Linval Thompson meets Roberto Sanchez At The Ark - Marijuana Sessions In Dub (A-Lone Productions)

For this LP, Roberto Sanchez was given free rein to fully immerse himself in a series of Thompson’s classic tracks. The result is a delightful old school dub album featuring reworks of songs largely derived from Linval’s iconic ‘I Love Marijuana’ album from 1978.

The relationship between Sanchez and Thompson dates back to 2009 when the Lone Ark Riddim Force accompanied Linval for several concert dates in France, Spain, and Portugal.

Roberto Sanchez: “I took the chance to tell him about the studio where I had been producing my own stuff since 1997. I also showed him what I was doing at the studio, where I was then preparing the ‘And God Said To Man’ showcase album with Earl Zero. It was then when we spoke about collaborating for the first time! Since then we have worked on many recordings for labels like Roots & Fyah, Pirate’s Choice, Fruits Records and my own A-Lone Productions.”.

In 2011, Roberto received a surprise in the mail: “One morning I found an envelope in my mailbox at the studio. It contained a pen drive, and when I plugged it into my computer, I couldn’t believe what was on there… original material produced by Linval Thompson at Channel One during the late nineteen seventies and early eighties, from Wailing Souls to Johnny Osbourne, from Anthony Johnson and Mystic Eyes to Linval himself! Every time Linval visited me since then, he has brought more material to be mixed, thus compiling an archive of more than 200 songs! I was especially shocked when I opened a folder that contained a good part of the riddims recorded for his 1978 ‘I Love Marijuana’ album. It made me wonder how great it would be to release a dub set of those riddims, and that’s how this album came to be!”.

In the track list, you’ll find dubs of songs like ‘Big Big Girl’, ‘Not Follow Fashion’, ‘Just Another Girl’, ‘Roots Lady’, ‘Starlight’, and of course title track ‘I Love Marijuana’, supplemented with dubs of three songs that Linval recorded at Channel One during the same period.

Sanchez concludes: “Linval is now more than an icon, ace producer and artist for me. After spending a lot of time on the road and in the studio together, he has become part of my musical family. Since I met him, he’s been helping everyone around him, a true provider, a family man! Last summer we spoke about releasing a dub set out of his riddims and I talked to him about this ‘Marijuana Sessions In Dub’ album and some other projects I was mixing for him. He liked the idea and pushed me to go ahead with it. He insisted on making it be an album for my two sons Bruno and Pablo. So here it is… Linval meets Roberto, Channel One meets The Lone Ark!”.