ROBERTO SANCHEZ Vinilo y CD

Review: Some super good roots here to bring some sunshine back into your life despite the freezing temps outdoors. The brilliantly talented female singer on this is Nagai and she hails from Reunion Island. Her vocal on the title tune 'Back to My Roots' is full of yearning and pained soul while the rhythm below is a clean and nimble one with nattty chords all mixed by Roberto Sanchez at A-Lone Ark Music Studio. A melon-mangling dub plus two further versions close out this fine 12".

Review: Spanish dub maestro Roberto Sanchez first met Channel One artist and all right reggae legend Linval Thompson 15 years ago. In the time since, the pair have collaborated on numerous projects, though nothing as ambitious as this. It sees Sanchez provide an authentically dusty, deep and rhythm-focused dub translation of Thompson's 1978 album I Love Marijuana - a set that, despite King Tubby handling production duties - had never been fully re-worked in. Largely working with the original master tapes, Sanchez has delivered a dub re-imagining that sounds like a long-lost King Tubby or Lee 'Scratch' Perry production - all weighty low-end 'riddims', effects aplenty and echoing organ, guitars and vocals.