Preview links: www.alchemydubs.com/music/a/ode_to_joy_babylon_cant_control_i___versions___aldbs12005

SIDE A: youtu.be/TmZV39GfKbs

SIDE B: youtu.be/NrKSrZv5xlg

Out 29th of November, available now exclusively here

ALCHEMY DUBS PRESENTS:
CORNELL CAMPBELL MEETS SOOTHSAYERS - ODE TO JOY (BABYLON CAN’T CONTROL I) - VERSIONS (OJAH/RUV BYTES)

We proudly present our fifth release on 12” format, a very special EP featuring new versions of reggae anthem “Ode To Joy (Babylon Can’t Control I)” by Cornell Campbell and Soothsayers, which first appeared on their album “Cornell Campbell Meets Soothsayers - Nothing Can Stop Us” (Strut Records, 2013).

These versions are remixes and new dub mixes from Ojah and Ruv Bytes and come in a limited edition of 600 copies (no repress), 180g heavyweight 12” vinyl, hand-numbered.

A1 - Ode To Joy (Babylon can’t control I) - Ojah remix
A2 - Dub To Joy (Babylon can’t control I) - Ojah remix dub
B1 - Ode to joy (Babylon can’t control I) - Ruv Bytes mix
B2 - Ode to joy instrumental - Ojah mix

Here’s the story of the record in David Katz’s own words:

"Travelling to Japan was the culmination of a longstanding dream, the maiden voyage undertaken in 2013 on the invitation of Masaya Hayashi of Drum ‘n’ Bass Records, Osaka; Masa arranged for me to play at his club, Night Wax, and at a warehouse near Nagoya, with my debut gig in Tokyo taking place at Club Open, a basement dive in Shinjuku, where I played til sunrise to an enthusiastic underground crowd. I was fortunate to return for more gigs in 2014, the longer stay allowing exploration of other parts of the country, always encountering reggae in unexpected places and being introduced to various traditional forms of Japanese music and culture. This sparked a plan for me to graft traditional Japanese instruments onto original reggae rhythms, which a small Arts Council England grant finally allowed in the spring of 2016.
Haruyasu “Big H” Kudoh, who runs Open and who has worked with Dennis Bovell and other reggae greats, connected me with the openminded musician, Ras Kanto, who arranged to rent a three-stringed shamisen, a taishokoto or Nagoya harp, which uses typewriter keys to vary pitch, and a series of wooden temple blocks, or mokugyo, which Big H augmented with an ancient hard-carved mokugyo which is a family heirloom, along with temple bells. Armed with three rhythms provided by my friends, Soothsayers, the Brixton-based hybrid band drawing from reggae, dub, jazz and Afrobeat, whose album Nothing Can Stop Us was created with Jamaican legend Cornell Campbell, I arranged for Kanto and Big H to overdub the traditional instruments onto the rhythm tracks in a marathon live session at Open, conducted over the course of an afternoon and evening. I later arranged for the Osaka-based engineer and dub master Ruv Bytes to conjure individual dub mixes of each of the tunes, the first of which, “Jah Jah Me No Born Yah,” was released in 2018 by Riddim Chango Records, together with alternate mixes by OBF, Ticklah and Bim One. Now the second track from the collaborative sessions, “Ode To Joy (Babylon Can’t Control I)” is here presented in a custom-made limited edition by Alchemy Dubs, with Ruv’s dub mix complemented by individual re-castings from Ojah.
Listen and enjoy the melding of disparate worlds…”.
David Katz (www.davidkatz.tk)


A Soothsayers and David Katz production, written by Robin Hopcraft and Idris Rahman.

Players of instruments:
-Cornell Campbell: Lead vocals
-Robin Hopcraft: trumpet, backing vocals, djembe, Hammond
-Idris Rahman: tenor sax, backing vocals, Hammond
-Wayne “Horseman” Williams: drums
-Kishon Khan: piano, organ
-Patrick Hatchett: guitar
-Phil Dawson: guitar
-Harry Brown: trombone
-Victor Axelrod “Ticklah”: bass
-Ras Kanto: mokugyo, temple bells on B1
-Big H: mokugyo, temple bells on B1
-Oscar Pablos “Ojah”: percussion on A1&A2

Recorded in London at STAC, Read Earth Studios, Sonica & Alchemy Dubs Studio, in Brighton at Ironworks, and in Tokyo, Japan at Open
Recording Engineers : Nick Raphael, Idris Rahman, Robin Hopcraft, Nick Coplowe, Kevin Toublanc, Fuyuhiko Inui, Oscar Pablos

Originally mixed by Victor Axelrod “Ticklah”, 2013
Tracks A1, A2 & B2 mixed by Oscar Pablos “Ojah” at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London, UK, 2019. Track B1 mixed by Takuto Kuratani “Ruv Bytes” at Neko Studio, Osaka, Japan, 2017

Mastered by Oscar Pablos “Ojah” at Alchemy Dubs Studio, London, UK, 2019

Graphic design by Victor Castro

Published by Strut/!K7 Records
Under license to Alchemy Dubs 2019
All rights reserved
www.alchemydubs.com
www.soothsayers.net


ODE TO JOY (BABYLON CAN’T CONTROL I) - LYRICS
(Written by Robin Hopcraft & Idris Rahman)


I know you’re feeling vexed my brother
Life has been too hard for you
Meditate on the greater things
May happiness return for you
Some grow old before their time
Control your mind, it’s up to you
Hold your head high, don’t feel sad
This ode to joy I have for you
Babylon can’t work I say
Don’t carry that sack of rocks fi true
Dissatisfied and jealous minds
Happiness escape from you

Plant a seed and watch it grow
It will bare sweet fruits, I know
Love your lover, make her feel
How much she really means to you

Yeah

Babylon can’t control I
Babylon can’t use I
Babylon can’t control I
Babylon can’t use I

Babylon can’t work I say
Don’t carry that sack of rocks fi true
Dissatisfied and jealous minds
Happiness escape from you

If we share the love around
There’s plenty there for me and you
Don’t give up now, don’t let go
Remember Jah Jah Love you so

Babylon can’t control I
Babylon can’t use I
Babylon can’t control I
Babylon can’t use I
Babylon can’t control I
Babylon can’t use I
Babylon can’t control I
Babylon can’t use I

No, them can’t use I
Them can’t confuse I
Neither refuse I