Customer Reviews
SIMPLY THE BEST - By: kaysixone, 20 Jan 2003 
This showcase collection features all six of Jacob Miller's Augustus Pablo produced single A-sides back to back with their respective dub versions. It's a great collaboration: Miller's impassioned vocals, Pablo's uniquely strong rhythms, melodies & arrangements played by some of Jamaica's finest musicians; plus the legendary King Tubby at the mixing desk. All the tracks were recorded over an 18 month period (1974-75) at Randy's & Dynamic studios & provided much of the source material for the landmark "King Tubby meets rockers uptown" album, after being mixed at King Tubby's studio by the master himself.
Miller was still a teenager when he started working with Pablo, but handles each vocal performance with an assurance that belies his youthful inexperience, whether it's the dread lyrics of tracks like "False rasta" or love songs like "Baby I love you so", & Tubby's dub mixes beautifully complement the A-sides. Dub was still a relatively new phenomenon when these recordings were made & hardly known outside of Jamaica. The idea of stripping a track down to its bare bones, adding effects such as echo & reverb, & dropping its constituent musical elementsin & out of the mix was pioneered by Tubby, opening the door to a whole new world of sonic exploration.
It's difficult to pick favourite tracks on a compilation as good as this one. The most famous of these singles is undoubtedly "Baby I love you so" or rather its dub version "King Tubby meets rockers uptown", which was one of the first examples of dub to make any sort of impact internationally. But from the opening "Keep on knocking", which begins with a statement of intent by Miller ("This is rockers! Original rockers!") it's non-stop quintessential mid-70's reggae from start to finish.
Miller wanted to make more records with Pablo (who can blame him?) but given Pablo's dire financial status (he was often dependent on many of the musicians playing on his records for free on the basis that he would do the same for them), the promises of fame & fortune from other producers soon became too tempting. Before long Miller would become hugely successful with his band Inner Circle, but artistically at least, he never surpassed the recordings on this album. Sadly he was killedin a car crashin 1980, while Tubby was tragically gunned down outside his studioin 1989 & Pablo died a decade laterin 1999.
Although the rhythms collected together on "Who say Jah no dread" are all available elsewhere, these are the definitive versions & if you only ever buy one Augustus Pablo record make sure this is it. In view of the album's title it's also pertinent to mention that Pablo was a deeply religious man who often credited Jah as co-producer of his works & this one is no exception. On the sleeve, after the words "produced by Augustus Pablo" you can read the followingin parenthesis: "produced by King Selassie I through his divine powers working through I & I to manifest these inspirations". What more can I say?
If you love reggae this album is essential. - By: nickcrow@hotmail.com, 07 Feb 2001 This CD brings together the six singles that Jacob Miller recorded for Augustus Pablos Rockers Organisation over 18 months between 1974 & 1975 interspersed with their six dub versions mixed by King Tubby. Millers effortless vocal style combined with Pablos delicate melodica & xylophone lines, along with Tubbys ground breaking dub mixes make this collection a reggae classic, one of those rare momentsin music when a few individuals are brought together at the height of their powers to produce something awesome. Baby I Love You So must be one of the great reggae love songs of all time but its classic dub flip side King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown proved even more popular when originally released, spawning the classic dub album of the same name. Who Say Jah No Dread deals with the commercialisation of Rastafarianism while False Rasta is about the struggle for rasta acceptance. Miller went on to form Inner Circle & was killedin a road crashin 1980 aged only 28, King Tubby was shot deadin 1989 & Augustus Pablo died of a nerve disorderin 1999. These immense talents may no longer be here but their musical legacy always shall.
