New Box Set Celebrates UK Dub Greats Creation Rebel

High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 brings together six crucial albums for one massive experience

There isn’t another group more synonymous with British dub than Creation Rebel.

As groups like The Specials, The Police, The Clash and The Ruts made reggae music an essential cog in their punky sound, Creation Rebel completely immersed themselves in the heavy, heady vibes of the Jamaican genre’s psychedelic subsect.

It was all thanks to a young producer named Adrian Sherwood, who created the group by recruiting an ace band of Caribbean expats from the streets of London’s working class North-West section. The band would soon gain notoriety as the backing group for legendary Jamaican deejay Prince Far I. But before that, Creation Rebel released a series of albums under their own name while establishing themselves as the house band for Sherwood’s On-U Sound label.

Creation Rebel High Above Harlesden 1978-2023, On U-Sound 2024

High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 is a six-disc box set that collects the band’s once incredibly hard-to-find studio output that dub-reggae fans have been scouring the planet for over the years.

Mind you, this collection doesn’t contain all of the Creation Rebel albums out there, as Cherry Red Records had already laid claim to 1981’s double billing with the New Age Steppers, Threat to Creation, and 1982’s Lows & Highs, both of which can be found here as part of the Dread Operator box set.

Creation Rebel Dub From Creation, On U-Sound Records 1978

However, the six titles to be found within High Above Harlesden comprise the most essential works of Creation Rebel, starting with their 1978 debut Dub From Creation. Engineered by the great UK reggae producer Dennis Bovell and mixed by Sherwood, this set’s soil-rich blast of heavy vibrations and synth frequencies no doubt laid the foundation for The Clash to conjure up their own dub transmissions on Sandinista! a few years later.

Creation Rebel Close Encounters Of The Third World, On U-Sound Records 1978

Also released in ‘78 was Close Encounters Of The Third World, which is said to be the most collectible of the Creation Rebel canon. Part of the LP was recorded at the iconic Channel One studio in Kingston, Jamaica as this ragtag ensemble began gelling together as an actual live band. Giving the album an extra helping of authenticity was Prince Jammy who, while on a trip to London, was invited by Sherwood to mix it.

Creation Rebel Rebel Vibrations, On U-Sound Records 1979

Rebel Vibrations, from 1979, hasn’t been made available since its original release on the pre-On U-Sound Hitrun label, and with tracks like “Jungle Affair” and “Ian Smith Rock,” provides a more direct feel with the grooves more steady and in-the-pocket thanks to the drum work of Lincoln “Style” Scott from the legendary Jamaican house band the Roots Radics.

Creation Rebel Starship Africa, On U-Sound Records 1980

1980’s Starship Africa, meanwhile, is largely considered the group’s masterpiece, as it finds Sherwood and the band going deeper into the studio to explore techniques like reverb, distortion and backwards taping to give the listener a veritable rocket blast of psychedelic riddim.

Creation Rebel Psychotic Jonkanoo, On U-Sound Records 1981

1981’s Psychotic Jonkanoo found Creation Rebel heading into Public Image Ltd. territory in the group’s aim to bring a distinctly British experimental bent to the sound of traditional roots reggae songwriting. This is by far the most accessible of the Creation Rebel catalog, with lovers rock vocals and soulful melodies. And speaking of PiL, John Lydon even stopped by to lay down some backing vocals.

Last year’s Hostile Environment, the first new Creation Rebel album in over 40 years, completes the contents of this box set while bringing the group’s history into the modern age. Though pared down to a trio consisting of original members Crucial Tony, Charlie Eskimo Fox and Ranking Magoo, this reunion with Sherwood at the controls doesn’t hesitate to pick up right where they left off in 1982. Guests include dancehall legend Daddy Freddy and singer Denise Sherwood, as well as the archived voice of Prince Far I.

Creation Rebel Hostile Environment, On U-Sound Records 2023

“The album title is the term that UK Prime Minister Theresa May used to describe creating a hostile environment for people seeking refuge and asylum,” Sherwood explains in the box set’s liner notes, “one of the backdrops to the shocking Windrush scandal that has affected so many Caribbean families who have lived and worked in the UK for their whole lives.”

High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 is one of the best archival releases of 2024, and is a must-listen for any studied fan of dub and reggae.