About this item

King Tubby and Dub go together like Matt Ward and eccentric eyewear. Born Osborne Ruddock in Kingston in 1941, he grew up around High Holborn Street in Kingston, before moving to the new Waterhouse district in 1955. His electronic genius grew from working and fixing radios and TV sets. A natural progression led to working with amplifiers, and starting his own sound system, ‘Tubby’s Home Town Hi-Fi’. A very competitive games in the late 60’s - You were only as good as the EXCLUSIVE records you played. Tubby discovered during his time cutting discs for Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle set up, that by dropping vocals/instruments in and out of the backing tracks, you could invent new versions of existing old tunes. These early versions tried and tested on his sound system went down so well that he invested in a four track mixing console with delay echo effects, sliders and phasing units and so began King Tubby’s ‘Studio Of Dub’ at 18 Drummlie Avenue, Kinston 11 , Jamaica...his home. This is where all the producers would bring their tracks for Tubby to put his magic over. Most tracks that came out in Jamaica from here on in would carry a ‘Version’ on it’s B- Side more than likely a Tubby Dub. One of the producers who used him the most was Bunny Striker Lee, who’s labels Jackpot, Justice and Attack all carried Tubby’s mixes/versions on their flip sides. This collection, taken from original master tapes, showcases tracks you may know, but not in this radical form. So sit back and enjoy the dub master at work.