i think most people have heard of king tubby and how he invented dub, one way or another, sometime in the 70s, in jamaica, by accident, or on purpose, with nothing but a 4-track mixer, a spring-loaded reverb/delay unit, and an acetate-cutting machine. and if you haven't, don't feel bad, i'm being facetious.

but so it was, and that's why lots of people recognize tubby's ear-splitting works from the 1970s, plentifully reissued and scooped up by the sound-hungry masses, often appreciated, but sometimes not: what's the point? just some drums, and some bass, and some vocals, mixed all funny with echoes. big deal, let's listen to pink martini instead.

i'm not sure dub was ever really meant to be appreciated on its own terms. each dub has a unique vocabulary, partly made up of the instrumental tracks on the tape, partly of the mixing board and techniques the engineer employs, and partly of the listener's knowledge of the original vocal tune.

easy star records put out dub side of the moon last year, a reggae dubwise version of pink floyd's cult classic. the problem for me, and the reggae fans i've talked to about it, is that we never listened to pink floyd. to enjoy most dub, the listener needs to fill in the parts that are missing.

at his best, king tubby was able to introduce the listener to that missing vocabulary as the track develops. for example, a track i taped from rockers on WERS (88.9 FM, Boston) sometime in the fall or early winter of 1989 exemplifies this principle, and makes the most of the late 1980s digital styles, down to the synthetic hand claps.

i wrote down that the dj said it was by king tubby + the aggrovators, and there's a pretty distinctive vocal intro, but i've never been able to identify it.

it's hissy, it's mono, straight from my tape collection to you. holler if you have a lead on where i can get a clean copy of this unknown track.