Taking their name from a Burning Spear tune, Creation Rebel were formed in 1979 when drummer Eric ‘Fish’ Clarke left Prince Far I's backing band The Arabs and touring support was needed for Far I, Jah Woosh, Prince Hammer and Bim Sherman on their Roots Encounter tour. Ranking Magoo, Eskimo Fox and Crucial Tony responded and Creation Rebel was born. A blitz of activity occurred on the recording front from the late 1970s into the early 80s, but as the touring faded away so did the band as a creative unit, with economic pressures and demands of family life being the determining factor. Nevertheless those early albums were a key component to the development of reggae in the UK and its influence on a wider market, largely through the band members’ involvement with the young producer Adrian Sherwood and his employment of the unorthodox methods that would form the cultural chaos that became On-U Sound.

Creation Rebel
“Creation Fever”
From Close Encounters Of The Third World
(Hitrun, 1978)

Morphing from Prince Far I’s backing band The Arabs, Creation Rebel’s debut album was to be the first release on Hitrun, the label launched by Adrian Sherwood as a home for both Jamaican and UK artists. The rhythm for this track was also used for the instrumental title track on 1979’s Rebel Vibrations, as the first three albums to appear on Hitrun were developed in parallel and – in common with much of the material created under the banner of On-U Sound – re-use or “versioning” was common, just as in Jamaica an economic necessity. The riddim appeared later in a version by Singers & Players on War Of Words with “91 Vibration” finding Crucial Tony (Phillips) on vocals.

Creation Rebel
“Dub From Creation”
From Dub From Creation
(Hitrun, 1978)

The rhythm for title track from 1978’s Dub From Creation was originally used by the great Prince Far I, mentor to the young Adrian Sherwood, appearing on the deejay’s Cry Tuff label in 1977 in Jamaica; it was later used by Jah Woosh on the track “Give Me Power”, released as a bonus on a Japanese only edition of Starship Africa. Here is a pure dub with accompanying melodica lines from Pete Stroud aka Dr Pablo.

Creation Rebel
“Rebel Vibration”
From Rebel Vibrations
(Hitrun, 1979)

If it’s nice, play it twice – see “Creation Fever” above.

Creation Rebel
“Section 4”
From Starship Africa
(On-U Sound, 1980)

The album artwork bore the legend “From the soundtrack of a forthcoming movie...”, though this seemed to be in the heads of producer Adrian Sherwood and his mate Chris Garland, as they worked up a totally zany approach to the album that was to become Starship Africa, using a lot of tricks that weren’t even in the book. I always thought that the album could provide a perfect sonic backdrop for the rebel dreads wild orbit scenes in William Gibson’s Neuromancer cyberpunk novel. Now that the unfilmable is about to be filmed, maybe that can happen.

Creation Rebel × New Age Steppers
“Chemical Specialist”
From Threat To Creation
(Cherry Red, 1981/On-U Sound 1991)

Who knows what was going on in the studio when the tracks for this album were recorded and mixed, but in retrospect, the end result realises the kind of psychedelic sonics only imagined in the fevered brains of tripped out beats from 15 years earlier. Afrofuturism had not yet entered the lexicon of the hip but this must be as bonafide an example as the wilder excesses of Sun Ra’s Arkestra. There’s a great deejay version by Jah Woosh to be found on the first volume of the Wild Paarty Sounds series, entitled “Woodpecker Sound”. Threat To Creation was released via Cherry Red at the time Mr Sherwood was experiencing cash flow issues – a move he still regrets to this day. As with the other Cherry Red owned releases this set is not included in the recent High Above Harlesden boxset.

Creation Rebel
“African Space”
From Psychotic Jonkanoo
(Statik, 1981/On-U Sound, 1998)

This trippy dubstrumental continues the “experimental” approach taken for Starship Africa though the album contains a few vocals with extended mixes and John Lydon can be found adding his voice to the track “Mother Don’t Cry”. The album was released on Statik in 1981 but, like the sets issued on Cherry Red, Sherwood insisted on the On-U Sound imprimatur appearing on the artwork.

Creation Rebel
“Rubber Skirt (Parts 1/2/3)”
From Lows & Highs
(Cherry Red, 1982/On-U Sound, 1991)

An extended dub workout in three parts; a step-change in the membership of the band whilst Style Scott (from The Roots Radics) was firmly in place and about to launch Dub Syndicate. Also joining were drummer Charlie ‘Eskimo’ Fox and veteran saxophonist ‘Deadly’ Headley. On keyboards (via Undivided Roots) came Bubblers, who later partnered Sherwood as 2BadCard, and on flute, Dave Wright. The track starts with sax and flute trading before a free dub efx excursion with the bassline solid throughout.

Creation Rebel × Prince Far I
“In I Father's House”
From Cry Tuff Chants On U
(On-U Sound, 2021)

A dubbed and psyched version to this tune that originally appeared on the first Singers & Players album as “Quante Jubila”, with the late deejay in the righteous mood that permeated much of his later output, though here Creation Rebel are given the backing credit and the experimental mix style employed by Sherwood doesn’t sit with the more orthodox Singers & Players sound. The track forms part of an album scheduled for Record Store Day 2024, and remarkably is the first album credited to the deejay to be released by On-U Sound.

Creation Rebel
“Stonebridge Warrior”
From Hostile Environment
(On-U Sound, 2023)

40 years on, remaining members from the band’s line up Crucial Tony, Eskimo Fox and Magoo are back with Sherwood for another album, following their triumphant appearance at the 40th Anniversary show for On-U Sound last year at Camden Town’s Forum. The original title for this track was “Harlesden Warrior”, but it clashed with the name of the current box set High Above Harlesden 1978–2023, and so Stonebridge was chosen as a locality in the area. The sound harks back to the early days but with a modern sheen opening with a wonderfully rousing horn section becoming interspersed with flowing melodica lines.

High Above Harlesden 1978–2023 is released by On-U Sound. Read Steve Barker's review of the compilation in The Wire 482. Wire subscribers can also read the article online via the digital library of back issues.