Studio One Scorcher Instrumentals Various

Soul Jazz's "Studio One Scorcher" is one of the finest offerings of classic Jamaican instrumentals ever collected. In fact, in the context of "various artist" sets, "Scorcher" exists in the rarified atmosphere shared only by the Heartbeat label's magnificent "Downbeat The Ruler," also a collection of Studio One instrumentals. The selections here are truly phenomenal; glorious skanking grooves culled from the Studio One era of ska, rocksteady, and early reggae in the mid-to-late sixties and early seventies. The brass-laden music encompasses the aforementioned styles and more, liberally incorporating jazz, funk and soul into the mix, as well as touches of world musics from Latin to middle eastern. Funky bass and roiling hand-percussion abound. The range of textures, colors, moods and tempos here is wonderfully eclectic. Alongside righteously skanking rave-ups such as "Coconut Rock," and "Bugaloo," we are treated to moody, minor-chord masterpieces such the spooky "Jericho Skank" the mysterious "Money Generator," and the profoundly evocative "Black Up." "Mun-Dun-Gu" is the very definition of soul-funk, with wicked sax skanking over a grooving sea of hand percussion and funky bass. "Namibia" features virtuoso horn statements over an urgent, pounding double-time rhythm. There are two interesting tracks here where old Skatalites tunes were extended by the insertion of extra material recorded a couple of years LATER, and placed in strategically chosen locations. Tunes such as "Red Blood" couple supremely laid-back horns with shifting, dancing beats. The driving "Last Call," deftly incorporates subtle dub mixing techniques whilst remaining firmly organic and funky. Of course the musicians represented form a virtual roll-call of Jamaican greats, including Jackie Mittoo, Roland Alphonso, Tommy McCook, Lester Sterling, Leroy "Horse Mouth" Wallace, Karl Bryan, Pablove Black, Vin Gordon, Don Drummond, Cedric Brooks, Count Ossie, Ernest Ranglin, and many, many others.Sound wise "Scorcher" is very good, though not always perfect, especially in comparison with Heartbeat's miraculously clear "Downbeat The Ruler" set. Nonetheless "Scorcher" is a remarkably high quality release, and a deeply edifying listen. Sleeve notes are very good, with track by track info that only lets us down as far as recording years and session musician names. The CD itself is nicely presented with a standard jewel box inside of a cardboard slipcase.There is soul transforming magic in these sounds that any music lover MUST HEAR. What confluence of forces descended upon this little island (just the size of Connecticut!) during these years to produce art of such power and beauty? We may never be able to fully explain HOW Jamaican music exploded with such glory during this time, but with superlative releases such as "Scorcher," we will never forget that it did, and how truly spectacular it was.If you like "Studio One Scorcher," you'll definitely want to check out it's follow up "Studio One Scorcher vol. 2," as well as these other scorching selections:*Downbeat The Ruler - Studio One Killers (Heartbeat)*Man From Wareika - Rico Rodruigez (Blue Note/Island)*Last Train To Skaville - Jackie Mittoo/Soul Brothers (Studio One/Soul jazz)*The Keyboard King At Studio One - Jackie Mittoo (Universal/Studio One/Soul Jazz)*Alpha Boys' School - Various (Trojan)*Trojan Instrumentals - box set (Trojan)

As the other reviewers have already so accurately noted, the music on this single CD qualifies as instrumental nirvana, at least as far as Jamaican music goes. Reggae, Ska, and Rock Steady bliss!The liner notes say: "The nineteen instrumentals featured here are all spellblindingly as near perfect creations as it's possible to get, but there's always another nine hundred and nineteen choice cuts still in the musical vaults of Studio One that would have done just as well."If that's the case, bring 'em on! I can certainly handle a few hundred more songs as good as these! If nothing else, though, there is always Volume 2 of this series to discover and enjoy. No need to pick favorite tracks, it's all uniformly excellent.The CD comes with a 16-page booklet that has capsule summaries of each track. Disappointingly, however, there are no song times or original recording dates for these songs. That would have been nice information to have, but the music is the barometer that counts and these songs are like the title implies; scorching examples of Studio One brilliance!

If you are looking for something old and funky, here is one from Studio one.I am into reggae and ska and this album was a relaly good way for me to find more musicians to get into.Sometimes you buy a compilation album and there is an artist on there that you never heard of and you just dig them!This happened to me with this album and several artists,I ended up buying both the scorcher albums and many other albums from these compilations.stoked.

How on earth, that at the writing of this review, there existed only two reviews (and positive ones, rightly so) of this gem of a cd, (released since 2002), is beyond me ! Is it that people do not have the ability to appreciate good music, or are they selfish, and thereby unwilling to expose this 'musical treasure' to the world, by way of reviews !As one who appreciates good music, spanning from Early, The Baroque and Classical periods onwards, I do most highly recommend this compilation, to any true lover of Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae music.It certainly was a thrill discovering this cd, (many thanks to the previous reviewers), especially at a period in history when music seems to have lost all the emotional evocative diversity (sweetness) that it once had !Truly a blessing to have this music made available again; a joy for old timers, and a rude awakening for the uninitiated, as to what good music was, and IS all about ! Most highly recommended !!

great instrumentals from the legendary studio one studio; showcasing a variety of bands and styles (ska, rocksteady, jazz, soul, roots, dub). Most of the tracks that appear here are not available elsewhere. Standout tracks: Coconut Rock; Shockers Rock (a compelling 12" mix of a stomping ska tune, based on Roland Alphonso's "Cleopatra"); Ringo Rock (which is like a slowed down ska tune); Jericho Skank mysterious sounding rocksteady; Money Generator - nice saxophone; "Heavenless" again a hypnotic 12" mix of the timeless rhythm; Sidewalk Doctor is an extended organ cut of the "Woman of the Ghetto" rhythm; "Last Call" is Studio One's answer to the rockers sound of Channel One and "Black Up" a jazzy duel between Karl Bryan's saxophone and Jackie Mittoo's keyboard set to the background of nyabinghi drumming by Count Ossie. Another recommended soul jazz release is "studio one discomixes".

Finally and thanks to Soul Jazz a superb compilation of Studio One instrumentals is available.As the liner notes state these tracks were recorded with unfettered creativity given precedence over commercial considerations. Stretching from ska to rocksteady and reggae the emphasis is on serious playing by Jamaica's best musicians. Standout tracks are the burru drums of Count Ossie on 'Black up', the shocking ska and organ solo in 'Shockers rock', the classic rhythms of 'Heavenless' and 'Heavy rock' and Jackie Mittoo's incredible version of 'Sidewalk doctor'. This fifth Studio One compilation by Soul Jazz offers a rewarding listening pleasure to the discerning reggae fan.

I give this wonderful collection of early reggae instrumentals five stars unreservedly. Since buying it from Amazon a couple of weeks ago, I've been of the opinion that it's one of the best reggae cds I have and I have quite a lot, most of which are seventies dub.

Good stuff,some tracks could be better but overall good album

Great music

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