Captain Ganja and the Space Patrol is one of the most singular dub albums that barely saw the light of day. A conscious effort to create a new breed of dub centred around the cosmic synths and keys of Paul Thompson. Making use of an early Roland sampler, Tradition broke away from the standard drum / bass workouts that ruled the day. With the Captain, dub becomes an atmosphere, a feeling, not a formula – littered with baby’s cries, tribal chants, radiophonic noodlings and library soundtracks for space-age bachelor pads.
Originally issued by Venture Records in 1980, this small run was easily lost beneath the weight of their huge vocal LPs for RCA and everlasting lovers-tinged tracks like ‘Movin On’, ‘Breezin’ and ‘Summertime’. The experimental strains in one of their early 45s led the BBC to approach them about contributing to the Dr. Who soundtrack, Captial Radio did likewise for the Hulabaloo theme. Neither saw fruition and this facet of the band’s sound is easily forgotten by die-hard fans.