VARIOUS – Late Night Tales presents Version Excursion Selected by Don Letts – 2LP – 180g Black Vinyl

2LP – 180gVirgin Black Vinyl (Unmixed). Includes bonus download code to Don Lett’s mix plus umnixed tracks in FLAC, WAV and MP3 formats.

Cultural polymath pop star, filmmaker, radio broadcaster, commentator, Grammy winner. Oh and DJ, too. Take your pick from the many coats worn by our selector, Don Letts aka The Rebel Dread. So this latest bulletin from Letts HQ is merely one angle of a multifaceted personality, his take on the JA tradition of the cover version.

The history of Caribbean music owes a debt to R&B as many of the early island releases were cover versions of US 45s. Skas breakthrough commercially, Millie Smalls My Boy Lollipop, was originally recorded by Barbie Gaye in 50s New York. Cover versions became quite a thing in Jamaica and Don, following in that tradition, has dug deep with a selection of interesting dubbed out covers including thirteen exclusives.

Theres a diverse mix of classic and new, with legendary figures like John Holt, The Tamlins and Cornell Campbell, mixed in with British veterans Mad Professor and the irrepressible Dennis Bovell, while (relatively) young striplings Kiko Bun, Emily Capell and Prince Fatty deliver the goods, with laidback Texan groovers Khruangbin also offering an exclusive bass heavy-delight.

The song choices are diverse, from French dubsters OBFs renditions of Sixteen Tons, the miners paean popularised by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s, to Ash Walkers refix of Omars Theres Nothing Like This and All I Do Is Think About You, immortalised by the ill-fated Tammi Terrell and preserved here by Quantic (the latter two both exclusives). Being a Rebel Dread compilation, theres a cover (by Wrongtom Meets The Rockers) of The Clashs Lost In The Supermarket while Dons exclusive, naturally, is a rendition of Big Audio Dynamites debut hit, E = MC2.

Tracklisting:

A01.Ghetto Priest Hercules (North Street WestLate Night Tales Dub) *Exclusive Remix
A02.Prince Fatty & Shniece McMenamin Black Rabbit
A03.Wrongtom Meets The Rockers Dub In The Supermarket *Exclusive Remix
A04.Gaudi Meets The Rebel Dread ft. Emily Capell E = MC2 *Exclusive Track
A05.Rude Boy Superstylin *Exclusive Remix
B06.Capitol 1212 ft. Earl 16 Love Will Tear Us Apart (Full Vocal Dub) *Exclusive Remix
B07.Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno All I Do Is Think About You (Far EastDub) *Exclusive Remix
B08.Zoe Devlin Love ft. Tim Hutton Caroline No
B09.John Holt Youll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (Mad Professor2021 Dub) *Exclusive Remix
B10.Cornell Campbell Ital City Dub *Exclusive Remix
B11.Matumbi (I Cant Get Enough Of) That Reggae Stuff (Dennis BovellRemix) *Exclusive Remix
C12.Gentlemans Dub Club ft. Kiko Bun Use Me (Ben McKoneDub)
C13.Black Box Recorder Uptown Top Ranking
C14.OBF Sixteen Tons Of Dub
C15.Yasushi Ide Aint No Sunshine (Space Dub Mix) *Exclusive Remix
D16.The Tamlins Baltimore
D17.15 16 17 Emotion (Dennis BovellRemix) *Exclusive Remix
D18.Ash Walker Theres Nothing Like This *Exclusive Track
D19.The Senior Allstars Slipping Into Darkness
D20.Easy Star All-Stars Within You Without You
D21.Khruangbin Dern Kala (KhruangbinDub Mix) *Exclusive Remix