Various - Studio One Soul 2 2LP (Soul Jazz Records presents)

New one-off pressing coloured vinyl 18th anniversary edition of the long-out-of-print Studio One Soul 2, the long-awaited second volume of one of the largest selling Soul Jazz Records’ Studio One collections.

Studio One Soul 2 takes us deep into Jamaica’s long-standing fascination with American Soul and Funk music.

Featuring a host of seminal Reggae artists who all first established their careers at Studio One before finding worldwide success. Featured artists include Horace Andy, The Heptones, Cornell Campbell, Ken Boothe, Jackie Mittoo, Jacob Miller and many more A-Class Studio One legends interpreting both classic and little-known American Soul and Funk tunes by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, The Five Stairsteps, Marvin Gaye, The Stylistics, Lee Dorsey, Al Green, Syl Johnson and more.

Curtis Mayfield is without a doubt the main soul influence for many reggae groups in the 1960s and 70s. Cornell Campbell’s ‘Ten to One’ featured here is a stunning recut of the original Studio One single by The Mad Lads who first covered this Curtis-penned hit for the Impressions. Another great Curtis Mayfield production, The Five Stairsteps and Cubie’s ‘Don’t Change’, is interpreted by Studio One soul man Winston Francis. Similarly, Devon Russell’s superb ‘Make Me Believe in You’ is, if anything, superior to Curtis Mayfield’s ground-breaking original.

While American Soul and Funk remain a constant source of inspiration on this album, classic DJs such as Prince Jazzbo and Little Joe also used these rhythms to ride vocal toasts over to serious effect.

This selection features a mixture of classics, super-rare and unreleased tracks from Studio One all lovingly digitally re-mastered for this release. The vinyl edition also comes on super-loud double vinyl housed in gatefold sleeve and with download code. The new CD edition comes as digipack plus booklet. Another essential Studio One release.

REVIEWS

“A Fine Selection of Studio One reggae” Hardwax

"90% of the reggae music I own is contained on a handful of compilation albums from the phenomenal Soul Jazz Records stable. After eulogizing Morgan Khan’s Street Sounds series, I would have to add that Soul Jazz have done what Khan did for electro for reggae, by doing the hard work for the listener and releasing one quality compilation after another, all packed with the finest reggae songs around." White Noise

"Studio One was modelled on the record labels that had their own crack studio house bands; labels and studios like Stax in Memphis, Motown in Detroit, Muscle Shoals in Alabama and Criteria in Florida, so it was natural that at Studio One versions of some of the most influential soul records would be reworked in a Jamaican idiom for playing on powerful sound systems" Sounds Stage