Scientist's limited output for the RAS label in the '90s was much more hit or miss than his sensational earlier recordings, but RAS Portraits does include numerous worthwhile tracks and offers insight on the artist's later development. Like so many other dub producers around him, Scientist utilized digital instrumentation and recording techniques because of the ease and affordability but also fell prey to their side effects. Quite a bit of RAS Portraits sounds thin and sterile, lacking the organic quality that purists ...
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Scientist's limited output for the RAS label in the '90s was much more hit or miss than his sensational earlier recordings, but RAS Portraits does include numerous worthwhile tracks and offers insight on the artist's later development. Like so many other dub producers around him, Scientist utilized digital instrumentation and recording techniques because of the ease and affordability but also fell prey to their side effects. Quite a bit of RAS Portraits sounds thin and sterile, lacking the organic quality that purists demand. Still every Scientist production has something redeeming, and RAS Portraits surrounds the mediocre cuts with some truly stunning ones. The best are from Scientist's dub of Culture's Payday, originally released as Scientist Dubs Culture Into a Parallel Universe. Culture's definite rhythms withstand Scientist going off wildly in all directions, and Joseph Hill's voice is always a pleasure to hear. "To Go Where No Dub Has Gone Before" is a truly inspired drum and bass workout that makes the lesser tracks on the collection sound anemic. The dubs of Yellowman and Freddie McGregor show how much Scientist benefits from working with others' material since the three new solo recordings included call for little attention. The Michigan & Smiley "Here We Dub" is a sunny slow jam and the album's final highlight. An exhaustive interview with Scientist is included and covers his career well past RAS' output, containing the revelation that King Jammy never smoked herb. Unfortunately RAS screws up the release date of the Culture album by 12 years (it came out in 2000, not 1988), and the cover adds "The" to Scientist's name for some strange reason. ~ David Jeffrieses, Rovi
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