“This disc is comprised of two dub albums released by Inner Circle in 1978. At that point, Inner Circle was more popular in Jamaica than Bob Marley & the Wailers. Their singer, Jacob Miller, was already famous for songs like ‘Tenement Yard’ and ‘Tired fe Lick Weed in a Bush.’ Most of the rhythms from which these dub tracks are derived were originally released on the albums Killer Miller and Wanted; they were dubbed by Maximilian at the Channel One studio and by Prince Jammy at King Tubby’s. On the program are dub versions of ‘Land Called Home’ (rendered here as ‘Addis Ababa Rock’), ‘Killer Miller’ (‘Killer Dub’), and ‘Standing Firm’ (‘Frelimo’), among others — in typical Blood & Fire fashion, the liner notes specify most of the relationships between dub and vocal versions. It’s too bad that more of Miller’s vocals weren’t left in some of these mixes, but the rhythms themselves are rock-solid and Prince Jammy’s dub treatments are particularly sharp.”
alllmusic
“The latest Blood and Fire issue collects two fine dub albums -both released in 1978- made by Inner Circle. During that period the band were extremely poular on the island, even exceeding the popularity of Bob Marley and The Wailers. They started out 30 years ago -in 1969-, incorporating future members of Third World, Ibo Cooper and Cat Coore. The foundation members were the brothers Ian Monteith Lewis on bass, and Roger Lewis on guitars. Their initial chart succes came in 1971 with the recording of Eric Donaldson’s Song Festival tune ‘Cherry Oh Baby’, a tune produced by Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee. Further chart succes was achieved with the recording of Eric Donaldson’s ‘Love Of The Common People’. In 1973, as Third World formed, they recruited a new drummer and keyboard player. With Jacob ‘Killer’ Miller as lead vocalist they began a run of success that only ended with Jacob’s untimely death in a car crash in 1980. Their collaboration with producer Tommy Cowan resulted in the release of several albums of mainly covers. In 1976 they signed to Capital Records who released two albums ‘Reggae Thing’ and ‘Ready For The World’ that caught the band trying to make headway in the US market they would eventually conquer after Jacob’s death. Meanwhile they released a string of Jamaican hits like ‘Tenement Yard’, Forward Jah Jah Children’ and Tired Fe Lick Weed Inna Bush’. The signing up to Island Records in 1977 led to the release of the album ‘Everything Is Great’.
The dub cuts found here were mainly drawn from Jacob Miller’s more heavy, rootsy albums issued on the Top ranking label, ‘Killer Miller’ and ‘Wanted’. …”
Reggae Vibes
Road Foggy 