Augustus Pablo: East of the River Nile [Bonus Tracks] : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If you've ever heard a melodica -- a child's toy that sounds like a very smooth harmonica -- on a pop record, it's because of Augustus Pablo. The late Jamaican producer's 1976 album King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown also helped popularize dub, the echo-laden strain of reggae that continues to influence club and chill-out music.

Released in 1978, East of the River Nile is a more straightforward instrumental work but features many of the same elements as King Tubby: deep bass lines, clattering drums, percussive guitar riffs and plenty of Pablo's delicate keyboard melodies. Suggesting both Les Baxter's lounge exotica and a reggae-fied version of Booker T. and the MG's' wordless soul, the slinky title track serves as a testimony to its creator's meditative but body-moving funk.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 908 - October 31, 2002)