Subvertainment #4 - the Jamaican dub-tastic disc

The Record of the Year 2004, chosen via the ITV-1 channel recently, was Busted’s infernal theme song for the futile cine-effort ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’. [Wish they’d never arrived! - Appalled in The Alps…] Tormented by the age of celebrity, ignorance, outlandishness, vacuity…

It has become all too obvious, the desperation level celebs sink to only to revive some past few have had any interest in: the exposure of every ounce of individual life, outpouring and outbursts to manipulate mass empathy, glare of spotlight of the public psychiatric couch the reality TV provides for people with emotional disorder known as - Hasbeenism. Well, cease and get back to our legends, heroes and idols.

Alas, it is pretty inane out there in spite of multitude of choices offered on every conceivable gadget… We'd be sponsored by our fave brands for dutiful frequenting the St Shopperton’s cathedral. It is rebellious not to shop, it’s become risqué to be individual.

Conformity has replaced the supposed musical edge, your grandparents would not disapprove of today‘s ‘alternative’ acts. More likely be appalled by how safe it is, how ordinary and ersatz, from the modern-day Eagles that is Maroon 5 to the watered down pop-rock of Franz Ferdinand and Keane…

The Libertines, my God, Mick Jones should know there can never be new Clash in spite of all his production efforts, as Andy Gill should be aware that by producing Futureheads, despite all the professed influence, adoration and inspiration, are not the next Gang of Four… Erm, that could be the reason the legendary post-punk agitators are reforming!

Neo-punk is even more laughable, starting with Green Day, via Good Charlotte to McFly, these are only boy bands with guitars. Green Day, on the best night, can’t even reach to the bass-pedal of Sid Vicious! Then, the foxy-voxes of Joss Stone, Katie Melua, Pink, Girls Aloud… Making Anastacia sound like Janis Joplin incarnate!

All safe on the Western Front or mass culture has become maniacally hollow? There are still some old magicians who can really still cook in the most fantastic ingredients for an aural feast to last several Festive seasons. Sly and Robbie, the mainstays of many a rhythm section on too-many-recordings to even start naming, released their new album, ‘Version Born’, on 13 September 2004, and it is as exciting as it is engaging, out-there as much as dub-tastic.

The Jamaican ryddym duo can certainly lay the basis - even at the low volume the speakers are a-rocking! - for songs that can travel any way the light fantastic breaks. From the rappy-ragga of ‘Vice Vicinity’ [nice water effect], to the version of Eurhythmics’ ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’ that gets lowered as if your bedroom was in the basement. Among the dozen tracks here, there is a quartet of dubs that would satisfy anyone who feels that there’s not been enough attention paid to reggae since the great Bob Marley passed over.

Sly (Dunbar, drums, rhythm programs) & Robbie (Shakespeare, bass, bass fx) employ a number of guests - Tricky, Killah Priest, N’Dea Davenport - but this it utterly their gig. ‘Version Born’ is like a successful post-Chrimbosis hangover cure... Actually, for all and every season. We dub it that much.

9.6/10