Oh my! Plains Of Africa (Echo Echo Echo) opens this set, minimalist dub style, with fragmented vocals, lion roars, other animal sounds, plenty of echo (echo echo), and a rhythm that just keeps going (just!). As they tell us next, Dub Syndicate is Alive And Burning Bright and on this set, using rhythms from the classic 1989 to 1996 period. So, this is dub from the outer limits, unexpected noises crashing in, Style Scott (formerly of The Roots Radics) as masterful on drums as you’d expect – take a listen to Pleasurezone Transmitter – and with new overdubs from Cyrus Richard of The Dub Asante Band, best known for backing Horace Andy.
Adrian Sherwood has gone back to the original tapes to re-work this material, which appeared originally on albums like Time Boom X De Devil Dead and Stoned Immaculate, into new offerings. Listen to Right Back To Your Soul with its meditative melodica and dreamy, jazzy keyboards, or … better still, just listen to this whole album – new dubs, maybe but already being acknowledged as classic Dub Syndicate, and rightly so. A weed smoker’s dream.