When we last Left what is probably my absolute favourite of all non-Caribbean Reggae labels, the California based fabulous Kings of Lustre Productions, along with ignoring my fucking email inquiry for the past three months or so, they were blessing the masses with the release of the latest installment of what is, in my opinion, their signature series, Culture Dem Vol. 3. That album, like the two CD’s before it has definitely etched a place for itself in my players and has really (and quietly to some degree), become one of the stronger compilations that I’ve ran across in the second half of this abruptly Reggae compilation heavy 2009. It also went to went to strengthen my outlook on the label, in general, when someone can just kind of ‘be around’ and just continue to put together class material (even if I may not enjoy the output ALL of the time), which is what Lustre Kings Productions kind of does from my perspective - going seemingly quite a few months at a time without pushing a big release - and then jump right back in the game with something which almost DEMANDS my attention, I almost have no choice but to LOVE that. And on top of that, for them they’ve been quite active as of late, going back to last year where I THINK they released both Norris Man’s Know The Road, Take Charge from Noble Society and Al Pancho’s (I’m not even going to say anything, but you know I want to) Joy Bells Ringing as well as having a pretty large hand in the matters concerning the most familiar Breaking Babylon Curse from you know who. And, again, with everything going on this year, with apparently something yet to come in a very short matter of time, it looks like LKP is now pushing the quantity to match their downright irrefutable quality over the years (and we’ll forgive them for apparently delaying Jahdan’s album to next year now). Still, I do have to admit that, somewhat selfishly, I long for the days of old when there was but a single individual who I knew who was clutching onto earlier releases like Culture Dem Vol. 1, Time & Place from Lutan Fyah (and subsequently Turbulence’s The Future album) and that mixtape which I still have Calling All Jah Children, as if they were contained the meaning of life (because they did) and that was of course, me! I long for the time when all of this beautiful music didn’t elicit much more than a ’oh that’s pretty nice’ from my friends and that pretty girl who let me hang around her sometimes (and she’s still letting me do that, thankfully), but was absolute magic for me. Can’t those times come back, if only for a moment?
Yes! Yes they can! OBVIOUSLY, after doing all of that ^ and also releasing a fairly steady stream of their BEAUTIFUL riddim albums to the digital market, the Digital Ancient, King Corrin and co. at Lustre Kings Productions looked around and though about what else they could do to make a very obscure and absolutely ridiculous old fan happy and what they did was nearly a stroke of genius. Yes I can very well go and collect most of these on my own through their riddim album releases (although I’m not sure if LKP releases usually contain the clean version), but what a better idea can you have of something well within the scope of strange fan nostalgia, than releasing an entire album FULL of versions and dubs which is exactly what they’ve done with their latest work of art Lustre Kings In Dub Volume 1. It’s actually, to my knowledge their second Dub(ish) release as they ALSO managed to squeeze in a dubbed out version of Midnite’s 2007 LKP album Infinite Quality last year (as I said, they’ve been busy) and despite the typical oddness which accompanies Midnite wherever it goes, to me that was a powerful vibes. So, it would only stand to make FAR much more common sense that I would be open to a very nice cruise through the wonderful (and much more terrestrial than Midnite sounding) vault of Lustre Kings riddims. On this album you can find a nice mixture of Dubs and straight clean riddims alike. I do have to say, however, for the hardcore Dub heads who like that smoky, kind of old sounding spiked Dub, this may not be for. It’s much more of the ‘new school’ variety which is right up my alley and so much so is that the case that when you I spun through this album the first couple of times and maybe even now, to a lesser degree of course in scrutinizing it for the sake of this review, I didn’t even recognize very much changing of the vibes in the pieces from the way I remember them in their original form. Regardless of how much actually is, however, I enjoy this thing SO MUCH and although I may be of a very small group of fans (what else is new?) who’ll be able to appreciate this piece on such a level, I’m seriously looking at it almost like a reward to the fans who stuck with the label throughout the years (like those who remember waiting what ended up being like five years, for the Norris Man album after it was casually first mentioned on his bio on their website from a loooooooooooong ass time ago) (yes, I do pay attention). So to ‘us’, this thing is nearly great. And it’s also an idea which I hope catches on to some degree. Can you imagine if someone like Don Corleon just up and decides ‘I’m just going to put out an album of nothing but riddims’. For me, that would be gold and in an era nowadays, post-Greensleeves just putting out any damn thing they could get their hands on with the word ‘riddim’ on it, that would truly be a big thing in my opinion. And, in that same respect, perusing the downright rapturous cover of LK In Dub, I couldn’t help but be centrally focused on that part about “Volume 1”, because although I may very well be in my mid-30’s (I’m 28) when I get it (judging by CD’s release schedule), I don’t even care! This thing is a more than wonderfully welcome trip down memory lane and I don’t care if I’m going by myself. I LOVE IT!
An album like this (and also Tuff Lion’s Ten Strings from last year) always kind of come with a bit of frustration as I KNOW I remember a particular piece from somewhere, but I’m not able to quite remember exactly where. Fortunately this ‘situation’ was overrode for the most part by the fact that on nearly EACH AND EVERY TRACK, I was struck with the memory of some tune I haven’t heard in a minute and thus, the album was a helluva lot more fun for me than I’m almost sure it was even intended (or maybe not, considering that cover). Getting the party started on Lustre Kings In Dub Volume One is definitely a familiar piece and one which has thankfully melded itself to some corner of my brain, the ‘Alarm Clock’ riddim. Of course the tune which immediately comes to mind here is Lutan Fyah’s ‘Rise & Shine’ and you also hear remnants of the tune, here and there, on the riddim (and more than just that one actually). That riddim itself is downright hypnotic and after all of these years I don’t quite know what the LKP had in mind in naming it, because I don’t find myself wanting to frantically scurry out of slumber when I hear it. The thing is beautiful. And it’s one of the label’s signature riddims and it’s also no wonder why they decided to open matters with it. The first point of frustration didn’t take long to pop up on LK In Dub, but it was quickly remedied for me, as it will be for you, if you happen to recall the title ‘Why Why Why [Dub]’ from a relatively obscure LKP EP by the name of Rastafari Unity, where the tune, featuring Lutan Fyah and Princess Menen. This one is VERY nice, albeit it a bit obscure and I’m actually surprised that it was here (I‘m not complaining!), but in retrospect it was actually a strong choice because that thing is just CRYSTAL clear, I mean it sounds perfect and with familiarity not being a HUGE sticking point here, it’s definitely one of the strongest pieces on the album. Then a big gun rolls in which immediately got my ears up and running because laying very low somewhere in the LKP vault is what is, in my opinion, one of the finest tunes they’ve ever done, ‘We Need Liberation’ (from Turbulence and Digital Agent) and its riddim is here and it is OUTSTANDING! It literally made me dig up Turbulence’s album, the aforementioned The Future and just relive the good old days (I even teared up a bit), even though LKP clearly had another tune in mind with it. Big big riddim there to close of the opening lot of tunes.
As I said, listening through this one was a matter of just enjoying the tunes which the riddims reminded me of. So some of these things just hit me on levels which I don’t think they’ll necessarily get you, but . . . Yeah give it a shot anyway. The PRIME example of that comes on, ‘coincidentally’, my favourite piece on the album the ’Fortune Teller’ riddim [version]. This one backed the MASSIVE ’No More War’ from Lutan Fyah which all these years later remains not only my favourite tunes from the Time & Place album, but one of my favourites from the artist in general. The tune was huge, the riddim is PULSING and dazzling at the same time and it sounds amazing here, really. And it’s not the only one! I’ll probably be the only who does this, but when I heard the ‘Credential’ riddim, I immediately began singing “oh herbs and liquid fi di Sabbath”, from I Lue’s WICKED tune ‘Sabbath’ from the riddim (overlooking tunes from Sizzla, Turbulence, Anthony B and ‘Joy Bells’ from Al Pancho which was the title of his album and is actually mentioned in the course of the track). I love that tune and this riddim with the Arabian horn sounding vibe is excellent as well. Similarly, I’m pretty sure no one else got to the ‘Future Flow Dub’ and jumped in with “mi nah stop bun it! Bun it! Bun it! Bun ittttttt!”, from Mabrakat’s ‘Herb Inspiration’ (actually had to look that up to recall who that was) (biggup Mabrakat, wicked tune). That ‘moody’ sounding riddim grew on me quite awhile ago and having not heard it in awhile it definitely required a bit more time getting back to, but with a couple of tunes in my head on it, it didn’t take too long to appreciate and it shouldn’t even if you’re hearing it for the very first time on LK In Dub either. Just be a little patient. The ‘Ithio First’ riddim was a no-brainer (I even filled in Marcus Garvey’s part in my head), because the only time I recall hearing is it on a HUGE tune of the same name by Lutan Fyah of course. Speaking of the Fyah, he was also ‘present’ on the ‘Shining’ riddim when it kicked in because I couldn’t help but think of a tune I still vibe quite regularly, ‘Fire In The Barn’ (that one is NICE!). And also on the dub for ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’ where he had the title track alongside Yami Bolo (who is wonderfully heard on the balance of the dub, because I actually forgot he was on it (shame on me). For some reason it wasn’t Fyah and Bolo I came in with to the ‘Talking Drum’ riddim, but instead Spragga Benz of all people who ASSAULTED that beautiful funky Bollywoodish sounding riddim with a tune which has gotten consistently better over a little time, ‘Love Ina Yuh Heart’. The ‘Remedy’, which closes things on the album kind of pissed me off because I KNOW I know of some Ras Attitude tune on that riddim, but the only one I could actually name was ‘Nah Bluff’(big tune) from Turbulence, but you know I’ll be searching for some Attitude tune (unless I‘m just completely off). Speaking of Turbulence, right in the middle of LK In Dub are two dubs for riddims which have been attributed, in respect to name, to tunes by him, ‘Let’s Get It On’ and ‘If You Were Mine’ (both from The Future album, as is ‘Nah Bluff’). Neither of these tunes actually made much of an impact on me, but the riddims are SO well done, especially on the side of the former. There’s also the very frustrating ‘Bubbler Dub’. Frustrating because there’s an organ or a flute or a something spiraling down the middle of this thing (which is EPIC and partialities aside, it is probably the finest composition on the entire album) which I KNOW I recognize from somewhere and it’ll be somewhere years from now and it’ll pop into my head I know, but whatever. The Bubbler is outstanding. And interestingly I saved for last the dub for the big and bad ‘Proverbs’ riddim. Of course you know this one from you know whose ‘She Ask Me Say’ and if you stay tuned and pay attention (and I don’t drop dead in the next few days), you’ll get to know it much much better. I promise.
Overall, I do feel compelled to stress the fact that you almost certainly won’t feel for this album the way I do, strictly because of how much background I have with the material. It isn’t a revolutionary and powerful type of moment and despite the fact that I want to (and probably did already), I’m not going to speak of it in numbingly painful clichés by saying that LKP is ‘taking things to the next level’ here or anything like that. What I will say, however, is that if you like version albums first of all and definitely are perhaps a more mature fan of modern Reggae, then Lustre Kings In Dub Volume 1 is for you. And even on top of that, if you happen to be one of I don’t know how few (hopefully more than I think) fans who kinda, sorta ‘grew up’ with LKP output (even though I would have been either twenty or twenty-one when CD1 released in 2002), then just let this serve as a big advertisement for you that it’s actually out. The word ‘nostalgia’ typically comes with a bit of acknowledgement that whatever it is that you’re referring to is ‘admittedly’ kind of not so good, but for me, LK In Dub is very much nostalgic and of the absolute highest degree. Well done.
Personal Rating: 63.9/5
actual rating: 3.75/5
Lustre Kings Productions
2009
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