Continuing with Dub War Week, today we have their second and final proper LP, Wrong Side of Beautiful. For years this was my favourite of the two, but both were so full of hits it's hard to make such a call. The thing that always pushed me towards Wrong Side of Beautiful was Silencer, which I genuinely considered my Favourite Song for quite a long time.
I mentioned yesterday the fact that my friends and I spent hours listening to Dub War at my friend Tom's house when we were teenagers, and how the remix album Step Ta Dis opened us up to a lot of genres. I distinctly remember listening to the remix of Silencer before heading out into town one evening. I couldn't get that song out of my head all night. A short while later I picked up a copy of Wrong Side of Beautiful on cd, and Silencer made it onto every mixtape I made for a while. I love the way Benji's vocals that gradually creep up in a muted scream, all backed to gentle acoustic guitars and violins. I still love that song. My desire to hear Silencer on vinyl lead me to seek out Wrong Side of Beautiful on vinyl, and I found a copy on eBay a few weeks after getting Pain on LP.
The rest of the album has some huge Dub War moments too, including the relatively big singles that were Enemy Maker, Million Dollar Love and Cry Dignity. Can't Stop was always a favourite too (for the way that chorus breaks). One Chill was pretty excellent too, although the Aphrodite remix was far more popular with my friends (there's a moment when the bass drops and wobbles that's just incredible. I don't know much about drum 'n' bass, but that remix was great). The smooth singing-vocals that we only heard occasionally on Pain appear far more often here, which I'm a big fan of; Silencer and One Chill would have sounded very out of place on Pain, but here they fit in perfectly.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 14
Cost: £6.80 second hand
Bought: eBay
When: 27/11/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
