Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
I heard that for the first time probably a bit later than 1976 but the key to my love of reggae probably comes from John Lydon. I was really into John Lydon before he became a dick. During the first few years of PiL, he was still cool, I loved the way he dressed and looked. But I heard him do this interview on Capital Radio, it might have been with Tommy Vance, around 1978, I tuned in expecting to hear the punk stuff but he basically played reggae for an hour… including Augustus Pablo. What sets this apart is the melodica and he just plays over bass and drum rhythms with the melodica, it has a ghostly feel to it. The title track is a classic, it's a standard. Sometimes when you're asked to put a list together, you want to stay away from these 'classic' records but this meant so much to me. I must have bought it five times since the early days. It still sounds just as fresh today, I love dub music, I love instrumental records and this is one of the greatest dub records there is.