The Dead 60s - 'Space Invader Dub' (Deltasonic) Released 26/09/05

The Dead 60s are a band who love to keep on giving to their fans. After pulling the June release of their eagerly awaited eponymous debut LP to spend the summer honing it to perfection, they’ve kindly chucked in a whole album’s worth of dub plates for the limited edition release.

It’s a logical progression for a group who have swallowed the Ska of The Clash, The Specials and Madness whole. 'Space Invader Dub' takes one step back into the Dub Reggae roots which inspired this revered seam of British music – and provided a smoke-filled soundtrack to many a punk attempting to come down and stop chewing their teeth off after necking nine grams of dodgy sulphate.

The result is entirely in tune with the Dead 60s full band sound – entirely consistent with the influences sported on the song’s sleeves. It is perhaps more of a matter of personal opinion whether such an accurate recreation by four white dudes from Liverpool is a thing to be applauded or something that should be dismissed as an opportunistic enterprise which fails to yield the necessary ‘soul’ to make you really care about the music (accusations which, of course, dogged the aforementioned bands as well).

What cannot be denied however, is that 'Space Invader' is an extremely competent record, which gladly steers well clear of the lazy route of just using typically-dub production techniques to create the dub-sound. The results are most reminiscent of cuts such as 'One More Dub' from The Clash’s Sandinista!. The songs – ten are reworked from the album – certainly do not lose anything by being placed in this context, and, again, some may argue their emphasis groove, rather than melody, is more suited to such workings.

So sticking Space Invader Dub whilst ‘relaxing’ at home will never be anything else than a gently pleasurable experience – but just don’t forget your King Tubby’s kids…