Track Listing

1. Express Yourself - Sibbles, Leroy
2. Respect - Frazer, Norma
3. Groove Me - Sibbles, Leroy
4. Soulful Strut - Sound Dimension (1)
5. Queen Of The Minstrels - Eternals (4)
6. Message From A Blackman - Heptones
7. I'll Be Around - Gayle, Otis
8. Still Water - Jones, Jerry
9. Time Is Tight - Sound Dimension (1)
10. Can't Get Enough - Ace, Richard
11. Don't Break Your Promise - Chosen Few (1)
12. First Cut Is The Deepest - Frazer, Norma
13. How Strong - Parker, Ken
14. Set Me Free - Booth, Ken
15. Is It Because I'm Black - Senior Soul
16. Deeper And Deeper - Mittoo, Jackie
17. I Don't Want To Be Right - Ellis, Alton
18. No One Can Stop Us - Williams, Willie

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108855 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hot on the heels of Studio One Rockers comes Studio One Soul, another sensational compilation that this time spotlights the inescapable link between Jamaican reggae and US Soul. Since the late 1950s, which saw ska born out of American R&B, the Jamaican reggae fraternity has always had a strong affiliation towards US soul, and later on, funk. For instance, the late great Curtis Mayfield was a pivotal influence on a young Bob Marley. The profound impact of US soul on Studio One is perhaps best illustrated by the oodles of cover versions of well-known soul sides, many of them radically re-worked and re-interpreted, recorded at the studio. The musicianship dazzles throughout, the Studio One ensemble effortlessly matching Motown's Funk Brothers, Stax's Booker T & The MGs and Spector's Wrecking Crew. Indeed, such is the sheer jaw-dropping brilliance on display, that it's difficult to highlight favourites. But if pressed, Norma Fraser's reading of PP Arnold's "First Cut Is The Deepest" and Jerry Jones version of The Four Tops "Still Water (Love)" are worth the price of admission alone. In tribute to Hitsville USA, Studio One record sleeves proclaimed the legend "The sound of young Jamaica". Certainly, on the evidence provided here, Studio One, like Motown, boasts a back catalogue of truly timeless treasures. --Chris King

Customer Reviews

More Than Just Copies
These covers weren't just money spinning copies of established soul classics. In some cases they give new depth and meaning to the originals and all examples offer inspired arrangements. Covers are always difficult to judge against the originals, but the tracks on this collection almost all bring something new and welcome.
I found that the more recognisable covers such as Norma Fraser's version of the Aretha Franklin classic "Respect", are less insightful as others. Particularly good are tracks 10 and 13.
As with all Soul Jazz releases there's a good booklet covering the history of the genre included.
A well chosen selection of tracks make this enjoyable for reggae fans and eye opening for classic soul fans. Soul Jazz have clearly put a good deal of effort into this release.

Soul through a Jamaican filter
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 and WINZ in Florida 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 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

a hit and miss compilation
Studio One soul is an interesting concept but a risky one. Covering songs from another albeit related musical idiom ie soul to reggae gives 2 possibilities: either the cover is better than the original or not.
Sound Dimension, Jackie Mittoo, Norma Frazer, Eternals, Otis Gayle and Ken Boothe offer superb reggae interpretations that add to and surpass the original. The other tracks get lost in between to end up in a no man's land of unconvincing vocals and fusion music.