2005 Auralux Recordings LUXXCDO15

Brand new selection! This reissue from the folks at Auralux is a gem of a recording. The original album was released in 1980 by Greensleves entitled ‘The Big Showdown’ featuring Jah Thomas and displaying a cartoon drawing of a boxing match between the two dub masters as it’s album cover. Both of whom each mixed five tracks on the album. The album is rightly regarded as a classic and is seen by many as one of the last great dub albums.

What many people didn’t realize is that Junjo Lawes productions issued an entirely different version simultaneously in Jamaica on the Jah Guidance label. This album used the same sleeve and track listing as the original Greensleves version, but contained ten different Barrington Levy dubs, again mixed at King Tubby’s studio. Both recordings featured dubs of ‘Reggae Music’, ‘Looking My Love’, and ‘Black Heart Man’ the other seven were never issued on an album and each mix on the Jah Guidance album is different from any other release ever issued in any format! These tunes have remained obscure and not available for 25 years, until now…………

The Lost Mixes opens with ‘Shaolin Temple Dub’ and takes the listener on a tough, raw and to the point ride through Jamaica’s golden age of dub wise. Each track is dubbed to perfection, with tunes like ‘Trod with Jah’ being turned into a stomping drum and bass workout. All the Levy killers are present from ‘Shine Eye Gal’ to ‘A Yah We Deh’.

No one really knows who exactly mixed down these tracks, the album notes say Scientist or Jammy are likely culprits! But whatever the case this is Barrington Levy and The Roots Radics with a new twist of timeless dub!

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