RhoDeo 1304 Roots

Hello, i'm having some upload difficulties with my regulars, hopefully temporairy but here goes... Since the mid eighties, UK was established as the new center of dub production, with originators Mad Professor and Jah Shaka, paving the way for a all new open minded generation of producers, DJs, soundsystems and studios, followers of steppers approach, and willing to preserve and pass on dis tradition. Embodying in the sound a whole new kind of digital and electronic musical variations, like drum n bass, jungle, techno, dubstep…they keep on to perpetuate and recreate the diversity and originality within the style till present days.

A disciple of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Mad Professor was one of the leading producers in dub reggae's second generation. His Dub Me Crazy albums helped dub make the transition into the digital age, when electronic productions started to take over mainstream reggae in the '80s. His space-age tracks not only made use of new digital technology, but often expanded dub's sonic blueprint, adding more elements and layers of sound than his forebears typically did.  .... N'joy

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Mad Professor was born Neal Fraser (or Neil Fraser) circa 1955 in Guyana, a small country in the northern part of South America. He earned his nickname as a preteen, thanks to his intense interest in electronics; he even built his own radio. At age 13, his family moved to London, and around age 20, he started collecting recording equipment: reel-to-reel tape decks, echo and reverb effects, and the like. In 1979, he built his own mixing board and opened a four-track studio in his living room in the south London area of Thornton Heath. Calling it Ariwa, after a Nigerian word for sound or communication, he began recording bands and vocalists for his own label of the same name, mostly in the lovers rock vein: Deborahe Glasgow, Aquizim, Sergeant Pepper, Tony Benjamin, Davina Stone, and Ranking Ann, among others. Amid complaints from his neighbors, he moved the studio to a proper facility in Peckham, South London. In 1982 he recorded his first album, Dub Me Crazy, Pt. 1, and quickly followed it with a second volume, the successful Beyond the Realms of Dub. 1983 brought two more volumes, The African Connection (acclaimed) and the fairly popular Escape to the Asylum of Dub.
The Ariwa studio was moved to a better neighborhood in West Norwood during the mid-'80s, and upgraded for 24-track capability, making it the largest black-owned studio in the U.K. From there, Mad Professor really started to make an impact on the British reggae scene. He produced major hit singles for Ariwa mainstay Pato Banton and Sandra Cross, and also helmed the breakthrough album for conscious reggae toaster Macka B, 1986's Sign of the Times. At the same time, the ragga era was dawning, and all-digital productions began to take over reggae. As the ragga sound grew more and more dominant, Mad Professor's brand of dub got spacier and weirder; while ragga detractors complained that Mad Professor's work sounded sterile compared to the dub of old, many praised his otherworldly effects and inventive arrangements. The Dub Me Crazy albums reached the height of their experimentalism during the latter part of the '80s, although by the early '90s they were showing signs of creative burnout. The 12th and final volume in the series, Dub Maniacs on the Rampage, was released in 1993.

Meanwhile, Ariwa continued to prosper as a label, with further hits by the likes of Macka B, Pato Banton, Sandra Cross, female singer Kofi, Intense, Jah Shaka, John McLean, the Robotics, Sister Audrey, Peter Culture, Johnny Clark, and others. Additionally, he began to collaborate with some of reggae's better-known figures; most crucially, he teamed up with main influence Lee "Scratch" Perry for the first time on the 1989 set Mystic Warrior. In 1991, he produced the first of several albums for the groundbreaking veteran DJ U-Roy, the acclaimed True Born African; he also went on to work with the likes of Yabby You and Bob Andy. He switched his focus to touring in 1992 and released the 100th album on Ariwa not long after.

With his high-profile collaborators, Mad Professor started to make a name for himself outside of the reggae community, and soon found himself in demand as a remixer for rock, R&B, and electronica acts. Over the course of the '90s and into the new millennium, he would remix tracks by Sade, the Orb, the KLF, the Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche Mode, and Perry Farrell, among others. His best-known project, however -- and the one that truly established his credentials -- was 1995's No Protection, a completely reimagined version of trip-hop collective Massive Attack's second album, Protection. Perhaps creatively refreshed, Mad Professor's own albums started to regain their consistency in the mid-'90s.

Mixing electronics with rootsier, more organic sounds indebted to the earliest days of dub, he left behind the Dub Me Crazy moniker to launch a new series, the subtly Afrocentric Black Liberation Dub. The first volume was released in 1994, and others followed steadily into the new millennium, albeit at a less prolific pace than the Dub Me Crazy installments. More collaborations with Perry and U-Roy followed as well. In 2005, Mad Professor celebrated Ariwa's 25th anniversary with a tour of the U.K. alongside Perry and the double-CD retrospective Method to the Madness. In 2009 he released several albums, Times Hard under the moniker Mad Professor vs. Joint Chiefs and the back to basics Audio Illusion of Dub as well as Revolution Feat. Pato Banton And Mr. Professor, Nairobi Meets Mad Professor – Wu Wei, and in 2010 Izrael Meets Mad Professor and Joe Ariwa and in 2012 The Roots of Dubstep. Neal "Mad Professor" Fraser has been a prolific producer, contributing to or producing nearly 200 albums.

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Under the Spell of Dub touches base with many of the Mad Professor's influences, complete with rhythms courtesy of the Robotics and guest vocals from the likes of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Macka B and Dennis Nolan. Another strong outing.

Mad Professor - Under The Spell Of Dub (flac  322mb)

01 Mental Bondage 4:24
02 Internet Spy 4:20
03 Santero Dub 4:46
04 Mad Elaine 4:46
05 Brewing Storm 4:39
06 False Curl Girl 3:38
07 Cracking The Code 5:03
08 Meltdown Dub 4:11
09 Black Panther Dub 3:57
10 Theme From Darumba 3:57
11 Master Race 3:38
12 Master Plan 4:11
13 Robotronic 4:05

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Longtime Mad Professor fans only need to take a look at the jaw-droppingly great track list to declare Method to the Madness a major success, one that serves both as an excellent introduction to the man's work and a wonderful roundup of tracks that saves veterans the trouble of carrying a large stack of CDs and CD singles. Sanctuary has been working the Trojan catalog hard with a generally great series of reissues, but the label has outdone itself this time by reaching outside the Trojan catalog for a change and offering the first ambitious Mad Professor compilation to the world. The U.K.-based reggae producer is often characterized as a crazed dubman, but Method to the Madness is also filled with lovers rock that mixes in some new wave attitude, urgent ragga that's synthetic musically but roots lyrically, along with the trippy, free-spirited experimental dub the man is famous for. Disc two of the set is the outward stunner. Filled with the Professor's spacy dub mixes of Massive Attack, the Orb, Jamiroquai, and the legendary Lee "Scatch" Perry, disc two shows why left-field popsters approach the Professor whenever they need a "mind-blowing" B-side and why maverick bassist Barry Adamson once declared, "every album should have a Mad Professor remix." Going from druggy dub noir with the Ruts to cosmopolitan chillout-room bliss with Perry Farrell, disc two is a surreal journey with an infectious beat, but it's equaled, if not topped, by the groundbreaking reggae cuts on disc one. More Professor-sourced and less drenched in dub, disc one serves up the feminist dancehall classic "Feminine Gender" by Ranking Ann, the snide "Echoes of Deaf Journalists," which finds the Robotiks as punky-funky as the Slits, and a exciting synthetic-soca instrumental from Pan Africanist. Aisha's dreamy "The Creator" will sound familiar to Orb fans while cuts from Horace Andy, Pato Banton, Earl 16, and Max Romeo cast the Professor as a groove-drivin' producer of urgent roots. Newcomers might be surprised how fun, slick, and bright this dub legend can be, and it's another tip of the hat to Sanctuary for sorting the light sounds and deep sounds and sequencing them into a seamless journey. The only quibbles you can make are that the cover artwork goes for the pop names -- misrepresenting how far-reaching the collection is -- and with such a deft selection of tracks, one wishes the disc count was three or four. If that were the case, maybe Method to the Madness wouldn't have the punch it has, and after all, compilations are often jumping-off points. There's plenty more sides to the man to explore, but Method to the Madness is far and away the door to enter.

Mad Professor ‎– Method To The Madness (Two Decades Of Crazy Dubs) 1 (flac  466mb)

01 Aquizim & Mad Professor - Kunta Kinte Dub 4:39
02 Johnnie Clarke - Nuclear Weapon 3:12
03 Ranking Ann - Feminine Gender 3:44
04 Pato Banton - My Opinion 5:41
05 Robotiks - Echoes Of Deaf Journalists 2:37
06 Aisha - The Creator 5:47
07 Sandra Cross & Wild Bunch - Country Living 4:43
08 John McLean - If I Gave My Heart 4:21
09 Macka B & Kofi - Dread A Who She Love 3:39
10 U Roy* Feat. Sister Audrey - True Born African 4:09
11 Horace Andy - Kunta Kinte 4:00
12 Chukki Star - The Almighty One 4:09
13 Queen Omega - Wicked Man 4:28
14 Pan Africanist - Elaine The Oska Dancer 4:33
15 Mad Professor & Scientist - Hungarian Ghoulash 4:27
16 Earl 16 - Niyabinghi 3:26
17 Max Romeo - Rasta Pickney 3:45
18 Mad Professor & Dub Revolutionarys - Ariwo Dub Rock 2:55

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Mad Professor ‎– Method To The Madness (Two Decades Of Crazy Dubs) 2 (flac  362mb)

01 Ruts DC & Mad Professor - Pleasures Of The Dance 5:08
02 Brilliant - It's A Dub Dub Dub World 4:45
03 Lee Perry & Mad Professor - Mad Man Dubwise 6:29
04 The Orb - Towers Of Dub 14:49
05 Jamiroquai - Drifting Dub 4:42
06 The Young Gods - Dub The Sun 4:36
07 Massive Attack - Sly (Eternal Feedback Dub) 6:25
08 Perry Farrell - King Z3:33
09 Mad Professor - 1835 (Unreleased Mix) 4:20
10 Jack Adaptor - WatchingThe Sunset Dub 3:34
11 Mad Professor & Crazy Caribs - 50 Pence Dub 3:41

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Mad Professor - Dub You Crazy (flac 198mb)

01 Intro Mad Professor 0:19
02 Robotiks Dub Song 3:41
03 Binga Bongo 3:46
04 Black Light Dub 3:21
05 Dub the Planet 3:34
06 Dub the Planet 3:27
07 Black Ice Dub 3:51
08 Branding Dub See (Mad Professor Mix) 3:17
09 Branding Dub See (Joe Ariwa Mix) 3:19
10 Brother X See 3:54
11 Theme From Mandinka See 3:09
12 Tjerreng Dub See 3:26

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