The second installment exploring the strong influence of American
soul on Jamaican
reggae in the 1960s and '70s, this wonderful set dips into the rich vaults of
Clement Dodd's famous
Studio One recording facility, and while it clearly shows the
soul roots of the tracks collected here, it also works independently as a marvelous sequence of
reggae gems even without that deeper angle. Included here are such stunners as
Ken Boothe's
"Thinking," based on the song by American
soul singer
Garnet Mimms,
Jacob Miller's
"Westbound Train," written by
Dennis Brown off the rhythm for
Al Green's
"Love and Happiness," and a pair of glorious instrumentals by
Jackie Mittoo,
"Jumpin' Jehosophat," a version of
Syl Johnson's
"Is It Because I'm Black," and
"Fancy Pants," which works off of
Marvin Gaye's
"What's Going On." Also obvious here is the huge impact
Curtis Mayfield and
the Impressions had on Jamaican
reggae artists as evidenced by
the Heptones' take on
Mayfield's
"Choice of Colours," and
Cornel Campbell's elegant transformation of another
Mayfield song,
"Ten to One." Again, this set works even without thinking about the song sources, and that unique, upside-down, and skewed sense of Jamaican rhythm makes each of these cover versions a thing unto itself, derived from but still somehow apart from the original American singles. This is how great music communicates and transforms each to each across all manner of political and cultural borders, and this ongoing relationship between Jamaican and American musicians is a fascinating dialogue to follow. ~ Steve Leggett
