reviews
Mojo Rocksteady Beat
Rating: 9.0 | 0 User Reviews | Send to Friend
By Rick Sieber
As the late-1960s house band for Coxsone Dodd's pioneering Studio One label, the Sound Dimension provided inventive musical backing for some of Jamaica's biggest names (Alton Ellis, the Heptones) during rocksteady's rapid transition into reggae. Yet, like their stateside soul contemporaries Booker T & the MGs, the group occasionally took center stage with their own instrumental recordings, the cream of which are gathered on Mojo Rocksteady Beat (a companion piece to the 2006 compilation Jamaica Soul Shake). These 18 tracks are some of the funkiest, grooviest, and downright trippiest pre-reggae music you are likely to hear -- check out the flute-happy groove “Jamaica Underground” or the wacked-out gallop of “Great Mu Ga Ru Ga.” The rotating collective of ace musicians (including greats such as Jackie Mittoo & Ernest Ranglin) lays down tight, bouncy grooves beneath melodic keyboard snippets and jazzy solos, the latter often supplied by Vin Gordon’s velvety trombone. The big hit here is “Real Rock” -- its signature “riddim” has been appropriated wholesale by everyone from Augustus Pablo, to the Clash, to 311 -- but most of these tracks will be new to all but the most seasoned fans of Jamaican music. Don’t let the relative obscurity deter you. This is a first rate collection that -- despite frustratingly skimpy liner notes -- lovingly rescues a wonderful band from anonymity. (Soul Jazz Records)
0 User Reviews
Add A Review
