Dub Xperience: The Dread Operators (Cleopatra, 1996)

From beginning to end, this album is packed with great dub, roots, and early dancehall recorded between 1981 and 1984.  There isn't the over-production and/or over-experimentation that plagues some On-U Sound releases, and neither is there the generic sound that plagues others.   This is just good old-fashioned reggae in all its glory.  Creation Rebel and Singers & Players dominate Dub Xperience, each contributing 4 strong tunes.  Creation Rebel's "Independent Man," a cover of Bob Andy's "Unchained," may be the best song here, with its classic, emotional roots melody and driving bass, while "Chemical Specialist" -- the dub version of Jah Woosh's fun "Woodpecker Sound" (in which he mimics a woodpecker's call) -- and "Eugenic Device" are inventive dubs.  Singers & Players meanwhile contributes the solid early dancehall chatting style and simple drum and bass rhythm of "Autobiography" alongside 3 airy roots numbers: "Breaking Down the Pressure," "Make a Joyful Noise," and the Congos-esque "Moses."  Easily the best of the 3 albums in the On-U Sound Box set (along with In Dub Daze and A Party of Dubbers and Toasters), Dub Xperience's quality even seems to rub off on Playgroup and Voice of Authority, the two acts that put forth most of the crappiness on the other two albums.  Here, their 3 tracks aren't particularly good, but they're not nearly as bad as the material these acts can put out.