American soul music was one of the formative influences on the development of ska in 1960s Jamaica, and since ska eventually slowed down and turned into rocksteady, which then slowed and thickened even further into reggae, it can be argued that soul music is one of the stylistic pillars of reggae for that reason. But, in fact, American soul continued to inform Jamaican reggae even as both styles were developing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as this fascinating compilation makes clear. Bands like Toots & the Maytals were deeply influenced by James Brown (check out "Funky Kingston" and "Funky Funky," which open and close this album, respectively), and reggae versions of American funk and soul hits were very common. The Chosen Few covered both "Funky Stuff" (as "Reggae Stuff") and "Do Your Thing"; Lloyd Charmers even did a reggae version of "Shaft." Not all of these versions were entirely successful, of course -- that cover of "Shaft" is hilarious, but probably not intentionally so -- but even the most ill-advised covers are lots of fun, and the best ones, such as the Pioneers' darkly brilliant version of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," bring new insight to songs that were classics to begin with.
Review by Rick Anderson
1. Funky Kingston - Toots & The Maytals
2. Soul Revival - Zap Pow
3. Sister Big Stuff - Tomorrow's Children
4. Reggae Stuff - The Chosen Few
5. Look A Pye Pye - Lloyd Charmers & The Hippy Boys
6. Splendour Splash - The Jay Boys
7. Na Na, Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) - The Pioneers
8. Is It Because I'm Black? - Ken Boothe
9. Woman Of The Ghetto - Phyllis Dillon
10. Jungle Lion - Lee Perry & The Upsetters
11. Ball Of Confusion - A Darker Shade Of Black
12. Cloud Nine - Carl Dawkins & The Wailers
13. Papa Was A Rolling Stone - The Pioneers
14. War - A Darker Shade Of Black
15. Stop The War - Lloyd Charmers
16. Soul Almighty - Bob Marley
17. Shaft - Lloyd Charmers
18. Funky Beat - Lloyd Williams
19. Do Your Thing - Dave Barker
20. Funky Funky - Toots & The Maytals
PS. Sorry, but I just noticed that the tags are all messed up on this upload. There's no artwork, the name and artist are reversed, and everything is in lowercase. You'll have to fix this on your own - sorry!
Funky Kingston: Reggae Dance Floor Grooves 1968-1974
2 comments:
I love this album! Its like there's a party in my ipod and everyone's invited!
cool cool very cool!!!!!!!!!!
ta!!!!!!!!!
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