VARIOUS ARTISTS - Savage Pencil Presents: Lion Vs. Dragon In Dub CD (Trojan/2007)
Best. Dub. Compilation. Ever. Artist/writer Savage Pencil has outdone himself here. There's not that much in the way of hardcore rarities on this disc - heck, I already have a whole bunch of these tracks on other albums - but the sequencing and choice of material is truly what makes this so much better than the zillion other dub comps circling the earth (inc. many on Trojan!). The first two numbers are really what grab you: "Intro/Seventy Two Nations" by Dadawah, a long (like 10 minutes), slowly oozing meditation w/ chanting vocals and Nyabinghi finger drums, and the great Keith Hudson w/ "Man From Shooter's Hill", a track from his unbeatable Entering The Dragon LP from the early '70s, complete w/ fuzz guitar and the usual off-key caterwauling from the man himself. From then on you've got the likes of Augustus Pablo, Prince Jazzbo, U Roy, Bunny Lee, King Tubby, Blackbeard All Stars and a bunch more. 23 tracks, all killer, no filler: every track cuts the grade in deep, deep, deep freakified dub. Compilations aren't usually my bag. I rarely buy them. We'll make an exception w/ Lion Vs. Dragon because: A) it's got some cool liner notes and artwork from Sav X; and B) the guy must've sweated bullets for days/weeks on end thinking about the material and sequencing thereof. You simply don't come up w/ shit this choice by accident. Already deleted one month after release - Universal recently bought Trojan's parent company, Sanctuary, and have, at this stage, deleted Trojan's entire fucking catalogue - if you're going to take my word for it, I'd do a hop, skip and a jump down to the local record store to grab this one toot sweet before every copy is gobbled up for good.