Documenting the early days of The Clash, working with Bob Marley, managing The Slits, colliding genres with Big Audio Dynamite: Don Letts appears to have done it all. But there’s one thing he hasn’t done… until now. That changes as Don Letts releases his debut solo album.

A heady cocktail of dub rhythms, island vibes, spoken word and his own sweetly melodic topline, ‘Outta Sync’ is exactly what you’d anticipate a Don Letts artist project to sound like. It’s also notable as one of a few songs that can introduce such a storied life within a single verse: “Now, because of my duality, raised on pop and bass, didn't really bother me, ’cause it's all about the taste, I’m the vinyl generation, and that’s how I got my start, combining clothes and music, and turn it into art.”

The irony is that Letts hadn’t really intended to make music of his own. But then lockdown hit and his old friend, producer extraordinaire, fellow dub aficionado and Killing Joke bassist Youth encouraged him to give it a go, even sending him some basslines to work from The pair ended up working together for nine months, navigating both lockdown and Letts’ arkestral vision. The result is Letts’ debut solo album, which is set to emerge next year. The guest vocalists.

Terry Hall appears on two tracks, and the final track is sung by Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne. They’re also joined by Hollie Cook, who Letts knows via her time in The Slits and her dad, Paul, the ex-Pistols drummer. Zoe Devlin Love, the co-vocalist with whom he wrote Situationist – a song Letts describes appreciatively “as a lifesaver on the record, delivering that oomph when it needs it”.

Last but not least is Honor Letts, aka Letts’ second youngest daughter.

So concluded (sort of) Don Letts at the end (nearly) of last year’s best selling autobiography, There and Black Again. The musician (Big Audio Dynamite kind) DJ (party kind), film director (Grammy winning kind), radio broadcaster (BBC 6Music kind) is finally getting round to the one creative endeavour he’s not yet pursued.

TRACK LISTING

1. Outta Sync
2. ‘Something Coming Off’ (feat. Hollie Cook)
3. ‘The Universe Knows What You've Done’ (ft. John Cusack)
4. ‘Touch’ (ft GAUDI)
5. ‘Crooked Face’
6. ‘Yes’
7. ‘Situationist’ (ft. Zoe Devlin Love)
8. ‘The Doorman’
9. ‘No Fooling Me’ (ft. Hollie Cook)
10. ‘Wrong’
11. ‘Civilization’ (ft. Honor Letts)
12. ‘Present Dilemmas’ (ft. Wayne Coyne)

Cultural polymath - pop star, filmmaker, radio broadcaster, commentator, Grammy winner. Oh and DJ, too. Take your pick from the many coats worn by our selector, Don Letts aka The Rebel Dread.

Born in Brixton, a child of the Windrush Generation, Letts’ slippery and unorthodox career is somewhat hard to define, without taking a few detours around London, New York and Jamaica. He began his working life managing the dauntingly hip Acme Attractions on Chelsea’s Kings Road, where he made a mark with his attitude, dress and, especially, the pounding dub reggae that vibrated the shop’s walls. His first gig as a DJ at the short-lived Roxy in Neal Street, became mythical for turning a generation of punks on to reggae. They in turn hipped him to their DIY ethos resulting in his reinvention as a filmmaker. This led to a shed-load of music videos (Linton Kwesi Johnson, The Clash, Bob Marley) not to mention documentaries on the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, George Clinton and Sun Ra.

In the ’80s, he was part of Mick Jones’ new venture, Big Audio Dynamite and his innovative use of samples were a core part of their sound. Listeners of his weekly 6 Music radio show are taken on a musical safari that moves seamlessly between time, space and genre. It’s not called Culture Clash Radio for nothing. So this latest bulletin from Letts HQ is merely one angle of a multifaceted personality, his take on the JA tradition of the cover version.

The history of Caribbean music owes a debt to R&B as many of the early island releases were cover versions of US 45s. Ska’s breakthrough commercially, Millie Small’s ‘My Boy Lollipop’, was originally recorded by Barbie Gaye in ’50s New York. Cover versions became quite a thing in Jamaica and Don, following in that tradition, has dug deep with a selection of interesting dubbed out covers including thirteen exclusives.

“A disciple of sound system, raised on reggae n’ bass culture my go to sound was dub. Besides being spacious and sonically adventurous at the same time, its most appealing aspect was the space it left to put yourself ‘in the mix’ underpinned by Jamaica’s gift to the world - bass. But that’s only half the story as the duality of my existence meant I was also checking what the Caucasian crew were up to not to mention the explosion of black music coming in from the States. That’s why this version excursion crosses time space and genre, from The Beach Boys to The Beatles, Nina Simone to Marvin Gaye, The Bee Gees to Kool & The Gang, The Clash to Joy Division and beyond. You’d think it impossible to draw a line between ‘em but not in my world. Fortunately, the ‘cover version’ has played an integral part in the evolution of Jamaican music and dub covers were just a natural extension.”

There’s a diverse mix of classic and new, with legendary figures like John Holt, The Tamlins and Cornell Campbell, mixed in with British veterans Mad Professor and the irrepressible Dennis Bovell, while (relatively) young striplings Kiko Bun, Emily Capell and Prince Fatty deliver the goods, with laidback Texan groovers Khruangbin also offering an exclusive bass heavy-delight.

The song choices are diverse, from French dubsters’ OBF’s renditions of ‘Sixteen Tons’, the miners’ paean popularised by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s, to Ash Walker’s refix of Omar’s ‘There’s Nothing Like This’ and ‘All I Do Is Think About You’, immortalised by the ill-fated Tammi Terrell and preserved here by Quantic (the latter two both exclusives). Being a Rebel Dread compilation, there’s a cover (by Wrongtom Meets The Rockers) of The Clash’s ‘Lost In The Supermarket’ while Don’s exclusive, naturally, is a rendition of Big Audio Dynamite’s debut hit, ‘E = MC2’.

“Truth be told I’ve wanted to work with the Late Night Tales crew from the get go. We’re talking nearly two decades such was the allure of their musical aesthetic typified by curators like Nightmares on Wax, The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Trentemoller, Khruangbin and countless others. Now being as old as rock n’ roll (born in ‘56) and having nearly 20 years of Culture Clash Radio under my belt I figured I was tooled up to musically juggle with the best of ‘em. But I wanted to carve out a space that was distinctly my own - something that reflected my musical journey and the culture clash that’s made me the man I am today.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Don Letts, widely credited for turning the punk world on to reggae collects some of his favourite pieces, from dubby cuts to electronic and groovers, some unheard gems and a few exclusive tracks for the legendary Late Night Tales. In a pretty crowded field of 'great LNT comps', this is truly one of the greatest.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ghetto Priest - Hercules (North Street West 'Late Night Tales' Dub) *Exclusive Remix
A2. Prince Fatty & Shniece McMenamin - Black Rabbit
A3. Wrongtom Meets The Rockers - Dub In The Supermarket *Exclusive Remix
A4. Gaudi Meets The Rebel Dread Ft. Emily Capell - E = MC2 *Exclusive Track
A5. Rude Boy - Superstylin' *Exclusive Remix
B6. Capitol 1212 Ft. Earl 16 - Love Will Tear Us Apart (Full Vocal Dub) *Exclusive Remix
B7. Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno - All I Do Is Think About You (Far East Dub) *Exclusive Remix
B8. Zoe Devlin Love Ft. Tim Hutton - Caroline No
B9. John Holt - You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (Mad Professor 2021 Dub) *Exclusive Remix
B10. Cornell Campbell - Ital City Dub *Exclusive Remix
B11. Matumbi - (I Can't Get Enough Of) That Reggae Stuff (Dennis Bovell Remix) *Exclusive Remix
C12. Gentleman's Dub Club Ft. Kiko Bun - Use Me (Ben McKone Dub)
C13. Black Box Recorder - Uptown Top Ranking
C14. OBF - Sixteen Tons Of Dub
C15. Yasushi Ide - Ain't No Sunshine (Space Dub Mix) *Exclusive Remix
D16. The Tamlins - Baltimore
D17. 15 16 17 - Emotion (Dennis Bovell Remix) *Exclusive Remix
D18. Ash Walker - There's Nothing Like This *Exclusive Track
D19. The Senior Allstars - Slipping Into Darkness
D20. Easy Star All-Stars - Within You Without You
D21. Khruangbin - Dern Kala (Khruangbin Dub Mix) *Exclusive Remix