In the Light / In the Light Dub

Horace Andy’s legacy as a Jamaican icon was already cemented from his classic early singles like “Skylarking” and “Mr. Bassie,” cut for Studio One. But after years of recording with Sir Coxsone, he and his wife decamped for Hartford, Connecticut, where in 1977 he cut one of his greatest albums, In the Light. The ten songs reveal Andy’s trenchant songwriting, touching on topics like police harassment, wealth inequality, faith, and good collie weed. In the Light is an uncanny blend of Rastafarianism in a cold, urban setting, ranging from celebratory to paranoid, defiant to sweet, all of it delivered by Andy’s high tenor that Barrow once described as “capable of a sultry croon or a stentorian wail.”

This B&F reissue pairs it with a staggering dub set from Tubby’s finest pupil, Prince Jammy. In the Light Dub was one of the earliest dub sets in what would be Jammy’s storied career and it showcases Jammy pulling all sorts of death-defying audio feats: wide-panning drums, making background hand percussion explode like cluster bombs, and conjuring bass tones taller than a thunderhead. In reducing Andy’s lyrics to just a few echoing choice phrases, they punctuate these exhilarating dubs.