Today's compilation:
100% Dynamite! Ska, Soul, Rocksteady & Funk in Jamaica 1998 / 2015 Reggae / Reggae-Soul / Reggae-Jazz / Funk / Rocksteady
Got a terrific batch of tunes for you all today, provided by top-quality UK label Soul Jazz Records, an outfit that's best known for re-releasing all kinds of crate-dug, dusty funk, soul, and jazz music from the 60s and 70s. Basically, when it comes to the super cool niche that specializes in plumbing the extensive and obscure depths of various musically rich bygone eras, Soul Jazz's slew of compilations are often regarded as being among the best.
And something else that Soul Jazz has specifically been afforded the opportunity to excel at is Jamaican music. In 1998, they were able to launch their acclaimed Dynamite! series, a collection of compilations that someone like Island Records founder Chris Blackwell has referred to as the "University of Reggae." National legend Coxsone Dodd, who ran one of the country's most renowned record labels and recording studios, Studio One, gave Soul Jazz access to their archives, and it's allowed them to put out a near-constant stream of Studio One material since the late 90s.
So, this here is the comp that happens to kick that whole relationship off. First released in 1998 as a set of 14 tracks, it was reissued again in 2015 with five more songs added. And it simply does not disappoint. Two things that you can always come to expect from 60s and 70s Jamaican music are tremendous instrumentals as well as covers of popular songs that are shaped, bent, and made to fit the country's own distinct musical aesthetic. And this compilation supplies that pairing in droves—though not exclusively—by jumping from songs like The Marvels' 1972 reggae rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Rock Steady," or Bunny Clarke's 1975 version of William DeVaughn's all-time soul classic, "Be Thankful for What You Got" (🎶Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin' the scene with a gangsta lean, gangsta Whitewalls🎶 ), to hypnotic instrumentals from the likes of Lennie Hibbert and his vibraphone-laced "Real Hot," and Jackie Mittoo's keyboard-and-organ-funk groove, "Stereo Freeze."
Now, I mentioned Chris Blackwell labeling this whole series as the "University of Reggae" before, but if you look at the tracklist here, this album doesn't really seem to represent your typical 101 class. There's no Marleys, no Wailers, and no Peter Tosh. I'd contend that most of these songs, while they're made by popular Jamaican artists—though not household names among the reggae-uninitiated—they don't tend to be among their most well-known hits. Some of these were released as A-sides on singles, but most of them appear to be non-singles and deep cuts off of different LPs.
So, for the most part, this isn't really one of those surface-level, already-done-dozens-of-times greatest Jamaican hits types of comps; nothing appears to be *especially* obscure, but most of these fantastic selections aren't what you'd expect to be on a reggae comp either. But then again, this whole strategy is what has gone on to make Soul Jazz Records such an exceptional label for three whole decades in the first place.
Either way, while I wouldn't consider this a Jamaican music starter pack, if you don't really know the first thing about it, this set will show you, to an extent, what it was capable of sounding like in two of its most impactful and formative decades, as it took cues from the US, with funk, R&B, soul, and jazz, and also concurrently developed its own unique sound through a succession of ska, rocksteady, and then eventually, reggae.
An amazing compilation of old school Jamaican fare, from a...dynamite...label whose output is always worth checking out. And to push this lame pun even further, I am totally...blown away...by this first installment in this long-running series. I admittedly don't have a sizeable collection of Jamaican comps, but this is definitely the second best one I've ever come across, and by far the most eclectic.
(The best one I've ever heard is the Shanachie label's The Power of the Trinity: Great Moments in Reggae Harmony, by the way. On both Spotify and YouTube.)
Highlights:
Toots & the Maytals - "Night and Day" The Marvels - "Rock Steady" The Upsetters - "Popcorn" Bunny Clarke - "Be Thankful" Tommy McCook - "Green Mango" Lennie Hibbert - "Real Hot" Johnny Osbourne - "We Need Love" Horace Andy - "My Soul" Jackie Mittoo - "Stereo Freeze" Cedric "Im" Brooks - "Give Rasta Glory" Dub Specialist - "Granny Scratch Scratch" Bunny Brown - "I Love the Way You Love" Phyllis Dillon - "Woman of the Ghetto" Lloyd Robinson - "Cuss Cuss" Sound Dimension - "Drum Song" Ken Boothe - "Is It Because I'm Black?"
