The Is Jah Wobble

Introduction

Apparently, Jah Wobble's stage name came because John Lydon could not pronounce the name John Wardle properly and slurred it into becoming Jah Wobble. I loved his dub-based bass playing with Public Image but then when he left he looks to have tackled every music genre you can think of and a lot that you can't think of.

John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he left the band after two albums.

Following his departure from PiL, he developed a solo career. In 2012, he reunited with fellow PiL guitarist Keith Levene for Metal Box in Dub and the album Yin & Yang. Since 2013, he has been one of the featured pundits on Sunday morning's The Virtual Jukebox segment of BBC Radio 5 Live's Up All Night with Dotun Adebayo. His autobiography, Memoirs of a Geezer, was published in 2009.

Jah Wobble's musical out is eclectic, to say the least. I saw him once in Newcastle and he was very engaging with the audience so without further delay we will sample a few tiny slices from his back catalogue.

"Public Image" by Public Image Limited from "First Edition"

My introduction to Jah Wobble's wonderful basslines. Of this he says.

"Indeed the first bassline that I ever presented to John and Keith It had been the first song that we had worked on in the rehearsals. It's the open E string with an interval to the B which I always really like, that was the first ever proper bassline I wrote. I made that up at home and took it into the studio and we finished it off there."

"Tyger, Tyger" from "The Inspiration of William Blake"

This is an amazing percussive take on a favourite William Blake poem of mine which stunned me when I first read it, just the first two lines:

"Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright

In The Forest Of The Night"

Those lines paint so many amazing pictures in my mind and Jah Wobble saw that and brought it to life with this song.

"Mount Zion" from "Rising Above Bedlam"

Much of Jah Wobble's music is beautifully spiritual touching on many faiths and this one touched me a lot, but I found it was not available on Youtube so I put my own slideshow up. I do that if I find that no one else has got there before me.

"Becoming More Like God" from "Take Me to God"

With the Invaders of the Heart and featuring Anneli Drecker (Bel Canto), this is absolutely beautiful although some of the lyrics are a bit contrived, but when the chorus kicks in you are taken to a state close to heavenly.

"The Sun Does Does Rise" from "Take Me To God"

This features the sadly missed Dolores O´Riordan the singer with the Cranberries who we lost in 2018. This is absolutely beautiful. I just seem to be concentrating on Jah Wobble's beautiful moments. he does have a lot of those.

"Visions of You" from "Rising Above Bedlam"

This beautiful gem features Sinéad O'Connor with a stunning hypnotic bassline which once heard will be ingrained in your mind forever, even when you think it has disappeared from your life.

"Om Naman Shiva" from "Musica Zen"

This one is with The Chinese Dub Orchestra and is another slice of heavenly sound. I first heard this performed by Steve Hillage, but this is a total reimagining and is a great way to close off this short but in my opinion brilliant beautiful playlist.