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Greetings loyal Sorry State supporters. Thank you for clicking on our Newsletter once again and reading.
A lot of things going on here at Sorry State Towers this week, with exciting new releases either out or on their way, a potential new colleague joining the ranks, more great collections being bought and not least of all our leader Lord Daniel making it official and getting married to Lady Jet. Congratulations to you both. Please raise a glass to their happiness won’t you?
In the outside world, the news keeps on getting more and more bizarre and troubling it seems, although we are all still trying our best to keep going and live our lives the best we can. There seem to be more events happening and gigs, etc. So that is good. Here in Raleigh this weekend will be the Dreamville Festival curated and headlined by North Carolina’s own J. Cole. My Worldy DJ partner Matt and I had the honour of spinning some records for the festival’s first kick-off event yesterday at Junction West, which was fun. Getting to play records out and hear them loud with others is the absolute best. I’ll hump turntables and record bags almost anywhere for that pleasure.
I wasn’t sure what to talk about this week. I’ve been listening to so many different things and could have gone in any of several directions. However, I had fun spinning an old fave yesterday and so thought I might mention it as you might dig it too. The record is Present Arms In Dub by UB40. Okay, okay, calm down and stop the sniggering. I’m serious here. This record is excellent and although the reggae purists dismiss the pop side of UB40 and judge them by their later work, don’t let them put you off. Purists are boring anyway. Besides, anyone who knows and likes music will know the early UB40 records are good. Present Arms was their second album after the excellent Signing Off LP. There were some good extended mixes released for some tracks off that record besides some single sides, but this was the group’s first dedicated all dub instrumental record. The parent album Present Arms had been a chart hit and the dub album followed suit, making history as the first full dub album to crack the UK top forty. Of course, the concept of dub LPs was not a new phenomenon and UB40, being well versed in Jamaican producers such as Lee Perry and King Tubby, would have been more than familiar with the idea of making instrumental versions of vocal tracks. Indeed, there were producers in the UK such as Dennis Bovell and Neil Fraser aka Mad Professor who were making groundbreaking strides in homegrown reggae and dub productions, but their efforts were, at this point in time, still underground and known only to the hard-core reggae enthusiasts.
Regardless of your opinion about the group and any of their pop hits, this is a proper legit dub record and if you didn’t know who it was by and it was mixed in with other dub music, none of it would seem out of place. I’m in no doubt that lots of weed was consumed during its creation, but you don’t have to be an herb lover to enjoy listening to it or be that familiar with the original record. The production is top notch and mastering excellent. The drum and bass, the cornerstone of dub music, sounds superb and the added effects that come in and out are not distracting or cheesy. Whenever I spin a track from the record during a DJ gig, invariably someone comes up to ask what it is or to give the thumbs up of approval. Another plus factor is that you don’t have to spend a lot of dough to get a copy, which you would have to for other cooler or hipper dub titles. I’m the biggest fan of common and cheap records that punch above their weight. They can sit alongside my rare and expensive shit based on the musical content and not the price tag. It’s all about the music at the end of the day.
If you have heard this record and are in the know already, you’ll have to forgive me for stating the obvious, but perhaps there are some of you that aren’t familiar or just hate the song Red Red Wine. Put that out of your heads. This is not that. I personally enjoy the Labour Of Love album which that song came from and plenty more UB40 records, but if you had to own just one of their records, then Present Arms In Dub would be the one. Followed by Signing Off if you are allowed a second. Lol. I’ll attach the link here for you to follow and listen. I hope you enjoy.
That’s all from me for this week. Don’t forget to toast Daniel and Jet and keep on supporting your local record stores and digging music. Cheers - Dom