On sale: Boris Gardiner - Ultra Super Dub Vol. 1 & 2

1970s Jamaica suffered an unprecedented stretch of political turmoil and violence, and as the country’s economy and morale collapsed, reggae and its offshoots exploded worldwide. Boris Gardiner enjoyed great success leading bands, issuing albums that mixed reggae, ska, soul and funk, and collaborating with the likes of Lee (Scratch) Perry and Herman Chin-Loy in their legendary studios and playing on hundreds of records.

The original mid-1970s releases of Ultra Super Dub Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, credited to The Boris Gardiner Happening, are so obscure that for years Boris wasn’t aware that they existed. They were released at unknown dates, sometime around the time of his Is What’s Happening (1973) album, and his soundtrack to Every N——r Is A Star (1973), which was sampled by Kendrick Lamar and used as the introduction to the film Moonlight. Ultra Super Dub Vols. 1 and 2 were originally released in tiny runs in handmade, silk-screened, paste-on covers, they have become some of the most sought after Jamaican albums.
 


Following classics such as King Tubby’s Dub From the Roots and Augustus Pablo’s King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown, Miami-based Alty East’s Ultra Records took instrumentals Gardiner created for a run of 45s, and created and issued these compilations of dubbed out originals and JA renditions of songs by Otis Redding, Clarence Carter, Betty Wright, Jimmy “Bo” Horne and Ultra label-mate Frankie Zhivago Young.