Pick A Dub - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

The album has been critically well received and is regarded as important in Hudson's discography and in the genre of dub music. In 1994, The Wire identified the album as "one of the first dub albums" and described it as a "must-have". Lloyd Bradley, author of This is Reggae Music, suggests that along with King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown, Super Ape and African Dub Chapter Three this album is "one of the supreme heavyweight champion dub sets." Including the album in its 2007 comprehensive series on "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die", The Guardian indicated that "no other dub album can rival Pick-a-Dub's austere sonic qualities." In England's Dreaming, Jon Savage gives the album his "vote for the greatest dub album ever." Piero Scaruffi puts it at #6 on his list, indicating in his summary of the 1970s Jamaican revival in Britain that Hudson and Dennis Bovell brought the form to "rtistic peaks". Allmusic in its review characterized the album as "a seminal work, a landmark in progressive remixing" that is "arguably the crowning achievement of Hudson's career." While arguing by contrast for Hudson's later album Brand, the website brainwashed indicates that Pick a Dub typically "ranks as the pinnacle of his dub releases".