THE PROPHETS Vinilo y CD

Review: The Vivian Jackson label has locked in this crucial reissue of a roots classic from Yabby U, a late Jamaican artist and producer who released it originally back in 1977. 'Chant Down Babylon' is a warm one with lazy and rolling drums and natty acoustic guitar riffs with Jah worshiping vocals and Babylon yearnings that unfurl up top with a real smoothness. On the flip, you will find the 'Chant Dub Mix' which removes the vocal chantings and allows the hats to hiss and the snares to take off like UFOs while the fleshy low end is couched in oodles of reverb.

Review: Despite the similarity of the title of this one to an earlier album, King Tubby's Prophecies Of Dub was actually a new and standalone work. Though it bares Tubby's name, he was only an executive producer of sorts, as Pat Kelly was the one mostly at the controls, and what's more, many of the backing tracks here belonged to Bunny 'Striker' Lee. Those technicalities aside, it still unfolds like a dub classic, with hissing hi hats and rippling top lines all underpinned by impossibly buoyant bass. Along the way, there are up tempo rumblers next to sink into your sofa stoner sessions that all make it a perfectly warm and escapist trip.