The Treasure Dub Albums Collection

When the gun-slinging ex-cop Duke Reid passed on in 1975, rival producer Sonia Pottinger acquired his legendary Treasure Isle studio and back catalogue. She oversaw a series of excellent retrospectives as a reminder of the studio's seminal role in bridging ska and rocksteady. Among them were these three formerly hard-to-find albums: Treasure Dub Volumes 1 & 2 and Pleasure Dub, engineered by Reid's nephew, Errol Brown, who cut his first dub plates under the watchful eye of King Tubby, among others. With raw material by the likes of Alton Ellis, Phyllis Dillon and The Paragons, and a house band led by the former Skatalite tenor saxophonist Tommy McCook, he couldn't go wrong. Full of old-school dub, with echo, drop-out and snatches of the original vocals, rather than anything too tricky and rhythm-heavy, the three albums plus eight previously unreleased tracks add up to an impeccable and irresistible collection.

While accompanied by some useful liner notes, the package alas includes no information about the original titles and artists being dubbed. Still, the versions compiled here quite literally echo such a host of old favourites from the studio above Duke Reid's liquor shop that the oversight isn't crucial.