“I love Wobble!” Bellowed Martin Atkins, (renowned drummer for Ministry, Pigface, Killing Joke and more) when he heard I was about to do an ongoing series of conversations with the legendary bass man. Martin’s sentiment has to be universal because the mere mention of the name Jah Wobble and every music aficionado’s face lights up. Wobble’s career stretches back to the musical Middle Ages when British Punk was just a glimmer in a Svengali’s eye, (née McLaren). John Joseph Wardle, known by the stage name, Jah Wobble 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 then and up until the present day, John has been involved in numerous projects and his collaborations read like a who’s who of almost every genre of noted musicians. Along the way, Wardle despite being a lovable geezer, he has managed to run up a remarkable list of confrontations and scrapes which he unabashedly recounts in his autobiography, Memoirs Of A Geezer,  published in 2009. In the very first moments of our initial conversation, John Wardle made it clear he had a lot to say and was enjoying how the chat was developing. He suggested we record an ongoing series of conversations, so without delving into more of the man’s prodigious career, we are going to proceed with as many conversations as it takes to bring you a complete understanding of who John Wardle – Jah Wobble is. This is Part One of An Ongoing Conversation with Jah Wobble.

As you will hear during the conversation, John is a man well-versed in musical knowledge, his love of so many genres is reflected in the music selected for this volume.

1. Jah Wobble – Invaders Of The Heart (Exotic Decadent Disco Mix)

2. Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown

3. Arvo Pärt – Für Alina for Piano Solo. Performed by Jürgen Kruse

4. Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell – Alam Dub

LEM Vol 298