Imagination - Night Dubbing (Remastered 2023) (2023)

The only way of telling this is a collection of dubs and remixes short of hearing it is by its title, and that doesn't exactly make the nature of it plain to the human eye. None of the outside packaging clues one into the fact that this is a collection of alternate versions of singles from Imagination's first two albums -- Body Talk and In the Heat of the Night -- often incorporating dub production techniques into the re-fashionings. None of these remixes qualify to be categorically filed under dub reggae, but tricks of the trade -- liberal use of echo and reverb, crazily accentuated snare-drum sounds -- often come into play. Some of these tracks work and some don't. "Flashback" deliberately toys with the tempo in a haphazard and untimely manner, whereas "Burnin' Up" plays games with the piano lines and moves odd sounds in and out in a delightfully warped way. Though it hits more often than it misses, Night Dubbing is of value to DJs and completists only. © Andy Kellman