Studio Supreme
Various Artists
The Best Of Studio One, Full Up: More Hits From Studio One, Downbeat The Ruler: Killer Instrumentals
(Heartbeat/1st Studio)
String of topnotch compilations from reggae’s ground zero.
While Bob Marley remains the international icon for reggae, back home in Jamaica, Clement “Coxsone” Dodd and his Studio One are responsible for discovering and recording 99 percent of essential Jamaican reggae artists. Marley, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, John Holt, Slim Smith . . . yikes. The focus of these reissued Heartbeat compilations — originally issued in the ’80s — is on pre-Marley rocksteady and roots and a lot of songs that reveal Dodd to be a tropical Berry Gordy. Each edition has added tracks to the original releases, and all of them were remastered directly from the source tapes, making these essential items for any collection purporting to take pop music seriously.
Full Up: 8
Downbeat: 10
— Steve Forstneger
