Joe Gibbs And The Professionals — 100 Years Of Dub

100 Years Of Dub is a forty-eight-track compilation focusing on material released by respected Jamaican producer/ DJ Joe Gibbs, and his band The Professionals during the years 1975 & 1978. Thirty of the tracks featured here have never been released on CD before- and we certainly get a bumper crop of 70’s dub- with all its groove, creativity, and smoked-out bass-heavy vibes.

This double CD release appears on Doctor Bird- which is the reggae sub-label of Cherry Red. The two discs come presented in a clear jewel case- which features a sixteen-page glossy inlay booklet- taking in a new write-up about the collection. With a great selection of single labels, track credits, and pictures of Mr Gibbs, and the key members of The Professionals.

Gibbs put together The Professionals in the early 1970s-it brought together key members bassist Robbie Shakespeare, drummer Sly Dunbar and guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith.  Between 1975 & 1984 the band put out ten albums, and one hundred and ninety singles/ EPs.

This release features forty-eight tracks- twenty-four on each CD. The tracks all date from between the years 1975 & 1978 and are arranged chronologically.  With both dub versions of known reggae tracks- as well as original tracks been offered up here.

Personal highlights on the first disc go from “Black September Version” with its layered & detailed mix of percussive block knock,  jiving scratch, & sampled horn bounce. Onto loosely snapping ‘n’ rattling drum hits, jaunting key rides, and occasional reverb vocal calls of “I Stand Confused”. We have wavering & dissonating “Broom Stick” with its mix of abstract ‘n’ bouncing percussion lines, hazed & stretched keys, bass hack, and occasional melting ‘n’ drifting female vocal trails.  There’s “Earthquake” with its pared-back beats, guitar ‘n’ bass struts- which ever so often pitched & at points engulfed by electro pull, purr, bay- almost coming over like an early industrial dub cross breed. With the disc playing out with the popping, glazing, and electro shredding of “Informer Version” with its stretched female vocal lines, morphed & corrupted beats, and bright key jive.

Moving onto disc number two a few of my favourite tracks here are. “Roots Kunta Kinet” with its knocking gunshot ‘n’ bubbling bong percussion, stretched grooving instrumental shape, and even touches of traffic noise. There’s the brightly rubbing ‘n’ strutting electro wonkiness of “Bubbler In Money” with its warbling ‘n’ waving keys, murky male vocal utterings, and warming guitar tones. We have the stripped-back bass ‘n’ snapping beats of “Holiday Style Version” with its shifting layers of melted ‘n’ reverbed horns, keys, and guitar detail. There are the skat-like vocal cut-ups, bouncing ‘n’ stretching keys & blues-bound guitar fills of “Sharky”.

100 Years Of Dub is another very worthy trip down into Mr Gibbs vaults. With each disc offering up a fairly varied  & creative selection of tracks. So if you are into the more melted, bent, and warped side of 1970s dub- it’s most certainly a must.