ROOTS RADICS
Hot We Hot Dub (ROIR)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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The most important backing band in reggae in the 1989 dub version of Hot We Hot, which has been languishing in the cassette boxes at ROIR headquarters for far too long. Since the untimely death of guitarist Bingy Bunny (Eric Lamont), fans have been pleading for anything and everything from any vault. This dub recording, available on CD for the first time, doesn't satisfy fans of Lamont's vocals, of course, but that sweet guitar work is clear as a bell and often the center of the swirling funnel of sounds pouring forth. This is often peaceful, reflective dub music, gentle and breezy but do not be fooled: there's a wicked undertow here, courtesy of bassist Flabba Holt and drummer Style Scott. Even when it sounds relatively placid, there's so much power there its in your chest at low volume, as it should be. This is dub. Nobody wrote that rule, but the demand is implied. The sound quality on this CD allows it to be as it should be, and Bingy's fans are happy, and Flabba & Style's fans are happy, and one more important recording is finally on CD. ROIR's got a lot of them in the vault, and things are starting to pop out of there at a pretty rapid pace. Me, I'm sitting outside the vault with a visa card and a lobster bib just feasting on it.

© 2001 - DJ Johnson