Agustus Pablo* – King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown

My Abraham coloured pressing isn't even here. It's a transparent pinkish clay vinyl. Not hot. I read all the controversy about this guys obvious dedication to quality but you know what, *I don't think it sounds that bad*. For a $20 used bin find, hell yeah. Better than not owning it at all. Even the sleeve isn't *that bad*.. at least it's not one of the jpegged ones😂

Since nobody said it yet, I'm going to make it very clear in general for all of these represses. Whoever is running Clocktower or Abraham these days, needs to un-fuck-themselves and take a step back to really think why these artists pressed dub records in the first place. The point is simple - all of these purple, blue, pink (fucking lavender???) glittery bullshit releases are absolute fucking shit. I own three copies of this amazing album, and all of them are total garbage. One is warped with crackles straight from the bin, another one has high's that are through the roof, third, yes you guessed it, has spikes on the low-end being absolutely silent on mids/highs. I cannot even figure out which copy I have for the last one... All of them are miss-prints. All of them have different pictures, stories (or lack of thereof) and other shitty memorabilia with random pictures of Tubby or whoever is on them. If I was doing my job in this way, I would have been fired long time ago. So, dear Clocktower/Abraham, with all due respect and admiration, pretty please, with cherries on top, square your shit together and put a proper release (or other Tubby releases on your label, for that matter), because, as you can see from the comments below, we find your products a little bit unsatisfactory.

My copy is worn, scratched to hell, has faded marker initials on centre label, and plays with MEGA background noise. It’s got NO cover - but it’s an ORIGINAL pressing and sounds GREAT - crackles n’ all... Essential!

....Just listened to half this LP in my car driving...Still as Spiritually Satisfying as ever!...bought my original copy in Virgin records Southampton 1977...had been into reggae for about a year, bought the LP not knowing, the cover looked interesting...had never seen nothing like it before record wise...listened to it first round my mates house and knew it was special.. lots to take in!..over the years it has held it's Status as one of the most important Dub LPs, feels like a concept album to me...555 crown Street Dub..Hardest Dub known to mankind!! Respect to Augustus Pablo & King Tubbys and all..Each One, Teach One!

For sure the best sounding CD versions are on the Get On Down label circa 2010-2013, sounds like a source tape. There is an underlying current of tape noise but in a good way. The digitally streaming (C) 2020 Rockers International label release sounds identical.

The original Shanachie CD is second. Clean vinyl rip.

The later deluxe Shenachie CD is third. Vinyl rip with noise reduction is evident, but the bonus content sorta makes up for that.

The Abraham is a very dead last. Vinyl rip of a worn copy or just a crap needle.

Strange how the original clocktower green label copy is missing the last track Satta.

In an interview with Reggae Quarterly Magazine (issue 3, 1982/83) Augustus Pablo states that he gave a tape of this Lp to ‘somebody in America’ who put it out as a record but did not pay. Pablo admits that he got a copy of this LP, presumably the original Clocktower issue, and copied the cover and released the record on his own ‘Yard’ label in Jamaica.
“Just kind pirate it myself” said Pablo, adding “I have the rights so it is not really pirate but, true, I never had no negative of the jacket.”
This explains why the ‘original’ Jamaican issue jacket looks like it is pirated from the original US clocktower issue! It also confirms that the original Clocktower issue is the actual first press, but is in fact a pirate pressing!

Any recommendations for a CD version with good sound quality? I recently bought one by Clocktower Records but had to send it back as it was a muddy sounding, poor quality audio rip from a vinyl LP. Appreciate any input!
Chris

I still have my original copy of this LP, bought in 1977 it still has the price "£4.50" written on the front in biro. The matrix is DSR 4710 A and DSR 4711 B. I definitely remember the shop I bought it from, I only visited that shop (very frequently...) in 1977 and the girl in the shop always wrote the price on the front cover so it's very definitely a 1976 or early 1977 press. I believe the original press is the 1st Clocktower (USA) one which Pablo then photocopied to print the JA
Yard press.

I still have my original copy of this LP, bought in 1977 it still has the price "£4.50" written on the front in biro. The matrix is DSR 4710 A and DSR 4711 B. I definitely remember the shop I bought it from, I only visited that shop (very frequently...) in 1977 and the girl in the shop always wrote the price on the front cover so it's very definitely a 1976 or early 1977 press. I believe the original press is the 1st Clocktower (USA) one which Pablo then photocopied to print the JA
Yard press.