MAD PROFESSOR Vinyl & CDs

Review: Legendary dub head Mad Professor manage to turning his mixing desk into an instrument in its own right. He coded all manner of heady and futurist sounds of it it by twisting nobs and playing with faders in a way no one had before and fee have managed to recreate ever since. He has turned his hand to reworking countless classic albums as well as turning out his own heart works, not least this album that was originally released in 1984. Ariwa Sounds (The Early Sessions) captures his work with artists like Errol Sly, Rock A Way & Sister Audrey and Sergeant Pepper, all of who he left with his magic dub touch.

Review: Way back in 1998 when Massive Attack's career-defining "Mezzanine" was first released, legendary dub technician Mad Professor cooked up some radical reworking. They now get their first official release alongside dubs of two tracks that never actually made it onto the album - Metal Banshee: a dub version of "Superpredators" which was a cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Metal Postcard", and "Wire", which was actually recorded for the film "Welcome to Sarajevo". Wild effects, plenty of knob twiddling and oodles of reverb define this freaky late night collection and mark another essential release in the catalogue of the already legendary Mad Professor.

Review: Given Massive Attack's background, it was almost inevitable that they'd release a dub overhaul of one of their albums at one point. That time came in 1995, when British sound system legend Mad Professor - responsible for some of the greatest UK-made dub records of all time - put his distinctive twist on Protection. 21 years on, the set still sounds sublime: a radical translation that frequently bares only a passing resemblance to the Bristol band's original. It's packed with highlights, from the spaced-out, dub-house rework of "Spying Glass" ("I Spy"), to the ricocheting percussion hits and twinkling pianos of "Weather Storm (Cool Monsoon)", and creepy, delay-laden string surges of "Eternal Feedback (Sly)".