Creation Rebel – High Above Harlesden 1978 – 2023

What does it sound like?:

“Has there been a better reunion in recent times than Slowdive?”, asks my boy moselymoles in his excellent concert review.
Well, one candidate might be British dub pioneers™️ Creation Rebel, who returned last year after a brief four decade hiatus with the very wonderful Hostile Environment album.

One reason why I don’t post reviews more regularly is that, whenever something tickles me enough, I always assume, probably correctly, that there are plenty of people on here who know more about the act than I do who are waiting to pounce on any slip up. Tiggs’ reviews routinely feature potted bios of that guy that filled the drum stool for one song; mine, not so much.
However, as I was the only person to vote for Hostile Environment in our end of year poll, I’m going to stick my head above the parapet.

I was thinking about writing up an overdue review of that particular album when I saw that those nice people at On-U Sound are releasing a sensibly priced 6 disc box set (yes, a BOX! SET! – with a wee book! That’s got your antennae twitching!) called High Above Harlesden which collects Ver Reb’s five albums released between 1978 and 1981 alongside last year’s return. (The full title High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 cheekily ignores 40 years of silence, although it does have the virtue of being more pedantically accurate than the recent Beatles 1967-70 reissue). For you vinyl heads, the original albums are also being re-released individually, although, with my deramdaze hat on, I would observe that the six cds (and the 36 page book) come in cheaper than two of the LPs.

Creation Rebel were, for a time, Prince Far-I’s backing band (his voice features all ghostly like on their current single This Thinking Feeling). With a somewhat floating line up centering around Crucial Tony, Charlie “Eskimo” Fox and (Mr) Ranking Magoo. they were the version wing of the “punky reggae party”, sharing bills and rocking against racism alongside dub-curious punks like The Slits and The Clash.
They also collaborated from the beginning with On U guru Adrian Sherwood (whose first production gig was their debut LP and who was back behind the faders last year to produce Hostile Environment). Also credited on the early albums are Blackbeard himself, Dennis Bovell MBE as well as JA guitar legend Tony Chin. Close Encounters Of The Third World even gets an additional polish from the top man Prince Jammy.
It is hard to keep up with the nicknames and aliases – Starship Africa rather delightfully lists one “Nobby Turner” as working the desk.
The benefit of this kind of revolving door membership is that their music can flit between reggae styles, from singalongs you can imagine on Top Of The Pops to instrumental compositions to bowelstirring sound desk experimentation.
In a Guardian interview last year original members Crucial Tony, Charlie “Eskimo” Fox and Ranking Magoo (the prime movers of the revived band) explain what they started out doing was not so much remixing/version dub but that they “crafted their dubs organically through studio jams sessions” co-opting passing reggae talents that became available at the time.
So Dub From Creation and Rebel Vibrations are fiercely inventive bass-driven instrumental reggae albums, at least until Prince Far I begins booming from the speakers on DFC bonus track Frontline Dub. The acclaimed Starship Africa is a bit jazzier and “out there”, notably on its opening and closing tracks (and surely a massive influence on many flavours of British dance acts down the years since) and comes with three extremely good, if ill fitting, bonus tracks.
Close Encounters Of The Third World starts out like a conventional vocal reggae album before it begins to s-t-r-e-t-c-h its legs and Lizard’s bass lines come to the fore.
Psychotic Jonkanoo prominently features Tony’s vocals. Among Its three bonus tracks is that curiosity: a song called Creation Rebel, a mere five albums in.
What was so satisfying about Hostile Environment was the way it blended all these versions (pun intended) of CR – where the murky dub of That’s More Like It sits alongside the bouncy Prince Far-I sampling single This Thinking Feeling which, in turn, runs into singalong bop Whatever It Takes, with nifty-fingered instrumental Salutation Gardens to follow. (In fact, while side one of Hostile Environment is very good indeed, side two is solid gold).

What does it all *mean*?

Dunno, but I must say, reading up about the band, I was surprised to discover that Linda Lusardi’s brother, Mark, was a prime mover in U.K. dub.

Goes well with…

Your classic dubstramental works, as well as more recent efforts by the likes of Soothsayers and Horace Andy..

Release Date:

March 29th 2024

Might suit people who like…

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