Mad Professor

★★★★

40 Years Of Dub! 1980-2020

ARIWA. DL

Four decades of dub, Ariwa style.

After an apprenticeship at Soundcraft, Guyanese immigrant Neil Fraser launched Ariwa from his south-east London front room, producing roots reggae and lovers rock with local performers. Dub was important from the start and this download-only retrospective allows us to chart the label’s dub progression, with Fraser in the producer’s chair as Mad Professor. Opening track Can You Dub It has Patrick Augustus’s steel pan melody duelling with a full horn section as Prof embeds a terrible crunching sound in the backbeat. Soon Ranking Ann is decrying the exclusionist policies of the Tory government’s Immigration Plan, sounding every bit as relevant now as it did 36 years ago. There are adaptations of Armagideon Time and Kunta Kinte Black Roots, and unusual elements appear throughout this enjoyable romp, such as snatches of opera on The Realms and sub-dub keyboard bass on Soft Drugs.