on this imprint is far colder and less forgiving, skilfully working in snake-rattly curios and percussive oddities into a backbeat that effortlessly complements You's ghostly vocal delivery. Not one to be missed, 'Gates Of Zion' truly produces the feeling of approaching utopia's vine-leaved entrance; you, too, might get a pass, provided you add this one to your collection.

Review: The Vivian Jackson label has locked in this crucial reissue of a roots classic from Yabby U, a late Jamaican artist and producer who released it originally back in 1977. 'Chant Down Babylon' is a warm one with lazy and rolling drums and natty acoustic guitar riffs with Jah worshiping vocals and Babylon yearnings that unfurl up top with a real smoothness. On the flip, you will find the 'Chant Dub Mix' which removes the vocal chantings and allows the hats to hiss and the snares to take off like UFOs while the fleshy low end is couched in oodles of reverb.