One year after his Taxi Productions debut with the Gregory Isaacs hit "Soon Forward," Sly Dunbar released his fifth album of dub instrumentals under the name Sly & the Revolutionaries. Black Ash Dub boasts a great lineup, including Dunbar himself on drums and his mate, Robbie Shakespeare, on bass, plus Ansel Collins on organ, Bingy Bunny on guitar, producer Jah Thomas, and mixing by Prince Jammy and Scientist. Though Dunbar made a much better producer than he did an instrumentalist, the sheer accumulation of talent on this session assures great results. Each track a tribute to a drug (or in the case of "Rizla," drug paraphernalia), the album hits with plenty of great ideas: "Marijuana" is a takeoff on a classic rhythm (the Heptones' "Pretty Looks Isn't All"), while the dub classic "Collie" sports carnival-like horns and a loopy sense of dub time. A solid latter-day dub album by a great lineup. ~ John Bush|

Rovi