Jah Wobble - Dark Luminosity - The 21st Century Collection

After making his recording debut as bassist for Public Image on their first two releases, Jah Wobble moved onto what has become an extremely fascinating career with a dizzying array of solo releases and collaborations.  Over the course of sixty-six tracks taken from thirty-two releases (plus a digital single), Dark Luminosity - The 21st Century Collection is an impressive four CD box covering an extremely diverse array of styles.  With the exception of spoken word tracks taken from his Odds, Sods and Epilogues release, that open each disc (and close two), all the songs are presented in chronological order and are taken from the years 2000 on, when he and his family moved from the East of London, where he was born and raised, to Stockport in order to be closer to his in-laws.  

Disc one kicks off perfectly with the limerick "There Was A Young Man With A Bass".  Musically a lot of the tracks on this disc have a Middle Eastern slant to them.  He incorporates it into the slow, dreamy psychedelia of “As Night Falls: Part 1” (and Part 2), dub with two versions of “Lam Tang Way”, the noisy jazz of “Full On” and the slow trance of “La Citadelle”, which along with “Shout At The Devil” features vocals from Natasha Atlas.  Other highlights on disc one includes “Fly 3” and “Fly 9”, a couple of ambient tracks, the first more of a chill track with a slow funk groove, while the other has an upbeat trance beat with a hint of the Middle Eastern vibe popping up again, plus two tracks from the soundtrack to the French film Le Fureur.  Closing out disc one and opening disc two (not including the two spoken words tracks) are a couple of songs from English Roots Music, Wobble’s foray into English Folk music.  Featuring Liz Carter on vocals, “Cannily Cannily”, is a Ewan MaColl tune that has a foundation in English Folk but is given a bit of a funky Jah Wobble treatment (his bass work really delivers on this cut), while “Unquite Grave” is an absolutely gorgeous song that sticks pretty close to the traditional English Folk sound.     

The touring group The English Roots Band followed that album and is represented on disc two with the instrumental “And There Was The Sea” and “No No No”, a cover of Dawn Penn’s hit.  Both have a nice rocksteady beat, the latter of which has a slow, infectious groove and some fuzzy bass work from Wobble.  “Elevator Music 4” is a really good instrumental that sounds like it is from a movie soundtrack, while “Elevator Music 9” is more of an experimental soundscape.  Taken from the album MU (meaning emptiness in Japanese), where he worked with engineer Mark Lusardi, who also worked with PiL on some early tracks, “Mu” is an interesting mixture of ethereal and dub.  The experimental side of things comes to the forefront again on the dance beat driven “Looking Up At The Sky Again” and there is a hint of the rocksteady groove in the cold electronic sounds of the breezy dance tune “And Some May Say” and “Whatever Happens”.  A good representation of Wobble’s work in world music can be found on disc two starting with “Solitude”, taken from his Chinese Dub album, where he worked with a 22-piece group of Mao and Tibetan musicians and dancers, Sichuan opera mask changers and an Anglo-Chinese dub band mixing dub rhythms, electronica and Chinese instrumentation.  There are also two tracks, “Kokiriko” and “Ma” from his Japanese Dub album where he worked with the Nippon Dub Ensemble. Lastly, there is “Brazil”, a hypnotic track with a driving samba beat.  

Following the spoken word track “Air”, disc three kicks into full gear with the percussive blast of “Blowout” followed by the laid-back, horn enhanced “City Meets Country”.   The hook-heavy “Psychic Life” finds him teaming up with his former Public Image bandmate, the late Keith Levene, and vocalist Julie Campbell from the band Lonelylady, for what is probably the most accessible track here.  “Wealth” and “Terminus” are nice ambient tracks that do a great job of setting a mood.  Featuring Bill Sharpe from the group Shakatak on keys and some really nice trumpet from Sean Corby, "Spanish Place" is a really strong jazz tune.  He then meshes jazz and funk with “Cosmic Blueprint”, which also has some spacy keys, and “Mandala”, once again showcasing some great bass work.  Next up are two tracks from his collaboration with the Moroccan duo MoMo.  “Sabri = Patience” is an absolutely gorgeous, laid-back song driven by some great piano, meshing North African music with jazz and funk, while “Sudani Manayo” is a more upbeat track that adds some dub to the mix.  Sounding like it should be bouncing off the walls of dance clubs everywhere, “Chunk Of Funk” is an absolute killer funky dance track with more of that thumping bass, while the salsa tinged jazz and dub of “Cuban Dub” is just as spritely and infectious.  Closing out disc three is “L’autoroute Sans Fin”, which starts off like a Kraftwerk tune but then turns into a hypnotic piano driven track with trip hop beats and swells of synths.  

Harkening back to his earlier days, the music on disc four kicks off with the taut, aggressive, and a little chaotic, punk of “Mind In Turmoil” and “Humans Are Full Of It”, which has a low funk groove and a vocal delivery reminiscent of Ian Dury.  Teaming up again with Bill Laswell “The Perfect Beat” and “Dark Luminosity” are strong experimental jazzy tunes with driving beats, a bit of funk and dub and some effects.  “Fly Away” is really nice, laid-back jazz and “Take My Hand” is intense, but somehow laid-back at the same time, with a bit of jazz and funk and a subtle reggae beat.  The next three tracks are from the album Nocturne In The City, which was recorded during lockdown.  They all have an experimental ambient jazz groove, with “Mooching About” adding a spacey electronic element and “Lockdown 7 (Reprise)” a bit of a funk beat.  “End of Lockdown Dub” is the first of two tracks taken from the album of the same name (released of course at the end of lockdown) and is an upbeat instrumental that sounds like it would be the perfect accompaniment to people dancing in the streets after a lockdown, while “Choral Ocean Dub” is another uplifting cut but takes it down just a notch and adds an infectious reggae beat.  Next up are tracks from the Jah Wobble & Family album Guanyin, featuring his sons Charlie on er-hu (Chinese violin) and John T. on western drums, Chinese drums and Chinese zither, and his wife Zilan on Chinese Harp.  The Chinese instrumentation and influence are very strong on both cuts with “Dim Sum”, which also contains vocals from Charlie, a massively infectious hip hop tune that has should’ve been a hit written all over it, and “Guangzhou Funk” of course adds some funk to the mix.  Closing everything out is “Tyson Dub”, a really solid dub track that’s a little dark and heavy, with some great bass work.  It was originally released in 2021 as a digital single to commemorate their Staffordshire Bull Terrier, who passed away that year, and is a fitting final track.   While I was familiar with Wobble before listening to this box set, I have to say I was not prepared to be as mesmerized by what I heard as I ended up being. As I made my way through, I found myself looking up the individual releases over and over and have already expanded my collection.  

(30 Hertz Records / Jah Wobble)