Mad Professor
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A disciple of Lee "Scratch" Perry, Mad Professor was one of the leading
producers in dub reggae's second generation. His 'Dub Me Crazy' albums
helped dub make the transition into the digital age, when electronic
productions started to take over mainstream reggae in the '80s. His
space-age tracks not only made use of new digital technology, but often
expanded dub's sonic blueprint, adding more elements and layers of sound
than his forebears typically did.
In the mid-'90s, he returned to the
basics, debuting a more retro-sounding style on the 'Black Liberation Dub'
series. Additionally, he ran his own studio and label, Ariwa, which was
home to a stable of vocalists (with an emphasis on lovers rock and
conscious roots reggae) and some of the finest British reggae
productions of the era. As his reputation grew, he became a remixer of
choice for adventurous rock and techno acts, most notably revamping
Massive Attack's entire second album under the new title 'No Protection'.
Mad Professor was born Neal Fraser (or Neil Fraser) circa 1955 in
Guyana, a small country in the northern part of South America. He earned
his nickname as a preteen, thanks to his intense interest in
electronics; he even built his own radio.
At age 13, his family moved to
London, and around age 20, he started collecting recording equipment:
reel-to-reel tape decks, echo and reverb effects, and the like. In 1979,
he built his own mixing board and opened a four-track studio in his
living room in the south London area of Thornton Heath. Calling it
Ariwa, after a Nigerian word for sound or communication, he began
recording bands and vocalists for his own label of the same name, mostly
in the lovers rock vein: Deborahe Glasgow, Aquizim, Sergeant Pepper,
Tony Benjamin, Davina Stone, and Ranking Ann, among others. Amid
complaints from his neighbors, he moved the studio to a proper facility
in Peckham, South London. In 1982 he recorded his first album, 'Dub Me
Crazy, Pt. 1', and quickly followed it with a second volume, the
successful 'Beyond the Realms of Dub'. 1983 brought two more volumes, The
'African Connection' (often acclaimed as one of his best) and the fairly
popular 'Escape to the Asylum of Dub'.
The Ariwa studio was moved to a better neighborhood in West Norwood
during the mid-'80s, and upgraded for 24-track capability, making it the
largest black-owned studio in the U.K. From there, Mad Professor really
started to make an impact on the British reggae scene. He produced major
hit singles for Ariwa mainstay Pato Banton and Sandra Cross, and also
helmed the breakthrough album for conscious reggae toaster Macka B,
1986's 'Sign of the Times'.
At the same time, the ragga era was dawning,
and all-digital productions began to take over reggae. As the ragga
sound grew more and more dominant, Mad Professor's brand of dub got
spacier and weirder; while ragga detractors complained that Mad
Professor's work sounded sterile compared to the dub of old, many
praised his otherworldly effects and inventive arrangements. The 'Dub Me
Crazy' albums reached the height of their experimentalism during the
latter part of the '80s, although by the early '90s they were showing
signs of creative burnout. The 12th and final volume in the series, 'Dub
Maniacs on the Rampage', was released in 1993.
Meanwhile, Ariwa continued to prosper as a label, with further hits by
the likes of Macka B, Pato Banton, Sandra Cross, female singer Kofi,
Intense, Jah Shaka, John McLean, the Robotics, Sister Audrey, Peter
Culture, Johnny Clark, and others.
Additionally, he began to collaborate
with some of reggae's better-known figures; most crucially, he teamed up
with main influence Lee "Scratch" Perry for the first time on the 1989
set 'Mystic Warrior'. In 1991, he produced the first of several albums for
the groundbreaking veteran DJ U-Roy, the acclaimed 'True Born African'; he
also went on to work with the likes of Yabby You and Bob Andy. He
switched his focus to touring in 1992 and released the 100th album on
Ariwa not long after.
With his high-profile collaborators, Mad Professor started to make a
name for himself outside of the reggae community, and soon found himself
in demand as a remixer for rock, R&B, and electronica acts.
Over the
course of the '90s and into the new millennium, he would remix tracks by
Sade, the Orb, the KLF, the Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche
Mode, and Perry Farrell, among others.
His best-known project, however -
and the one that truly established his credentials - was 1995's 'No
Protection', a completely reimagined version of trip-hop collective
Massive Attack's second album, 'Protection'. Perhaps creatively refreshed,
Mad Professor's own albums started to regain their consistency in the
mid-'90s.
Mixing electronics with rootsier, more organic sounds indebted
to the earliest days of dub, he left behind the 'Dub Me Crazy' moniker to
launch a new series, the subtly Afrocentric 'Black Liberation Dub'. The
first volume was released in 1994, and others followed steadily into the
new millennium, albeit at a less prolific pace than the 'Dub Me Crazy'
installments.
More collaborations with Perry and U-Roy followed as well.
In 2005, Mad Professor celebrated Ariwa's 25th anniversary with a tour of the U.K. alongside Perry and the double-CD retrospective 'Method to the Madness'. In 2009 he released two albums, 'Times Hard' under the moniker Mad Professor vs. Joint Chiefs and the back to basics 'Audio Illusion of Dub'.
