Jonny Greenwood Is The Controller
< author: g booker > |
Jonny Greenwood Is The Controller Label: Trojan |
The British label that has made its name over the years as the best distributor of classic Jamaican music, Trojan, has released a new single disc compilation. It is called “Jonny Greenwood Is The Controller.” Jonny Greenwood is a guitarist in Radiohead, and may seem an odd choice to arrange a reggae mix. Greenwood, however, does such a fine job as selector that it does not feel forced or unnatural at all. One of the mightiest Jamaican anthems of the last year or two, Turbulence’s “Notorious,” seems to have broken out within indieish communities from its inclusion in the mix played at Radiohead shows. There is a nervous, paranoid undercurrent of dread within this sampler that suggests that Radiohead and dub may share more than it initially sounds like.
The collection is full of perfect examples of the transcendent power of dub. The songs are solidly based, exhibiting the irresistible solid songwriting of the earlier rocksteady era. Beneath the structure, however, lies the methodical lurch of reggae tempo, and the more pronounced clatter of the percussion, leaving a somewhat frightful and dark pall that braces the affable material. Each drum hit has its own texture puncturing the mix. When the songs give way to toasting and dub sections, the beats clatter and echo with a wash of treated and isolated elements sweeping in, cutting out, and dispersing, like an organic orchestra of robots. From sound and subject that evokes the earth (roots) there is a transformation to a timeless reverie set in deep space, mental and outer (dub). The effect is no less than authentically psychedelic, as sound separates and takes its own distinct pathways in and out of perception.
Lee Perry hovers over the heart of the collection. On his “Black Panta,” a post ska lockstep supports a sinister instrumental in which the instruments strut, the drums strike and scratch, and the effects build up to embody the predatory growl of a wild animal. On “Bionic Rats” and “Dreader Locks,” Perry collaborates with his band the Upsetters (originally Max Romeo’s Hippy Boys) and Junior Byles, respectively. All of these tracks show the bold intuition, brave spareness, superhuman inspiration, and reckless eccentricity that makes Perry such a legendary figure, the possessed and deranged wizard to King Tubby’s mad scientist. “Flash Gordon Meets Luke Skywalker” is a fine nod to the legacy of these two dub pioneers, offering a taste of what acolytes Scientist, Jammy and the Roots Radics were developing by the dawn of the 80s.
Linval Thompson’s “Dread Are The Controller” is both the opening track and a declaration of intention. The nucleus of the album is the dread friendly dub and roots of the 70s. Marcia Aitkens delivers a worthy version of the standard “I’m Still In Love” that launches into deep space when the toasting and reverb kick in midway. Another sensational Marcia, Griffiths, vamps her way seductively through a version of “Gypsy Man” that makes me feel dirty when I realize that this is the woman who taught us the Electric Slide. Gregory Isaacs proves his dexterity with mesmerizing and sublime to the point of creepy love crooning on the pleading “Never Be Ungrateful.” Delroy Wilson’s “This Life Makes Me Wonder” has the fullness and emotional complexity mixed with catchiness of Motown classics like “Bernadette.” “Cool Rasta” is a good indicator of the point where the Heptones had evolved from a young trio into the greatest band reggae yielded. Junior Byles delivers a heated version of “Fever” that goes beyond Peggy Lee’s disaffected cool into mischievous horniness. Johnny Clarke & the Aggrovators manage to realize dub as the sound of a warzone on “A Ruffer Version.” Scotty’s “Clean Race,” with its abrupt lapses into pure conversation and command mixed with metronome toasting, ends the album on a fine note: complete hypnosis and destruction to your rational mind in the name of dance and life.