Studio One Soul [Import]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Soul Jazz
• ASIN: B00005BILT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,285 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #83 in Music > World Music > Reggae > Rocksteady

Track Listings

1. Express Yourself

2. Respect

3. Groove Me

4. Time Is Tight

5. Message from a Black Man

6. I'll Be Around

7. Still Water

8. Soulful Strut

9. Can't Get Enough

10. Don't Break Your Promise

11. Queen of the Minstrels

12. The First Cut Is the Deepest

13. How Strong

14. Set Me Free

15. Is It Because I'm Black

16. Deeper and Deeper

17. I Don't Want to Be Right

18. No One Can Stop Us

Editorial Reviews

London's Soul Jazz Records continued to make their bid in the reggae reissue market with the release of this 2001 compilation. Following the success of 100% Dynamite, and its subsequent volumes, came this collection from Coxsone Dodd's Studio One catalog. One of the big three producers, Dodd was among the first entrepreneurs to establish himself in the Jamaican recording business. He did so largely by covering popular R&B hits from the United States. Though subsequent efforts mutated into the island's own ska, rocksteady, and reggae, the sounds of Motown and Stax remained widely popular. Spanning reggae's first three eras, Studio One Soul features some of Dodd's finest acts versioning hits by the biggest names in U.S. soul. Following takes on "Express Yourself," "Respect," and "Time Is Tight" comes the first real gem: the Heptones' "Message from a Black Man." Along with Senior Soul's "Is It Because I'm Black," the song points the way to reggae's own version of African American pride: roots. It takes the collection a while to build up steam again. In the meantime, Jackie Mittoo makes his mark, turning out a solo on "I'll Be Around" that's more exciting than the Otis Gayle vocal, and Richard Ace oozes exquisitely restrained soul on "Can't Get Enough." The majority of the highlights are to be found on the second half. The Sound Dimension back the sublime vocals of the Chosen Few on "Don't Break Your Promise," Ken Boothe's extended mix of "Set Me Free" and the Senior Soul cut with deep reggae grooves: the new music granting the band proper space to display their skills. Though the earlier material fails to dig as deep, there's hardly a track here that won't bring a smile to your lips. ~ Nathan Bush, All Music Guide --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A small part of a large collection, but not for beginners, August 20, 2003

By 

Harper (SF, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Studio One Soul (Audio CD)

studio one's coxsone dodd produced some of the best reggae albums ever. this isn't one of them. there are some choice cuts on here (e.g., express yourself by leroy sibbles, no one can stop us by willie williams). there are some other nice tracks (e.g., groove me by leroy sibbles). there are a few weak tracks, where the production and performance sounds as if the song wasn't really intended as a major release. this is pretty much expected, as much of the classic studio one tracks have been picked up by heartbeat records.

key to note is that the tracks are all (or pretty much all) covers of motown or american soul hits. i'm not a real fan of reggae covers of motown or other genres as it usually just waters down the best of each genre - and this is pretty much the case here.

the album also comes with a truly excellent set of liner notes -more of a booklet - that gives a pretty nice explaination of the whole studio one thing as well as most of the songs/covers. great pictures. very, very well done.

if - like me - you're desperate to have every classic track mr. dodd produced and/or you're willing to shell out the price for the liner notes (they're really that good), then by all means plunge in and pick this up. but don't expect to want to listen to it straight through all that often.

if you're on anything resembling a budget and just want to get a solid set of great reggae records, however, look for the studio one reissues by heartbeat records - e.g., hit bound the revolutionary sound of channel one (which is still studio one) and the best of studio one volume one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soulful Strut!, August 9, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Studio One Soul (Audio CD)

From the rocking reworking of Charles Wright's "Express Yourself " to the warbling melacholy of Norma Frazier's version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest " this is soulful roots and reggae at it's very best. Some unexpected covers of classic soul, such as "Set Me Free " and "Message To A BLack Man", all with a warm jamaican flavour. A must for lost summer days lying in the back garden chillin'. All hail Clement "Sir Coxone" Dodd, and Souljazz records for bring it too us!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Sound Of Young Jamaica, December 23, 2004

By 

Laurence Upton (Wilts, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Studio One Soul (Audio CD)

Reggae wasn't only home grown. As this collection of Clement Dodd productions shows, the US had influence there, as it did pretty much everywhere. In the case of Jamaica, radio stations WNOE from New Orleans, WINZ in Florida and others were received loud and clear, and the black music in particular that they broadcast led to regular visits from artists of the stature of Curtis Mayfield and Aretha Franklin.
Studio One was modelled on the record labels that had their own crack studio house bands, labels and studios like Stax in Memphis, Motown in Detroit, Muscle Shoals in Alabama and Criteria in Florida, so it was natural that at Studio One versions of some of the most influential soul records would be reworked in a Jamaican idiom for playing on the powerful sound systems, sometimes with different titles and sometimes with different composer credits, too, and some of the very best are rounded up here.
And so we find studio band Sound Dimension's instrumental re-interpretations of Young-Holt Unlimited (Soulful Strut) and Booker T. (Time Is Tight) alongside the Jackie Mittoo's keyboard reading of Barry White's I'm Gonna Love You A Little More Baby (as Deeper And Deeper). Top singers like Leroy Sibbles transpose King Curtis (Groove Me), Charles Wright (Express Yourself) and the Temptations' political Message From A Black Man (with the Heptones) into the reggae idiom. Ken Boothe's Set Me Free is actually a gorgeously extended 12" mix of the Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On while Willie Williams, best known for Armagideon Time, covers the McFadden and Whitehead 1979 disco hit Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now as No One Can Stop Us, and the Impressions' Minstrel And Queen is revived by Cornell Campbell and the Eternals as Queen Of The Minstrels.
As American black music became more politicized, militantly and sexually, through the music and messages of Sly Stone, the Temptations, Jimi Hendrix, Millie Jackson (I Don't Want To Be Right) and others, so Jamaican culture reflected this change in its music. Other examples here include Norma Fraser's adoption of Aretha's version of Respect, and Senior Soul's cover of Syl Johnson's Is It Because I'm Black, though there is still plenty of room for innocent dance tunes, as first recorded by the Detroit Spinners, the Delfonics and others.
There is an illustrated booklet with an essay by the compiler Mark Ainley which is full of helpful facts, though it does fall short of giving composer credits or publication dates of the included recordings