Prince Far I & The Arabs - Dub To Africa Vinyl LP

The year 1979 was perhaps the busiest and most fruitful in the tragically short career of Prince Far I, the gruff yet genial reggae deejay who, after years of hovering on the fringes of the music scene, had finally consolidated a following with five albums to his name, including the previous year’s prestigious Virgin Front Line releases Message From The King and Long Life, as well as the popular Under Heavy Manners for Joe Gibbs. With a new sense of urgency, he invested his earnings into fresh recordings on his Cry Tuff imprint, quickly issuing titles like his own “Love by Everyone,” alongside cuts from Jah Thomas, Big Joe, and Naggo Morris, while also announcing ambitious projects that ultimately never materialized. Early in 1979 he linked with a UK label to release discomixes featuring Bim Sherman, George Calstock with U Black, and Naggo Morris, and by March more Cry Tuff pre-releases from artists such as Jennifer Lara, Black Skin the Prophet, Rod Taylor, Peter Brogo, and Brigadier Jam Brown reached England. In April, he joined Bim Sherman and Prince Hammer on the Roots Encounter Tour with Creation Rebel, playing a string of UK dates, and the following month issued his third Virgin LP, Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Part 2, while Hitrun simultaneously released Dub to Africa, a stripped-down dub set recorded with Lincoln “Style” Scott, Noel “Sowell” Bailey, and Errol “Flabba” Holt as Cry Tuff and the Originals—soon to evolve into the groundbreaking Roots Radics, architects of the emerging dancehall sound. The title track repurposed rhythms from Peter Brogo’s “I A Field Marshall” and Far I’s own “I and I a the Chosen One,” while other cuts reworked Studio One classics such as “Glory to God” and Dawn Penn’s “No No No.” After this whirlwind, the pace slowed, though Hitrun continued issuing singles like Errol Holt’s cheeky “Yes Yes Yes” and Rod Taylor’s “No One Can Tell I About Jah,” along with discomix editions of “Higher Field Marshall” and “Loved by Everyone.” By year’s end, Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 3 appeared on Daddy Kool, followed by Free From Sin, the first of four albums for Trojan, affirming 1979 as a peak creative period for Prince Far I as both a deejay and producer.