Studio One Rocksteady

Description

Soul Jazz Records' new journey into the mighty vaults of Clement Dodd's Studio One steps once more into the fertile musical environment of Jamaican music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, from the sweet harmony vocals of seminal 1960s Rocksteady right up to the nascent birth of Reggae and Roots music at the start of the 1970s. Sleevenotes to this album are by Steve Barrow, author of 'Rough Guide to Reggae' as well as Soul Jazz Records' own 'Reggae Soundsystem Cover Art' books. While Ska at the start of the 1960s had taken American Rhythm and Blues as its main influence, Rocksteady focused on the emergence of American Soul music - with Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, John Holt & The Paragons, Carlton & The Shoes showing a particular fascination with the close harmonies of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and other US Soul acts. Here The Heptones even feature with a cover of Bob Dylan's 'I Shall Be Released'. The influence of Soul music on Jamaican Rocksteady and Reggae is almost palpable, so much so that one wonders how much more successful singers like Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis, Slim Smith and John Holt would have been had they been born in Chicago, Detroit or Memphis. Artists such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson and Owen Gray defined the era - a slowed down beat as Jamaican political and social heat slowly increased when the 1960s progressed into the start of the 1970s - and the music evolved further from Rocksteady into Roots Reggae. Review: Excellent rocksteady and early reggae collection drawn from the foundation Studio One record label.... - This is the 2nd specific rocksteady based entry from Soul Jazz records in its venerable (started in 2001 !!!) series of compilations drawn from the vaults of the legendary foundation Studio One record label. First the downside; a couple of tracks have snuck in that have already been released on earlier Soul Jazz Studio One comps ("I'm Still In Love With You" by Alton Ellis and "Change Your Style" by The Paragons) which is a bit naughty in my opinion despite both of these being great, great tracks. Furthermore quite a few tracks are pretty well known and will already be owned by anyone with even the faintest interest in this genre (Delroy Wilson, Hortense Ellis, John Holt & The Bassies) though again the tracks by these artists are all stone classics and should be snapped up if you are lucky enough to be fresh to the many delights of the Studio One catalogue. That leaves the rest which comprises about half the compilation and I am pleased to report that there are many more than worthwhile lesser known tracks here. In fact there is nary a dud in the relatively obscure tracks and some real gems such as the Larry Marshall and Carlton & The Shoes tracks so despite the 50:50 split between the well known and the obscure being slightly too much in favour of the former, from my perspective, this is another excellent entry in this long series of comps and well worth picking up. Review: rockin steady and reggae - despite the title we are given several reggae songs.That's not a bad thing though and the selection is faultless,thank you Soul Jazz Records.