I've Got To Stand And Fight

 

Back in the 90s Leftfield released Release The Pressure, a thumping dub techno tune. It was originally released in 1992 and then on several occasions afterwards. The vocal was provided by reggae singer Earl Sixteen, a righteous chant of 'I've got to stand and fight/ In this creation/ Vanity I know/ Cannot guide I alone' and then, 'I'm searching to find/ A love that lasts all time/ I've just got to find/ Peace and unity'. It's a heady brew, the space of dub and the rhythms of 90s club music brought together with the organ part giving it a touch of ragga. Leftfield were masters of building a track, the tension pulling you in and then the release. The song's distinctive whistling part was sampled from Polegnala E Pschenitza on the album Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, a compilation of Bulgarian folk songs by The Bulgarian State Radio And Television Female Vocal Choir from 1975. If you haven't heard it, it's a beguiling way to start your day. 

Release The Pressure came out in multiple mixes and versions across the various formats and at different times (1992, 1995, 1996 and most recently 2017). All are worthwhile in their own right. Here's a selection starting with a seven minute version from 1995. 

Release The Pressure

Release The Horns is a superb skanking horns, echo and drums version from 1992, the flipside to the Song Of Life 12". Thumping and scorching and ideal for dark nights and hot days. 

Release The Horns

This version is remixed by Adrian Sherwood, a new dubbed out remix for the 2017 re- release of Leftism. Sherwood pans from left to right, sound effects and distortion with Earl Sixteen, everything broken down and stripped back. 

Release The Pressure (Adrian Sherwood Mix)

Late Night Letts

Don Letts has compiled an album for the Late Night Tales series, a twenty one track dub excursion that pulls together all sorts of strands, strains and offshoots of dub, punk and post punk. Among the highlights are a bunch of cover versions.  Capitol 1212 and Earl Sixteen cover Love Will Tear Us Apart, a dubbed out version of the song with a cool vocal and buckets of echo. 

Wrongtown Meets The Rockers deconstruct The Clash's Lost In The Supermarket, bassline and FX, a snatch of melodica carrying the topline. The Easy Star All Stars break out the sitars for a very stoned version of Within You Without You. Gaudi and The Rebel Dread tackle Big Audio Dynamite's E=MC2, samples from Performance and a mangled, cut up vocal while the bassline prods and pushes Don's old band's song along. 

Black Box Recorder's cover of Uptown Top Ranking, a Prince Fatty cover of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit (becoming Black Rabbit), Zoe Devlin Love's lovers rock take of The Beach Boys Caroline No and Yasushi Ide's version of Ain't No Sunshine further blur the boundaries, drawing wobbly lines between then and now. Matumbi and Dennis Bovell, Ghetto Priest, John Holt and Mad Professor all show up. None of this feels like a novelty or a joke, it's all part of a much greater whole, a celebration of the culture that has seeped from radios and Dansettes in the 60s and 70s to whatever device or platform you're using to listen to music at the tail end of 2021. 

Dub In The Right Way

I've been digging Dreadzone recently. Their dub inspired techno hits the spot, uplifting and righteous. Greg Dread has a Soundcloud page that is worth rooting around in, all sorts of rarities, versions, remixes and live shows. Here's a couple of highlights.

Dreadzone versus King Tubby



A vocal version of their 90s classic Little Britain featuring Earl Sixteen. The instrumental version of this song was all over the place at one point and has some cultural resonance today in the light of the referendum and the issue of devolution for the regions. It's strange to think that Dreadzone supported the Gallagher brothers at Knebworth.