Various – Soul Power ’68

Release Info

Various – Soul Power ’68

Label:  Doctor Bird | Format: Dbl CD-DR | Street date: March 12, 2021 | Website label

US Soul

Through the 1960s, as US soul began increasingly to reflect the social concerns and political aspirations of the black working class, the same phenomenon began to register in Jamaican music. By the end of the 1960s, Jamaica could boast the presence of several singers who equaled in emotional intensity their US contemporaries, among them singers like Ken Boothe, Alton Ellis, John Holt, Slim Smith, Pat Kelly, and Delroy Wilson as well as vocal groups such as The Sensations, The Uniques, The Melodians, The Silvertones, and The Techniques.

Duke Reid

After serving some ten years in Kingston’s police constabulary, Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid and his wife Dorothy opened the Treasure Isle liquor store. He made his way into the music industry first as a sound system owner, promoter, and disc jockey in 1953. He began producing recordings in the late 1950s, first in studios owned by others and then in his own studio above the store. Together with producers like Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster, and Leslie Kong, Duke Reid dominated the Jamaican music scene of the 1960s, specialising in ska and rocksteady. The material that he issued on his Treasure Isle label exemplified the cool and elegant feel of the rocksteady era. At his heydays, the producer employed then popular artists such as Alton Ellis, Phyllis Dillon, Dobby Dobson, Hopeton Lewis, and a roll call of outstanding vocal groups like for example The Paragons, The Techniques, The Jamaicans, The Silvertones, and The Melodians, who were backed by Duke Reid’s in-house studio band Tommy McCook and the Supersonics.

Unreleased Album

Over the past few decades, the Treasure Isle catalogue has been mercilessly plundered. Countless classic recordings put out on Duke Reid’s much-celebrated record label have been reissued, artist albums as well as compilation sets, so one might think that all Duke Reid produced material featured on this Soul Power ’68 set has already been released before. However, that ain’t the case! The first dozen tracks are lifted directly from a recently discovered Trojan Records tape of a previously unreleased compilation album, Soul Power, while the remainder of the material consists of hits, rarities, previously unissued tunes, and tracks new to cd.

Interpretations

As already pointed out, US soul artists and their songs strongly inspired many Jamaican artists, and thus seeing interpretations of soul tunes in the rocksteady era wasn’t really surprising. The tracks featured on Soul Power ’68 can be ranked amongst the best works from the legacy of Duke Reid. It’s a delight and pure fun to listen to this splendid collection of tunes with mostly the superb Tommy McCook and the Supersonics providing backdrops that still caress the eardrums more than 50 years after they were recorded at 33 Bond Street in Kingston, Jamaica. And it’s really good that this set includes no less than 10 instrumentals by this band plus two with Winston Wright and Ernest Ranglin respectively, which could have made up a worthwhile album of their own. Also, well-represented is Joya Landis (US-born Wanda Jean Vann) with 7 tracks in the soul vein. During her three-month stay in Jamaica, she recorded a run of classics for Duke Reid. A number of tunes featured here were never released in the UK, and in the case of the rocksteady version of Let Me Know it’s known that it has never been released anywhere. Besides highly enjoyable tunes by vocalists such as Hopeton Lewis, Lloyd Tyrell aka Lloyd Charmers, and Phyllis Dillon, the listener is also entertained by goodies from vocal groups like The Silvertones, The Sensations, The Paragons, and The Termites. In all, this is a wonderful trip down memory lane for the older reggae fan.