May 17, 1997
From renowned reggae maestro Dennis Bovell comes another great dub album, Dub of Ages. Containing 12 tracks all written by Bovell, this follows the highly successful 1993 album Tactics, lauded as 'assured polished reggae from a master producer and musician' (Belle magazine). Dub of Ages is the latest in a series of dub executions which began over 25 years ago when Bovell began making exclusive cuts for his sound system, Sufferers Hi-Fi. Dub of Ages is as inventive and adventurous as Bovell's earlier albums which include I Wah Dub, Higher Ranking Scientific Dub and Strictly Dubwise.
Dennis Bovell has been at the helm of British reggae for the last 20 years. From leading chart-topping reggae band Matumbi in the 1970s, Bovell also began to produce reggae classics such as Janet Kay's huge hit Silly Games (1979). An accomplished multi-instrumentalist (playing guitar, bass and keyboards), sound engineer, composer, band leader and producer, his work too is multi-layered. He has produced bands including The Thompson Twins and Bananarama, played with Marvin Gaye and Wet Wet Wet amongst others, composed music for film and TV (e.g. for the film Babylon and the Channel 4 series The Bandung File) and has an enduring partnership with reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.
From the golden era of Jamaican popular music which bridged the gap between ska and reggae came unforgettable songs like Delroy Wilson's Rain atom the Sky, the Heptones' saucy Fattie Fattie the Melodians' Come On Little Girl and the Techniques' You Don't Care. Winston Francis, himself a veteran of the rock steady era, gives us his own rendition of these songs in a voice reminiscent of Nat King Cole. Guitarist and pioneering lovers' rock producer John Kpiaye has stayed true to the original rock steady feel, yet adds a nineties twist with his arrangements and additional instrumentation.
Winston Francis has been singing professionally since he was seventeen. He was one of the band singers for Carlos Malcolm in Jamaica and recorded at the famous Coxson's Studio One, home of foremost reggae artists such as Bob Marley and Dennis Brown. His cover of the Mamas and the Papas' classic California Dreamin became a UK hit in 1971 and he established a name for himself with the album Mr Fix It. In 1993 Dennis Bovell produced Francis' cover of the Ben E. King number Stand By Me, which sold over 90,000 copies as a single in France. As well as singing with the Skaticians, Francis is in great demand as a session singer for various bands and is currently working on a musical.
Both Dennis Bovell and Winston Francis are available for interview.
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