The Morwells x King Tubby

As is with most stories of this ilk, King Tubby didn’t begin as a musical genius – he developed into one. Beginning as a repair man in Jamaica and honing his technical skills, King Tubby understood, mechanically, everything there was to know about the music business. He could, perhaps, be considered the foil to Lee Perry’s outrageous behavior (which continues even to this day).

As Tubby’s Hi-Fi gained popularity from deejaying various parties throughout the island, it landed him opportunity after opportunity. In the late ‘60s he began working for various labels, remixing and editing tracks or versions. And even if it took roughly a decade to gain the type of international fame he deserved, along the way, King Tubby helped a great many acts to prominence.

The Morwells (aka Morwells Unlimited, Morwells Esq.) are one of the forgotten relics of the reggae and early dub periods. Releasing scant official discs, the group was never afforded the audience they should have had. The trio, made up of Blacka Morwell, Louis Davis and Eric 'Bingy Bunny' Lamont, began their career during the early ‘70s releasing Presenting The Morwells half way through the decade. And while Bingy Bunny would go on to perform in the Roots Radics as well as the Revolutionaries, this early group produced some of the most beautiful music he would be involved with.

After releasing Presenting the Morwells, a dub version of the vocal album was helmed by King Tubby – who would also work with the Revolutionaries a great deal in the coming years. The resultant disc, Dub Me, was released in 1975 and to some seems to prefigure Tubby’s classic 1976 album Meets Rockers Uptown recorded with Augustus Pablo.

Purportedly, this Morwells album of versions, though, included one of the first instances of pushing the drums out front in the mix and dropping all other instrumentation. “Stepping in HQ” as well as “Concord” seem to feature this innovation fairly prominently. And with scant vocal samples, the instrumentation on this disc is ever important.

“Concord” also features the sound of an airplane flying overhead. And while that’s not the only place on the album where outside sound effects are utilized, here too King Tubby is thought to be creating the template for dub plates of the future.

The lone draw back to this disc, though, is that it is wholly instrumental. And despite the fact that Bingy Bunny was talented enough to lay down music for the first full length from Barrington Levy, his vocal interplay with the two other Morwells is really a unique experience.

Tragically, though both Bingy Bunny and King Tubby have been ripped from this earth. Tubby being attacked and murdered coming home from his studio one day in 1989 while Bingy Bunny passed on as a result of a losing battle with cancer during 1993.

Dub Me, for those devout reggae enthusiasts, was re-released on cd during the ‘90s by the UK label Blood and Fire, though I can’t say that I see it around too frequently. Start diggin’.