Augustus Pablo
Jah Light!
Articles




JaVA



Currently available through some retailers in London are copies of Clives Chins 'Java Java Dub'.

A primal bass and drum set of some fifteen years vintage recorded at China Randy's Studio 17 and mixed by
the legendary engineer Errol 'T' Thompson,
perhaps better known through his time as one half of the Mighty Two duo with producer Joe Gibbs
in the mid to late seventies.

'Java Java Dub' is the later version of the original 'Java Dub' and features the toasting cuts and straight mix sans melodica of Pablo's 'Java' itself.
The Deejay who by turns sounds like Jazzbo, Big Youth and Jah Stitch, was identified by Chin in a recent interview with Echoes 'Ian McCann' as one Crutches.

Rhythms include Pablo's 'Java' of course, Leroy Sibbles 'Guiding Star', Dennis Brown's 'Meet me on the corner' and 'Cheater', Junior Byles 'King Of Babylon', the Upsetter version,

a Randy's cut to the old Soul Vendors 'Swing Easy', plus the brilliant 'Ordinary Version' a cut to the 'Assignment No. 1' off the 'This is Augustus Pablo' album
which features a 'toast' by Errol T. along the lines of Scotty's 'Skank In Bed' where Thompson instructs a callow
youth on the mechanics of dubwise engineering only to loose his patience at the
youths inability to grasp his instructions and order him out of the studio.

A delight from days of old when men were bold and wer'nt afraid to experiment in the studio and fool around.

BOOM-SHACKA-LACKA MAGAZINE ISSUE No. 2 SPRING 1989.

JAVA

The story of "Java" is well known, Clive Chin had originally recorded a vocal by Dennis Wright on the rhythm, but was unhappy with the result.
He then asked his friend Augustus Pablo to play on it, and the resulting record was a massive success that launched Pablo's career.
The record includes supporting vocals from The Chosen Few, but it is Pablo's eerie powerful lines combined with the relentless and innovative rhythm
that make it the classic it is. The other side of the record, "Java Version", features a totally different take by Pablo.

The success of "Java" encouraged Clive Chin to issue further cuts of the rhythm, including a splendid horns version from Tommy McCook, "Jaro",
coupled with an Augustus Pablo clavinet cut, "Maro", and a Dennis Alcapone toast, "Mava" coupled with Pablo and Bongo Herman's "Java Passion" .

Clive followed these up with an album that is usually called "Java Java Dub", but which was originally credited as "Java Java Java Java".
The original ten track album includes a further dub to the "Java Version" take, "Java Java Dub". In 1988 a ten track issue of "Java Java Dub" was released in the U.S.A. with a blank cover.
Rather than being a reissue this is in effect a different album, as all of the tracks have been remixed and several feature added contributions from deejay Delroy "Crutches" Jones.

This set includes a straight dub cut "Java Java". Shortly after this twelve-track edition of the album appeared in the U.K.
with slightly different mix from its predecessor and with two extra tracks, Pablo's "Java" and Dennis Alcapone's "Mava" Clive Chin also issued one other cut to the rhythm, I. Roy's "Hospital Trolley".

There were two early recuts of the rhythm. Prince Buster produced Senior Pablo's melodica cuts, "Java" and "Science", and Studio One issued a strong saxophone version
by Cedric "Im" Brooks and The Invaders, "Ethiopia". Pablo used the rhythm for two Black Ark produced cuts, his version of "Java".

There have been many other cuts to the rhythm, but special mention should be made of Roman Stewart and The Heptones' "Rain A Fall" and Sugar Minott's beautiful "People Of The World".

Magazine: Rhythm Wise Three, by Jean Scrivener. 1991

ISBN 951-95321-3-7

PUBLISHED BY: BLACK STAR, FREDRIKINKATU 14, 00120 HELSINKI, FINLAND.







Back To Menu