Dub Syndicate

Drummer Style Scott affiliated himself with Adrian Sherwood’s pioneering On-U Sound dub imprint toward the end of the 1970s, contributing to Sherwood’s notable recordings through membership in New Age Steppers alongside vocalist Bim Sherman, horn player Deadly Headley, melodica player Dr. Pablo, and an extensive roster of additional participants. Scott subsequently launched Dub Syndicate, which quickly rose to become—apart from African Headcharge—On-U Sound’s most successful act. Although not a conventional fixed band, Style Scott and producer Sherwood examined reggae, dub, and dancehall through partnerships with leading figures such as Lee “Scratch” Perry, Skip McDonald, U-Roy, and Prince Far I, the last via posthumous sampling on the 1990 album Stoned Immaculate.

Pounding System, the 1982 debut, and the follow-up One Way System issued the next year both received U.S. reissues from ROIR. A joint project with Dr. Pablo, North of the River Thames, never obtained domestic distribution, while Tunes from the Missing Channel from 1985 was licensed to EMI. The 1986 collaboration with Lee “Scratch” Perry titled Time Boom 'De Devil Dead stayed import-only, yet Strike the Balance from 1990 reached the Island subsidiary Mango. On-U Sound joined forces with the American label Restless to mount an extensive reissue program covering three volumes of the Classic Selection series, comparable to African Headcharge’s Great Vintage series, even as fresh Dub Syndicate releases such as From the Secret Laboratory and Stoned Immaculate continued to appear solely as imports. Restless ultimately supplied domestic editions of Stoned Immaculate and 1994’s Echomania.

Dub Syndicate issued Ital Breakfast, an album of new material, together with the remix collection Research & Development in 1996; the latter reworked tracks from the group’s entire catalog through contributions by Zion Train, Soundclash, Iration Steppas, and the Rootsman. The live set Live at the Maritime Hall followed four years later. Acres of Space, recorded in Jamaica and mixed by longtime collaborator Adrian Smith, came next. Murder Tone from 2002 gathered classic and previously unreleased tracks, succeeded two years afterward by the studio album No Bed of Roses. Pure Thrill Seekers surfaced in 2005 featuring guest appearances from Luciano, Cornell Campbell, and Gregory Isaacs. The two-disc set The Rasta Far I appeared in 2006, and two years later the Collision label released Overdubbed—the first disc of The Rasta Far I—containing seventeen Dub Syndicate tracks remixed by Smith & Mighty’s Rob Smith.