King Tubby – Dub from the Roots album art

Contributed by The Reggae Archive


Total Sounds. License: All Rights Reserved.

Dub from the Roots is an album by Osbourne Ruddock, better known as King Tubby, released in 1975 on the Jamaican Total Sounds label. From Carter Van Pelt’s notes on the 2023 re-release:

From 1968 to 1975, Ruddock ruled one of the most revered soundsystems in Jamaica, Tubby’s Home Town Hi-Fi out of Waterhouse. It was sidelined by bullets in 1975, the year Dub from the Roots and The Roots of Dub were released. Tubby’s soundsystem is the most celebrated in the history of Jamaican music because of its power (heard for miles away), sonic quality (purportedly crystal clear), and armed with the most exclusive and exceptional music of the day (much of which was produced by Bunny Lee), usually mixed and cut to acetate (i.e. dubplate) by the exacting owner himself. Take all of that and add the pick of the litter of Kingston’s emcees to liven up the dances, and King Tubby’s Home Town Hi-Fi was the complete package.

For the cover typography, Shirley Chang used Tabasco Bold. One year before, the same typeface was chosen for Kraftwerk’s Autobahn.

[More info on Discogs]

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