Covered Dub

Back in April, I posted Under Dub Covers, a selection of reggae and dub cover versions and it was well received, so here's the follow up!

Fourteen tracks this time, a 50/50 split between reggae and dub, 60s-90s and 21st Century, but 100% certified excellent. Well, the tunes, if not the sequencing!

Some of my all-time favourite singers are featured, opening with Pat Kelly and Marcia Griffiths, taking in Horace Andy, Dennis Brown and Jackie Edwards and, more recently, Shniece McMenamin.

Sly & Robbie, Adrian Sherwood and Lee 'Scratch' Perry feature heavily throughout, whether up front or in the studio.

This week in 1985, I Got You Babe by UB40 "with guest vocals by" Chrissie Hynde first entered the UK singles chart at a modest #22. It was Top 5 a couple of weeks later and #1 a couple of weeks after that. 

There was a dub version on the flip side but no extended version on the 12", so I've taken the liberty of creating my own edit for this selection. I've literally spliced the dub intro and outro with (most of) the vocal version. A dub sandwich, if you will, crackles and all.

1) Stoned In Love (Cover of 'I'm Stone In Love With You' by The Stylistics): Pat Kelly (1979)

2) It's Too Late (Cover of Carole King): Marcia Griffiths (1974)

3) A Wonderful Version (Cover of Louis Armstrong): Rhoda Dakar ft. Natty Campbell (2023)

4) Safe From Harm (Album Version By Adrian Sherwood) (Cover of Massive Attack): Horace Andy (2022)

5) Night Nurse (Dub With Vocal) (Remix By Mick Hucknall) (Cover of Gregory Isaacs): Sly & Robbie ft. Simply Red (1997)

6) To Love Somebody (Album Version By Lee 'Scratch' Perry) (Cover of Bee Gees): Busty Brown (1969)

7) The Model Dub (Cover of 'Das Modell' by Kraftwerk): Prince Fatty ft. Shniece McMenamin (2020)

8) Chase The Devil (Adrian Sherwood Dub) (Cover of Max Romeo): Dubblestandart ft. Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Coshiva & Emch (2014)

9) I Got You Babe (Dub Sandwich Re-Edit By Khayem) (Cover of Sonny & Cher): UB40 ft. Chrissie Hynde (2025)

10) Long As I Can See The Light (Adrian Sherwood's Dub Lighting) (Cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival): Monkey Mafia ft. Shirzelle (1998)

11) Dock Of The Bay (Cover of '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of Tthe Bay' by Otis Redding): Dennis Brown (1972)

12) Everything I Own (Dub Version By Stewart Levine) (Cover of Bread): Boy George (1987)

13) All Shook Up (Cover of Elvis Presley): Jackie Edwards (1979)

14) Exodus (Dubvisionist Dub) (Remix By Felix Wolter) (Cover of Bob Marley & The Wailers): Tackhead (2011) 

1969: The Upsetter: 6

1972: Superstar: 11

1979: So Proud: 1

1980: All Shook Up EP: 13

1987: Everything I Own EP: 12

1997: Night Nurse EP: 5

1998: Long As I Can See The Light EP: 10

2011: Exodus EP: 14

2014: Dubblestandart In Dub: 8

2015: Play Me / Sweet And Nice (Expanded Edition): 2

2020: Disco Deception Dubplate LP: 7

2022: Midnight Rocker: 4

2023: What A Wonderful World EP: 3

2025: I Got You Babe (bootleg MP3): 9

Covered Dub (59:23) (GD) (M)

You can find Under Dub Covers here

A few cover versions that didn't make today's final selection were produced by the legend that is Dennis Bovell. That didn't sit right with me so, as compensation, I've restored links to the two DB-themed selections that I've previously posted. With the above, that's pretty much four hours of dub nutrition!

Weakened/Weekend In Dub (August 2023)

From Conception To The Grave (October 2021)

Wise Up! Again

Side 1 of a mixtape, recorded between December 1991 and January 1992. When I posted Side 2 last August, I mentioned the use of a couple of tracks from Keeping The Faith: A Creation Dance Compilation and there's another here. I didn't buy either of the two 12" singles of Come Together by Primal Scream at the time, but the excellent Hypnotone remix opened Side 2 of Keeping The Faith and remains my second only to Andrew Weatherall's unassailable mix. 

 

The other reference point on this mixtape side is Renegade Soundwave's debut album Soundclash. Excellent though it is, I think the real reason two tracks appear here is that I had been lent a copy by my friend Stuart and ended up cramming songs onto various mixtapes before returning it. 

 

There's also a heavy Adrian Sherwood vibe on this side, with production and remix duties for Cabaret Voltaire, Gary Clail / On-U Sound System and Tackhead. The full length version of False Leader featured on the album The Emotional Hooligan, whilst this edit was a B-side of the Escape remix 12". The Tackhead remix of Dangerous Sex was edited to squeeze onto the cassette side, so I've done the same here to preserve the original running time.

 

A Certain Ratio's Martin Moscrop remixes opening instrumental Bendy, which initially appeared on the Intastella single People; my copy resurfaced on the limited edition "Intastella Meet Adamski" remix 12" of follow-up Century. This is my favourite version of the song.

 

Killing Joke's Youth remixes Pop Will Eat Itself, dropping the BPMs and stretching the song out to over five minutes. Again, this one has the edge as my preferred version and - no surprise - provides the mixtape with its title.

 

Lastly, the song that introduced me to Colourbox. I picked up the Vertigo-Sampler from a record stall in St. Nicholas' Market in Bristol a few years previously, a Canadian import double vinyl compilation from 1985. If I'm honest, most of it is dispensable: late-period Boomtown Rats, Big Country, Dire Straits and - even more dire - Mark Knopfler solo, twice! However, there are a couple of sides of alternative and indie music: Cocteau Twins, Love And Rockets, This Mortal Coil and Colourbox, which made the price worth a punt. 

The Colourbox track is listed as Sex Gun (Instrumental Version) but is identical to the version (re)titled Just Give 'Em Whiskey on their eponymous debut album. The vocal version of Sex Gun made it onto the free extra album that came with limited quantities, though the one featured in today’s selection is far and away the best version out there, heavy with samples from Westworld and The Prisoner.

 

1) Bendy In The Disco (Remix By Martin Moscrop): Intastella (1991)

2) Biting My Nails (Album Version By Flood & RSW): Renegade Soundwave (1989)

3) Thank You America (Album Version By Cabaret Voltaire & Adrian Sherwood): Cabaret Voltaire (1987)

4) False Leader (Edit By Adrian Sherwood, Doug Wimbish & Skip McDonald): Gary Clail / On-U Sound System ft. Big Youth (1991)

5) Head Like A Hole (Album Version By Trent Reznor & Flood): Nine Inch Nails (1990)

6) Come Together (The HypnotoneBrainMachine Mix By Hypnotone): Primal Scream (1990)

7) Wise Up! Sucker (12" Version By Youth): Pop Will Eat Itself (1989)

8) Blue Eyed Boy (Album Version By Flood & RSW): Renegade Soundwave (1989)

9) Sex Gun (Instrumental Version) (aka Just Give 'Em Whiskey): Colourbox (1985)

10) Sex Overdubs (Remix By Adrian Sherwood, Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc & Skip McDonald) (Edit): Tackhead (1990)

 

Side One (45:59)

Side Two here

Wise Up!

Side 2 of a mixtape, recorded December 1991 to January 1992. I'd clearly recently bought Keeping The Faith: A Creation Dance Compilation, as it features heavily on both sides. I'd also taken delivery of a box of stuff that I'd picked up during my short time living and working in Perth, which I'd packaged and shipped home via sea- and land-mail services at the end of my year in Australia. I think it took about three months to reach me but it was like an early Christmas, especially the small selection of vinyl that I'd bought over there. The Soft Cell and Cabaret Voltaire tracks definitely came from that shipment. The Julian Cope track was the third of a trilogy of Hugo Nicolson remixes, this one in a lovely picture disc in yellow packaging. A bastard to store without damaging, especially with the number of short-term rents and constant moves I had in the 1990s, it has to be said. Very few of these songs could be found on the college jukebox or were being played out in the clubs that I was going to at the time. I was probably going to the wrong clubs...

 

1) Philly (Jamorphous Mix): Fluke (1990)

2) Time Beats (Album Version): Cabaret Voltaire ft. Lorita Grahame (1990)

3) Acid Love (Original Mix By Adam & Eve): The Beloved (1988) 

4) Memorabilia (12" Version By Daniel Miller): Soft Cell (1981)

5) Hypnotonic (Promo 12" Version): Hypnotone ft. Carlos (2 Supreme) (1991)

6) Heed: Of Penetration And The City Dweller (Head Remix By Hugo Nicolson): Julian Cope (1991)

7) Repetition (Dub): Tackhead (1990)

8) W.F.L. (The Vince Clarke Mix): Happy Mondays (1989)

 

Side Two (45:49)