Lightning Head: Studio Don (Best Seven/Sonar Kollektiv) BBC 1 – Blues, Soul and Reggae Reviews Taking his name from a phrase that appeared in an interview with Lee Perry, Lightning Head refers to the idea of inspiration and not, for those of you that were wondering, some freakish meteorological accident. El Head as he is sometimes known, is ex Rockers Hi-Fi main man, Glyn Bush and Studio Don is the first offering under the new moniker. Fusing latin, samba, reggae, dub and house, this wonderfully international record is made all the more surprising by the fact that it has been made by one young man living and working in Dorset, UK. By his own admission, the self-congratulatory title is actually a play on words based on the legendary Studio One in Kingston. Like the familiar Jamaican sound of the seventies, Dorset's finest has its own set of sonic anchors: guitar, drums, bass, Hammond organ, clavinet and monosynth. That said, the El Head sound is embellished time and again with steel pan percussion, the odd echo-meter or reverberator and various bits of machinery that go boing. The funky dancehall break "Me and Me Princess" was the track that started Mr Bush’s new musical journey way back when. This is beautiful in its simplicity and a perfect illustration of how a few components in the right hands can become supremely catchy. The pure party vibe on "Superfunky Bird" sees Colliston White on mic detail and puts things on an Afro disco tip. In keeping with reggae tradition Studio Don has a couple of cover versions on it. Jean Jacques Perreys "E.V.A." is reworked in a dub steel orchestra style whist "Steelsation", a reworking of the Saturday Night Fever classic, also receives Caribbean treatment. The personal favourite has to be the drifting and gentle dub workout "Step On Out" with Monterria’s emotive vocals giving the soul a good old stir. Bush is gifted producer and its no wonder that he has the likes of Gilles Peterson, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Ross Allen and Ashley Beedle singing his praises. Studio Don is a truly global affair and the mark of a musician who is engaged, informed and impassioned enough to go out on a limb for us all. Andy Puleston Straight No Chaser Goodness. If a man in Dorset is producing numbers like this, God help “The Sexiest Man in Jamaica”. Lighting Head aka Glyn “Bigga” Bush has to be the freshest riddim operator in a long time. It’s the amalgam of blistering Latino riffs and off-beat dubwise reggae that earns this LP a place as one of the funkiest albums of the year. You know’ll the killer infectious single, “Me and Me Princess” even if you don’t own it (that includes me), and that, my friends, sets the standard here. This is quality of the highest order: just check “EVA”, a reggae version of the Jean Jaques Perrey classic. This man has first hand, in depth understanding of rhythm. Quality. Believe me. Crispin Dior The Wire Lightning Head is none other than Glyn 'Bigga' Bush, formerly one half of Rockers Hi Fi. Commissioned to produce a 'classic' 7", he came up with the hybrid dancehall sound of "Me and Me Princess". In the process, he unwittingly created the template for the album's fusion of Jamaican and Latin styles, with the emphasis on Brazil. Batucada rhythms and dub techniques, son montuno piano lines and funk riffs, reggae offbeats and loping basslines bed down together and do what's natural. An impressive debut.