In the early days of jungle, the British dub producer
Mad Professor tried his hand at hyperactive reggae-breakbeat fusion over the course of several albums. None of his efforts did anything to change the course of dance music, but none were failures either. On this album he recycles one of his many collaborations with Lee "Scratch" Perry to create "Perry in the Dub Jungle," on which Perry's voice is sped up to match the skittering breakbeats as an ominous bassline thunders below. He also, inevitably, delivers yet another version of his immortal "Kunte Kinte" rhythm, this one in a very dark and messy jungle mix that doesn't quite do justice to the simple brilliance of the original. The album's highlight is the beautiful "Natural Rass," a jungle treatment of an unidentified song by an unidentified female singer (there are no musician credits). Sprinkled among the jungle workouts are some standard dub reggae instrumentals which provide welcome moments of relative calm. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson