The UK-based dub behemoth Creation Rebel returned last year with Hostile Environment, an album as pleasurable to the ear as it was an unexpected development. Smartly sustaining the positive energy, the On-U Sound label is releasing High Above Harlesden 1978–2023 as a 6CD boxset and digital download, plus corresponding vinyl reissues of the group’s debut and its follow-up Dub From Creation and Close Encounters of the Third World (both 1978), Rebel Vibrations (’79), Starship Africa (’80) and Psychotic Jonkanoo (’81). Along with a 36-page booklet, the boxset offers the contents of those five records, along with Hostile Environment and a handful of bonus tracks. It’s all out on March 29.
The Creation Rebel story is pretty well established. The roots are in vocalist Prince Far I’s 1978 album Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1, where members of Creation Rebel are part of the credited support band the Arabs. As Creation Rebel they backed Prince Far I in live performance and served as the foundation for Adrian Sherwood’s debut production, released not by On-U Sound but as the first release on Hitrun, the label co-founded by Sherwood and Peter “Dr. Pablo” Stroud.
Engineered by Dennis Bovell, that release is Dub From Creation, an assured and wonderfully bent dub excursion where the core stylistic competency of the participants is elevated by sheer inspiration. Reflected in Stroud’s nickname, the presence of his melodica establishes a similarity to Augustus Pablo, but more importantly, the album’s gradual progression brings stranger atmospheres. After the unusually fast pace of “Mirage,” the record gets farther and farther out until finale “Vision of Creation” makes it emphatically clear Dub From Creation is far more than an exercise in standard dub style.
Scarce for decades and extremely pricey as an original, Close Encounters of the Third World was the second Creation Rebel album to be released chronologically. Something of a vocal-heavy offshoot from the stronger Rebel Vibrations, the standalone vinyl reissue Close Encounters is very welcome even as the album is the least of the group’s records in terms of impact.
The record’s standing is mainly due to the far less weird if never exactly straightforward nature of the whole. Notably, the rhythm tracks for Close Encounters were laid down in London and the vocals were overdubbed in Jamaica at Channel One Studio. After that, the tapes were flown back to London where the final mixing was executed by Prince Jammy.
This makes for a more than okay dub-infused roots journey (complete with horns), but that’s not really what Creation Rebel’s deserved rep rests upon (vocals do figure to a varying extent on later releases), even as Stroud, guitarist Antonio “Crucial Tony” Phillips, bassist Keith “Lizard” Logan, organist Desmond “Fatfingers” Coke, percussionist Veral “Mr. Magoo” Rose, and drummer Lincoln “Style” Scott (of the Roots Radics) set the lineup. And do note that the extended 12” versions of “Beware” and “Natty Conscience Free” replace the shorter versions heard on the original pressing.
The vocals aren’t a detracting factor on Close Encounters necessarily, but neither are they strong enough that the singer(s) get credited on the album. Predating (perhaps overlapping) Close Encounters but released after as the group began playing gigs in a non-support capacity including a tour with The Slits and Don Cherry, Rebel Vibrations is a substantially more satisfying affair.
With Clifton “Bigga” Morrison from Dub From Creation in the lineup (contributing synthesizer as well as piano, organ and percussion), Rebel Vibrations lays the dubby atmosphere on thick as the rise in confidence is palpable. Increasing the Pablo-esque ambience, the record’s rhythmic bedrock is sturdier and Crucial Tony’s guitar crisper when it’s not getting misshapen and echoed-out by Sherwood.
Overall, Rebel Vibrations might be harder to differentiate from a contemporaneously released dub LP from Jamaica (in contrast to how Dub From Creation moves forward), but this seems to be part of Sherwood’s overall design, and that’s cool. A big exception is “Hunger and Strife” with its spurts and cascading ripples of synth.
It’s during Starship Africa that Creation Rebel gets truly and deliciously fucking out there (although still recognizable as dub), a reality clearly reflected in the record’s title. As laid out in Sherwood’s history of the group, Starship Africa’s roots actually predate the recording of Rebel Vibrations and Close Encounters as Charlie “Eskimo” Fox plays drums and Tony Henry on bass.
The bedrock session for Starship Africa, which Sherwood dates to 1978, was put aside. Some overdubbing and new tracks with Scott occurred in ’79, and then the mixing, editing, and completion happened in ’80 as Starship Africa was released not by Hitrun but on the 4D Rhythms label (the album entered the On-U Sound catalog with LP pressings in ’82).
To be clear, vocals are part of Starship Africa’s weave, but really this element, primarily pitch-shifted, is minor and integrated distinctly from how the singing’s heard on Close Encounters (and on 1982’s Lows & Highs, its selections absent from the High Above Harlesden collection). Consisting of two suites broken into sections titled “Starship Africa” (side one) and “Space Movement” (the flip), the unraveling of both points toward Sherwood’s prime work from later in the decade where dub, hip-hop, industrial, and budding electronica were part of the scheme. Concisely, Starship Africa is Creation Rebel’s masterpiece.
Psychotic Jonkanoo saw release on yet another label, this time Statik Records, with an increase in vocals (Crucial Tony taking on lead duties) as part of a seeming return to dub norms (which thankfully doesn’t equate to normalcy). Deadly Headley brings saxophone to the opener “The Dope,” while Tony’s guitar in “African Space” has a tangible psych-rock edge.
Depending on their level of thoroughness, post-punk completists might know Psychotic Jonkanoo for John Lydon’s backing vocals on “Mother Don’t Cry,” but in terms of impact, this addition isn’t a major selling point. If nearer to the conventional, the record succeeds (and betters Close Encounters) through a deeper Sherwood stamp and the band’s clear investment in the whole. Really, Psychotic Jonkanoo only suffers in comparison to Starship Africa.
Hostile Environment was reviewed in this column last year, but it’s worth remarking upon again as part of High Above Harlesden’s extensive survey. Featuring Sherwood, Crucial Tony, Eskimo, and Magoo, the record benefits from solid motivations that, per the title (swiped from the name given to former Brit Prime Minister Teresa May’s notorious and odious immigration policy), were political in nature.
Utilizing two vault-discovered vocal tracks from Prince Far I (who passed in 1983) establishes a circularity with Creation Rebel’s beginnings (there are also vocal contributions from Denise Sherwood and the members themselves) as Sherwood’s typically inventive production and the band’s roots rich playing seals the deal. Hostile Environment avoids retread with an air of freshness evident throughout, delivering a striking return to activity from this consistently surprising ensemble.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
Dub From Creation
A-
Close Encounters of the Third World
B+
Rebel Vibrations
A-
Starship Africa
A
Psychotic Jonkanoo
A-
High Above Harlesden 1978 – 2023
A
