Prince Fatty - Survival of the Fattest

Prince Fatty wears his love of the greats of seventies reggae on his sleeve. He calls himself Prince Fatty, clearly a nod to King Tubby, from whom he seems to have borrowed a couple of beats. He does the sound well, sustaining an album of mellow grooves that would suit any dub fan's summer listening to a tee. If you want groundbreaking work you're probably going to be disappointed, but if you just want more from the same vein as pioneers like Augustus Pablo, Lee Perry or King Tubby, you'll be grand. Filled with uplifting melodies, the high point of the album is the single, Milk and Honey – featuring Hollie Cook of The Slits – with second place going to the track Scorpio. Hollie's vocal is true to the style the album is recreating, but it feels like she's not stuck in the Jam-down timewarp with the Prince. What he does is good, but what she does is great. [James Blake]