![]() ![]() The place is littered with history, everything from Ital Tonic and massive wood-cased speakers to tattered signed photos of Sugar Minott, Frankie Paul and Burning Spear and wrinkling autographed gems from Marley and Augustus all of whom recorded at the original Studio One. Inside the narrow Broad Street shop, white label dub plates and Joe Gibbs label 45s mingle with copies of albums from Tony Terry and Kim Fields (yeah, that one). But what I did find was closer to the original than you might imagine. I had been told, long in advance of this North Broad adventure, that Coxsone Dodd like so many of reggaes elders was a mystery man who moved through shadows like one of his bass lines. I took part in this Apocalypse Now-type adventure in search of the roots of reggae, told I would find Dodd himself. And Studio One is the place where Dodd took Jamaican music from ska and calypso in the late ∥0s beyond Harry Belafontes "Day-O" stretching the sonic boundaries to make reggae, dancehall, lovers rock and dub. Anyone with a love of reggae knows that Coxsone refers to Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, one of the most important figures in Jamaican music. The very name of the shop is steeped in history. Faded posters of Bob Marley welcome you to Coxsone Studio One Records and Tapes, the mecca for reggae music. Look around the long block and you see hundreds of tattered posters for the Million Family March and Mya clinging to burned out buildings. past Kingdom Hall of the Jehovahs Witnesses, past Joe Frasiers Gym and the Badlands. The spirit of legendary reggae producer Coxsone Dodd perseveres on North Broad.ĭrive up North Broad St. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. 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.ĢLP - Heavyweight double vinyl in a Gatefold sleeve (plus download code).Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. 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. Here The Heptones even feature with a cover of Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released. 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 and The Paragons, Carlton and The Shoes showing a particular fascination with the close harmonies of Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and other US Soul acts. 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. 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.
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