Feast of Yellow Dub

by Rick AndersonIt's fashionable to slag British producer Mad Professor these days. And it's true that his sound, a digitally clean yet sonically adventurous combination of Lee Perry-style quirkiness and roots-wise rhythm, is distinctive enough and his output prolific enough that he does open himself up to charges of repetition. It might be fair to call him the Vivaldi of reggae; he borrows from himself shamelessly, and you can generally identify a Mad Professor production within about four bars. But really, that's not necessarily a bad thing. And when you team him up with a personality as strong as that of Yellowman -- Jamaica's famous Afro-albino toaster -- the results can be outstanding, as they are here. Actually, Yellowman's contributions are pretty passive; this is a collection of Yellowman singles in dub versions by the Professor, and Yellowman's voice only pops into the mix occasionally. Even then, it's often digitally manipulated past recognition; fans who pay close attention may recognize "A Dose of Diseases" as the dub version of "AIDS" and "Some Wild Western Peppers" as the dub of "Wild Wild West." The Roots Radics provide the instrumental raw material for this crazy dub concoction and, as usual, their performances are impeccable.