R&B came before and was one of the major influences on ska, which later led to Reggae.

Yeah, i've been wrong on this sort of point before so i'll agree. And people dont notice that original R&B is very, very different to todays R&B, the scourge of music with a message and innovation!

What do you think of Ragga and Dancehall though? I cant even listen to Ragga, and i wouldnt choose to listen to Dancehall, i think its got alot more to do with american culture and materialism than its jamaican roots. Roots music was so deep (and dub too of course), songs had messages, it was about jamaican people. Ragga seems to be about violence, sexism and copying american "gangsta pimps". Anyone?

I like ragga vocals in Drum n Bass songs, it goes well with the fast frantic beats.

Anyone know of Asian Dub Foundation? I guess its not like old style dub (not that ive heard any before, im just guessing) it sounds a bit diverse, as in it takes a bit from ska, as well as electronic music, as well as reggae, and traditional, but I heard a couple songs the other night, and they sounded pretty sick, i love the rhythms and the general feel of their music.

Hi folks it’s quite interesting reading some of the posts on this forum regarding reggae music. I have been actively buying reggae music since the early 70s and also ran a sound system in England for some ten years. I my opinion the golden era for dub (and by dub I’m talking about remixed instrumentals) was the 5 year period from 1977 to 1982. It still is probably the only time in music where sound/recording engineers were sometimes bigger stars than the people they were recording.

Again this is only my opinion but if you asked me to list the engineers responsible for some of the best tracks of that period I would say they were. (In no particular order)

Lee Perry
King Tubby
Prince Jammy
Crucial Bunny
Scientist

There are also many others worth a mention including Joe Gibbs, Errol T, Professor (Different from Mad Professor) and Roy Francis.

As for some albums worth checking out, some of my favourites include.

African Dub: Chapters 1 to 3, with Chapter 3 probably being the best of the bunch.
Majestic Dub
20th Century Dubwise.
Heavyweight Dub Contest, Space Invader, World Cup, Dub Landing and Pac Man: all by Scientist.
Phase One Dubwise volumes 1 and 2.
Slum in Dub.
Negril love dub.
Brand: In my opinion one of the best drum & bass albums of the time.
Black Ark dub.
Hot lava and Blazing Horns two wonderful Dub/Horns albums.

I’ve literally just scratched the surface here: The list above is compiled from my vinyl originals but I’ve included them because I’m pretty sure that most if not all of these titles have recently been re-issued on CD.

Happy Listening.

Woah, thats a cool list. Its a shame you werent around with Horakhti, he was a real officionado... Im still only just getting into it really, but i seem to be the only person who posts here any more...

Buy these CDs, - Blood and Fire, Dubwise and otherwise 1 and 2. Theyre about £2.99 each, and quite possibly two of the best purchases i ever made.

And am I chopped liver or something?

All I see on that list is a combination of what Horakhti and I already posted.

AH SHUT UP! I recognise your officionado status too Satch, but Horakhti pips you to the post because he left, thus giving him LEGEND status. Worthy of some sort of statue.

Here's a few crucial cuts I can come up with today....

African Brothers - Want Some Freedom

Sugar Minott's 1st group

Burning Spear - Bruning Spear & Rocking Time

1st two albums from Spear on Studio One ~ raw & crucial

Keith Hudson - Pick A Dub

(dark dub)

Culture - Humble African

(argueably Culture's best album, sonically unreal)

Augustus Pablo - East Of River Nile & Meets King Tubby's Rockers Uptown (or any other album) - jazzy dub from one another of JA's virtuosos

Tommy McCook & The Supersonics - Top Secret

Rico Rodriguez - Man From Wareika & Tribute To D. Drummond

ANYTHING by the Ethiopians, Junior Byles, & Big Youth

Prince Far I & The Arabs - Cry Tuff dub Encounter

Trojan 2cd Sets - Slim Smith, Owen Grey, & Roy Shirley (rocksteady/JA soul)

Count Ossie & the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari - Tales Of Mozambique - very musical and free form compared to Grounation

Headley Bennet - 35 Years From Alpha (dub)

Trojan Jamaican R&B box set

Dandy Livingstone - Beware of The Devil

Max Romeo - War Inna Babylon

Top Deck Ska Set 1-8 (early alternates and b-sides)

Prince Buster - Live On Tour (1967)

Wailers, The - JAD Complete Wailers Volumes 1-6

The Itals - Brutal crucial roots reggae harmonies

STRANGER COLE – FORWARD IN THE LAND OF SUNSHINE

Joe Higgs - Family

Bunny Wailer - Blackheart Man

Those are all really good, cant go wrong with Livingstone or Burning Spear, or Buster or Max Romeo or etc. etc. etc.