It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Professor (Ariwa, 1994)

Taking the torch passed to him by dub originators of the '70s like Lee "Scratch" Perry and King Tubby, Mad Professor was one of the most popular dub artists of the '80s and '90s, even though he was based outside of Jamaica, in England.   This album gathers a few of his well-known tracks, like "Kunte Kinte," with many lesser-known ones, with expectedly uneven results.  Mad Professor's style is eclectic, at times sounding space-aged and at other times pre-historic.  His best songs are the ones that stick to a rootsy sound, as on "Beyond the Realms of Dub," "The Heart of the Jungle," "Rebel," "Aztec Warrior," and "Fast Forward into Dub."  When he gets into the whole digitized modern dub style, however -- as on "Ultimate Experience," "The Doppler Effect," "Ariwa the Dub Sampler," and "Invasion Dub" -- he tends to sound generic and overly experimental.  His more digital beats aren't strong enough to support his tendency to throw in disruptive, un-rhythmic sound effects and/or voices, thus making such tracks as "The Doppler Effect" and "Ultimate Experience" sound cheap and gimmicky.  There are a lot of cuts on It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Professor that I feel would be better as backing music than as dubs.  As such, generally, I find Mad Professor to be more proficient at producing other performers' material than at being a dub artist on his own.