Back in the exciting good old days of London, there was a time when, «two decades after large scale Caribbean immigration began from the newly independent islands, yesterday's colonies and the first generation of Black British youth» and their dreadlocks clashed with the cynical white punks and their pin covered leather jackets and crest hair. They all became mates and the same generation who would sign and scream "no future" now quickly started contributing to a new future (the future of dub that is) by taking advantage of King Tubby's pivotal studio accident to come out with their dub version 7" vinyls to create a new subculture, well documented by this sampler (which I think was compiled by Don Letts - if not he selected the tracks for the follower "Dread meets Punk Rockers Uptown - Social Classics Vol.2" - and released by German Select Cuts -Echo Beach division- known to be very attentive of the dreadbeat movement). An impressive tracklist, including The Ruts, The Clash, Generation X, Basement 5, Killing Joke, 4 Be 2, The Slits, Vivien Goldman (produced by dub mastermind Adrian Sherwood and Sex Pistols member John Lydon - what a great team and perfect example of what we are talking about!), Red Beat, PIL, The Pop Group, Stiff Little Fingers and Grace Jones; will amuse, entertain, make you love it, make you remember (if you got the age) and make you groove, whether you are Jamaican, British, American, European or Iraqi for that matter (if only the Bush government could take the "punk meets reggae/dub" as a lesson for civil co-existence and interaction, and would use a CD player to rock the Iraqi's world instead of killing them for fun and profit...).For a great introduction to the history of this subculture, the way it originated and how a "Dread meets Punk Rocker" situation did not turn into an ugly riot (or a hospital bombing...) and instead created some great "Wild Dub", look no further than this CD's booklet where great liner notes by Vivien Goldman (New Musical Express journalist at the time) will walk you through it all, adding some very interesting notes about the chosen cuts. Also available as 2xLP.