Coxsone/Studio One

"Coxsone - V/A – Dance All Style - Coxsone. Not much you could tell Coxsone about Dancehall - at one time his sound system was so popular, his three sets going all at the same time. Over the years he has recorded most of all the big name DJ’s. This album gathers up some of them. Jim Brown is new or was new to Studio One when he popped up in the early eighties. King Stitch is Jah Stitch and is also on the set. Likewise Lone Ranger and Prince Jazzbo. More tunes from the likes of Prince Garchie would have been nice."

"Coxsone - V/A - History Of Ska Vol 1 - Studio One

Coxsone would often apply a juke box mentality towards his albums. The randomness of it was such, that even Soul Jazz would twice think about doing it. The best example here is The Blues Blasters ‘Beeston Street Riff’… wtf. Aside from this you hear great works like Lord Creator’s ‘Golden Love’, Clancy Eccles’s ‘Glory Hallelujah’ Doreen and Jackie’s ‘Welcome You Back Home’, Andy & Joey’s ‘you’re Wondering Now’, all Ska classics. Add to that great works from The Skatalites, The Wailers and Don Drummond."

"Coxsone -V/A - History Of Ska Vol 2 - Studio One

Any history of Ska would have to include Prince Buster and here he is, as producer of the Folkes Brothers ‘Oh Carolina’ and as a singer of great songs like ‘Time Longer Than Rope’ - but this is the Studio One label!!!

Perhaps Coxsone at the time was thinking in terms of the History of Ska - rather than the Studio One label. Other classics here produced by Coxsone include Clancy Eccles’s ‘River Jordan’ and ‘Freedom’ and The Maytals’s ‘Pain In My Belly’. A true history lesson from the person who made it."

"Coxsone -V/A - Reggae Time - Coxsone Coxsone moved into the Reggae era in a big way once he realised that the music had gone international with the likes of Desmond Dekker, The Pioneers, and Jimmy Cliff. All Beverley’s artists. His artists - John Holt, The Heptones, Bob Andy, to name just a few here, were just as popular with the reggae audience, but things were moving fast. In the end things moved so fast that within a few years Reggae was back where it was. It made little difference to Coxsone. He just kept on putting out great music."

"Coxsone/Studio One -=V/A - Full Up - Best Of Studio One - Heartbeat

Trying to put together a best of Studio One is a massive contradiction. With so much great music to choose from what method do you use? You could go for the big hits, but then that would be of little interest to the Reggae market, as most of the people would have them. Instead it’s better to go for a collection that shows as many styles of Studio One as possible. Here the Ska era is represented by a rare duo between Delroy Wilson and Slim Smith - singing a song called ’Look Who’s Back Again’ The Bassies give us Rock Steady. And so on. A great album. "

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Coxsone - V/A - Collectors Edition - From The Vaults Of Studio One - Heartbeat

When Heartbeat entered the picture, they not only improved the selection process on the Various Artists sets, they also improved the sound. All the music here sounds like it was taken from tape. The Lyrics featuring Fred Locks on lead vocal open up the LP with ‘Music Like Dirt’ - Bob Andy made the rhythm more famous though. Good to hear Nora Dean’s ‘Mojo Girl’. It’s the kind of lyrics that Nora is known for - but with a twist.

What a shame she never got a chance to make an album along these lines - more militant than slack. Other favourites include Carey Johnson’s ’Correction Train’. "

"Coxsone - V/A - Ska Bonanza Vol 1 - Studio One/Heartbeat

The big difference between the reissue programs of Heartbeat and Soul Jazz is the sound quality. On the more modern stuff it’s not much of a difference, but on the early Shuffle Beat and Ska tunes you just know that a lot of work has gone into getting them to sound good. Listen out for Ken Boothe’s and Stranger Cole’s ‘Artibella’, it sounds different to the one that I know, but this one has the clarity. The Checkmates’s ‘Turn Me On’ is a fantastic shuffle beat tune worth the price of the CD alone."

"Coxsone - V/A - Ska Bonanza Vol 2 - Studio One/Heartbeat

From massive hits like The Wailers’s ‘Simmer Down’ and Don Drummond’s ‘Man In The Street’, The Gaylads’s ‘Stop Making Love’ and Roland Alphonso’s ‘20-75’, this is almost a Ska greatest hits!!! Yet to concentrate on such tunes would be wrong. When you listen and learn with the likes of Clue J and his Blues Busters’s ‘Salt Lane Shuffle’ or Aubrey Adams & Rico’s ‘Stew Peas and Cornflakes’. This is shuffle beat at its best. It would be nice if someone just compiled such an album!!!"

"Coxsone - V/A - Studio One DJ's - Soul Jazz Soul Jazz certainly like to give value for money on their CD releases, apart from 16 excellent tracks from a wild mix of well- known DJ's and lesser knowns, you also get some video from the forthcoming Studio One DVD, which should be really good. The CD starts with Count Machuki, who really needs a CD all to himself, along with Charlie Ace who's also present with one of his many hits 'Father And Dreadlocks'. Big name DJ's like Dennis Alcapone come forward with 'Power Version'. Lone Ranger steps forward with 'The Answer’ and 'The Big Match'. Also present is Briggy, Far I, Dillinger, Jazzbo and Big Joe. Plus other great DJ's like Jah Buzz, Jah Jesco, Jah Scotchie, Prince Francis. All these DJ's made Reggae music great, it’s good to see them all on one CD. Hopefully someone is taking care of their intellectual rights as well. Man to Man is so unjust. A true."

"Coxsone - V/A - Studio One Roots - Soul Jazz Soul Jazz have certainly made a stamp on Reggae music over the last year or so. Their ‘Dynamite’ series takes a lot of understanding, whoever is buying those compilations? And then they go and hook up with Coxsone. This set has been waiting to happen for a long time. Coxsone should have done it, Heartbeat could have done it. What inspired Soul Jazz to do it would be interesting to know. 16 tracks all in a Roots an’ Culture style. Most of them should be familiar to fans of the label. The opening track is something new to me. 'Meditation' from The Cyclones with Count Ossie. It’s an incredible tune - nyahbingi drumming meets the Reggae rhythm around 1969. Leroy Wallace, L. Crosdale and Linton Cooper also make this a set to have."

"Coxsone -V/A - Various Artists - Studio One Scorcher - Soul Jazz

Well the DVD is still not out, but this will do until that hits the streets. An excellent selection of Studio One instrumentals starting in the Ska era and going into the Dancehall Era. The Skatalites, Tommy McCook, Jackie Mittoo, Karl Bryan, Lester Sterling, Sugar Belly, The Soul Bros, Vin Gordon, Pablove Black, Liberatioin Group and the Soul Defenders are all present. Reggae music was built on instrumentals, and yet even today the instrumental albums are not that popular. It doesn't really make much sense, never has.

But with sets like this out and about perhaps more people will start to appreciate instrumentals, version and dub a little bit more. "

"Coxsone - V/A - Studio One Showcase Volume 1 – Studio One/Heartbeat

The Heartbeat label’s approach to the Studio One label has been very respectful, in fact it’s been too respectful for its own good. Studio One 12"" discomixes were highly sought after and very hard to get when Coxsone issued them. This is in fact a straight reissue of one of his showcase albums plus 3 bonus tracks. The 10 tracks here are fantastic coming from the likes of the Heptones, Alton Ellis, Ernest Wilson, Cornell Campbell, Johnny Osbourne and The Tonettes"

"Coxsone - V/A - Studio One Women - Soul Jazz

Women in Reggae music have had a rough deal overall. The Studio One label could have solved a lot of the problems with its large teams of singer/ songwriters and musicians. But something went wrong, there are no really great Reggae albums on Studio One from women singers. To this day the only real concept albums that I know of from women singers is the Sharon Forrester album recorded in the UK for Ashanti back in 1974 and Nadine Sutherland's set for Fatis from about 1994. This set is all about singles - and there are some good ones. The late Jennifer Lara's 'Consider Me' , Denise Darlington’s 'War No Right', Claudette McLean's 'Give Love Another Try' and Marcia Griffiths’s 'Tell Me Now'. A nice CD.