Various – Soul Power ’68
Release Info
Various – Soul Power ’68
Label: Doctor Bird | Format: Dbl CD-DR | Street date: March 12, 2021 | Website label
Tracklist
Disc One
- The Silvertones – In The Midnight Hour
- Radcliffe Butler – Soul Power (My Last Word)
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Music Is My Occupation
- Lloyd Williams – Funky Beat
- The Conquerors – Lonely Street
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Work Your Soul
- The Melodians – Come On Little Girl
- Clive Bonnie & Doreen Shaffer – What Can I Do?
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Venus
- The Conquerors – I Fell In Love
- Lloyd Williams – Good Bye Baby
- Winston Wright & The Supersonics – Black Power
- Lloyd Tyrell – Keep On Going
- Joya Landis – I Love You True Aka So True
- The Yardbrooms – If You See Jane
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Uncle Sam
- The Gladiators – Live Wire
- Hopeton Lewis – She’s Gone
- Joya Landis – Let Me Know (Soul Version)
- The Silvertones – Slow And Easy
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – My Best Girl (Rhythm)
Disc Two
- The Sensations – Baby Love (Original Mix)
- The Melodians – Let’s Join Hands Together
- The Paragons – Joy In My Soul
- Joya Landis – When The Lights Are Low
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Bang Belly
- Joey & His Group – Soul Love
- Joya Landis – Ride Me Donkey
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Rocking Soul
- Hopeton Lewis & Sir Lord Comic – Black Power (Take 2)
- Joya Landis – Love Me All The Time
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Soul Style
- Hopeton Lewis – Live It Up
- Joya Landis – Let Me Know (Rock Steady Version)
- Phyllis Dillon – Humpty Dumpty
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Oily Oily
- Joya Landis – Your Love Is All Over Me
- The Termites – Breaking Up
- Ernest Ranglin & The Supersonics – Merry Mood Aka Ranglin On Bond Street
- Hopeton Lewis – There She Goes
- The Sensations – Darling Forgive Me
- Tommy McCook & The Supersonics – Angel Of The Morning (Rhythm) (Take 5)
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.
The Silvertones – In The Midnight Hour
The Gladiators – Live Wire
Hopeton Lewis – Live It Up
Thank you! Unreleased Tommy McCook instrumentals are my passion. I have on unlabled on the flip side of a 45 i bought at a used tecord store in Sav-la-mar in 1985. I am looking for some help identifying it. Can you give me any advice on who i could turn to for help ?
What are the matrix numbers in the run-out grooves of the record?