An hour of dub not dub today, with a 10-song selection of remixes circa 1996.
Dub '96 follows the tradition of previous Dubhed excursions to 1983 and 1985 (twice), with a varied (re)mix of indie and electronic music, all put through the club/dub filter.
Everything But The Girl were partying like it was, er, 1999, teaming up with Spring Hill Jack for the drum and bass-infused title track of their Walking Wounded album.
Dubstar called Mother... no, not theirs, the DJ/producer duo of Jools Brettle & Lee Fisher... to take their single Stars into space, a dub oddity if you will.
18 Wheeler on the other hand stayed on terra firma, getting Greg Hunter in to dub their single, transforming it into Beyond The Valley Of The Hours And The Times, in homage to Russ Meyer's 1970 film Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls.
Inspired by Dubstar, The Beloved were visited by one half of Deep Dish, the fortuitously named Dubfire (Ali to his ioved ones) to go even further with Three Steps To Heaven. Unfortunately, the record label didn't approve and the remix remained unreleased for many years.
Alter Ego proposed getting out of their heads on Mescal, or should that be Mezcal? You may be interested to know that all tequila is a type of mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. Two Lone Swordsmen create a suitably out of body dub.
From out of their heads to Out Of This World by Republica. This remix was originally released as a promo 12" in 1994, back when The Chemical Brothers were still blagging it as The Dust Brothers, until The Dust Brothers found out and told them to stop. The dub remix turned up on a single in 1996... at least that's what it said on the sleeve. Turns out it was actually April 1997. Ooops!
Grace was a project for Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, who recorded Not Over Yet in 1993. It wasn't a major hit until 1995, by which time original vocalist Patti Low had departed. Subsequent singles were led by Dominique Atkins, although it was "all over" for Grace by 1997.
Innerzone Orchestra is a collective pulled together by electronic music pioneer Carl Craig. Bug In The Bassbin is perhaps their most well-known track, with a slew of remixes. I only released after I'd completed this selection that the Graphic Dub included here is supposed to be 5 minutes long. My CD rip is a smidge over 1 minute. Ooops!
It's that guy Steve Osborne again, this time remixing indie legends Lush. Again, another quirk in my digital music collection. The original running time was listed as 10:51, until I realised that the file was corrupted. One refresh later and the track is 6:31 as it should be. Housekeeping, eh?
To finish, The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown, Primal Scream teaming up with Denise Johnson and Irvine Welsh, for one of the best football related songs of all. This dub is about as close to the dub genre as you'll get today, no surprise when it's Adrian Sherwood at the controls.
Continuing the tradition of the previous Dub '80s posts, I've resurrected my shameless rip off of Rol's far more inspired Saturday morning quiz over at My Top Ten.
The only prize for participating is the knowledge that somehow you have made it to the end of the five questions (and this post) with your sanity intact.
Answers will be posted in the Comments below on Monday morning.
1) Which band member, now an acclaimed author, denounced The Beatles as “the absolute curse of modern Indie music”, citing their favourite Beatle as Yoko Ono?
2) When asked what they would do when their music career slowed down, who said that they would take a 6-month course in dry stone walling and set up a 24-hour emergency repair service, using a 3-wheeled motor trike?
3) Whose autobiography is titled Patient?
4) Which song had three videos made, one in a disused swimming pool in Hackney, another in Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, and the third and final one in a London studio, for it's re-release as a single?
5) Who appeared in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice whilst still in the womb?
1) Walking Wounded (Spring Heel Jack Dub Mix By Ashley Wales & John Coxon): Everything But The Girl (Walking Wounded EP)
2) Stars (Mother Dub Mix By Jools Brettle & Lee Fisher) (Extended Album Version): Dubstar (Disgraceful/The Mixes (Expanded 2CD Edition))
3) Beyond The Valley Of The Hours And The Times (Greg Hunter In Dub Mix): 18 Wheeler (The Hours And The Times EP)
4) Three Steps To Heaven (Dubfire's Paradise Dub) (Remix By Ali Shirazinia): The Beloved (X Remixed (unreleased promo mixes))
5) Mescal (2 Lone Swordsmen Dub) (Remix By Andrew Weatherall & Keith Tenniswood) (Full Length): Alter Ego (Peppered With Spastic Magic: A Collection Of Two Lone Swordsmen Remixes)
6) Out Of This World (Chemical Brothers Dub) (Remix By Ed Simons & Tom Rowlands): Republica (Drop Dead Gorgeous EP)
7) Not Over Yet (BT's Peyote Dub) (Remix By Brian Transeau): Grace (Not Over Yet EP)
8) Bug In The Bassbin (Graphic Dub) (Remix By Claude Young): Innerzone Orchestra (Bug In The Bassbin EP)
9) Last Night (Hexadecimal Dub Mix By Steve Osborne): Lush (Last Night EP)
10) The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown (Full Strength Fortified Dub) (Remix By Adrian Sherwood): Primal Scream ft. Denise Johnson & Irvine Welsh (The Big Man And The Scream Team Meet The Barmy Army Uptown EP)
And if that's not enough dub for one day, here are my three '80s dub selections to date:
Dub '83 (September 2023)
Dub '85 (January 2025)
Double Dub '85 (April 2025)
