Herald rating: * * *
(Soul Jazz/Chant)
Review: Graham Reid
Some studios are as famous as the artists who record in them. Think Abbey Rd and New York's Electric Ladyland, for example. To reggae buffs, Coxsone Dodd's Studio One in Jamaica is the same, a hit factory with a distinctive sound out of which came Jackie Mitoo, Horace Andy, the Skatalites and Marcia Griffiths.
However this 15-track compilation — with an excellent booklet which is a Q&A with Dodd — picks up an odd cross-section of artists to illustrate Dodds' genius. First, there are the well-known, including Andy's classic Skylarking, Johnny Osborne's Truth and Rights, Prince Jazzbo's Crabwalking. Next there is a track by someone who has become more famous in the pasty five years than he ever was — jazz-reggae guitarist Ernest Ranglin with Surfin. Then the willfully obscure in the lounge disco-reggae of Lennie Hibbert which sits uneasily on the same album as Michigan and Smiley's early ska-toasting and dub on Eye of Danger.
No matter maybe because it all sounds special and the tight'n'tidy three minutes-plus songs pass effortlessly over the ear.
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