The
Breadwinners – By The Sweat Of Your Brow
LP
Out
Now
8.5
/ 10
Rochdale dub mastermind releases his new
album.
On 12 December 2012, one of the finest albums
of the year was released. Dubs Unlimited
by The Breadwinners sneaked under everybody’s ‘best of’ radars, but Louder Than
War soon spotted the superb album giving it the recognition it deserved. Now, the force behind the act, Al Redfern (Al
Breadwinner) returns with another delightful taste of his own vintage sounding
dub effects.
With accompanying vocals from the likes of Big
Youth and City Culture twelve superb tracks are lined up each one as impressive
as the previous. In terms of modern
dub, the results are fantastic with Redfern not afraid to throw in reverbs at
any given moment making for a quite fearless and brave album with impressive
outcomes.
Often sounding like classic reggae tracks, Al
has the knack of creating some genuine sounding music. Maybe it’s the affection for using quarter
inch 6-track tape recorded live on analogue equipment that gives it its
authentic sound, or maybe it’s his love of roots reggae by the great Jamaican
stars. Whatever, it’s near perfect.
From the opening bass throb of Eat Bread, Big
Youth sings the praises of Manchester and his album host via the Bakery
Studios. It’s a brilliant start to
proceedings by the legend who has worked with the likes of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry,
Bunny Wailer and the Abyssinians and the overall feel is that of the great 70s
recordings.
What Redfern achieves is often nothing short
of staggering, not only does he play the majority of the instruments himself
but he also produces and mixes too.
Diana Bada makes an appearance on Peace Of Mind and fights the fight for
female reggae artists superbly, and City Culture contributes to Jah Works and
Thanks And Praise.
Perhaps the highlight of the album is Babylon
Block The Way with Rayon Walker whose track sounds like it was lifted from some
Kingston sessions forty years ago and given a modern day remix. It reeks of class and has a lovely bass that
guides the track from start to end with Walker’s voice giving everything he’s
got.
Burn Fire with Stevie SOtunes has so many dubs
that it’s almost unbelievable, as its lazy relaxed pace holds together a
gorgeous track with some great effects, and Babylon Try To Hold I Down
(Christiano Jahvoice) contains dubs which can only be described as enthralling.
Yet another stunning album from Al Breadwinner
who richly deserves wider acclaim.
Links
The Breadwinners on Twitter
The Breadwinners on Facebook
The Breadwinners on hiapop Blog
Published on Louder Than War 23/10/15 - here
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