****DUB SPENCER AND TRANCE HILL - RIDING STRANGE HORSE****

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****DUB SPENCER AND TRANCE HILL - RIDING STRANGE HORSE****

TRACKLIST


1 Man with a Harmonica
2 London Calling See All 3
3 Echo Beach
4 Jeanny
5 Eisbar
6 When I Fall in Love Dub Version
7 Smoke on the Water
8 25 Years
9 West One (Shine on Me)
10 Stop Bajon (Primavera)
11 Enter Sandman
12 Mama
13 Pop Muzik
14 Blackboard Jungle
15 Saints Go Marching Through All the Popular Tunes
16 When I Fall in Love Vocal Version


Orig Year 2010
Label Echo Beach


Personnel Marcel Stalder - flute
Julian Dillier - drums
Philipp Greter - melodica, organ, keyboards
Markus Meier - vocals, guitar


Also: Lee 'Scratch' Perry, William S. Burroughs, William S. Burroughs, Ruts, Lino Mandato, Catch, Grauzone, Ken Boothe, Martha & The Muffins, Robin Scott

The third full-length by Swiss reggae quartet Dub Spencer & Trance Hill is one of the more outrageous offerings of 2009 -- even if few outside of Europe heard it. Riding Strange Horses is a covers album in dub. While not a strange premise, a single listen will leave listeners shaking their heads in disbelief at the act's outrageousness -- and more than once have them laughing out loud. The band chooses tunes culled from movie soundtracks, teen anthems of post-1980 Europe, some underground classics, some punk and post-punk numbers, and a few kitsch selections. What's more, for the sake of "authenticity," they enlisted, wherever possible, original vocalists to either re-record their vocals or in some cases merely scored permission to use the originals in these new versions. And are they new! The set begins with a solid dubwise reading of Ennio Morricone's "Man with a Harmonica" and is followed with a stretched version of the Clash's "London Calling." Next up, they flew in Martha Johnson (of Martha & the Muffins) to re-record "Echo Beach." They do a deeply dread dub on Falco's "Jeanny," and bring in Ken Boothe and Lee "Scratch" Perry for versions of reggae classics "When I Fall in Love" and "Blackboard Jungle," respectively. They enlist the Catch to re-record "25 Years," done in bass-heavy dread style. A Swiss vocalist fronts the band on its deep Rastasized version of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," and they resurrect the ghost of Malcolm Owen of the Ruts on a wildly stretched version of "West One (Shine on Me)." The pairing of a reggae version of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" back to back with a ganja-cooked version of Genesis' "Mama" is hysterical. The biggest surprise here is cover of M's hit "Pop Muzik," with original vocalist Robin Scott fronting the quartet. Certainly, a healthy dose of irony and some good-natured winking are involved with many of the tracks here, but that doesn't make it a novelty album. It's a welcome breath of fresh air that simultaneously heats up the "authenticity" debates in Euro-reggae circles.