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Album Review

Let's Do Rocksteady: The Story of Rocksteady 1966-68, Trojan Records, BMG, 2002.

Rating 9/10

Jamaican music never ceases to astonish me. Over the past 4 decades Jamaican music has time and again demonstrated it's astonishing capacity for reinvention.

Let's Do Rocksteady is a 2 CD compilation of an important stylistic shift in Jamaican music. For the first 5 years of the 1960's, Ska dominated the island's booming music scene. Ska's sound is rooted in American R&B and Jazz and it's upbeat rhythm captured much of the spirit of optimism that initially followed the island's independence from British rule in August 1962. As the decade advanced this mood of optimism began to sour. The poor soon found that they were no better off than they had been under colonial system. By the middle of the decade the uptempo sound of Ska started to seem out of step with the reality of the times.

Ska's full tilt tempo also demanded a great deal of physical energy and agility to fully master it's complex dance steps. As a result, it became quite common around midnight for deejay's to slow down the pace with R&B or more mellow Ska tunes in order for the dancers to take a rest and groove in a more relaxed fashion. Furthermore, the arrival of the Fender electric bass guitar (in the mid-'60s) allowed the development of more fluid and syncopated bass lines and resulted in a far greater emphasis on the drum and bass. The new relaxed beat, with it's prominent bass lines had a much cooler, more youthful sound than Ska and found immediate favour with the ghetto youth. Although it only blossomed briefly between the spring of 1966 and the summer of 1968, it provided what has proved to be an important influence on every subsequent variation of the raggae rhythm.

As a bass player I can say that this is a fun record, not only to listen to, but to also play along with. The basslines walk and rumble and most importantly, groove. Free from the restrictions imposed by Ska's driving beat, musicians also now had a far greater freedom to experiment, and the player who above all other's shaped the sound of Rocksteady was Trinidadian guitarist, Lyn Taitt, whose inventive arrangements and graceful guitar lines can be heard here on the track, Napoleon Solo.

Rocksteady's smaller outfits consisted of drums, bass, guitar and keyboards augmented by an optional 3 or 4 piece brass section. This made recording a far more economic proposition for the disenfranchized youth, and placed a greater emphasis on vocals. Rocksteady was primarily a vocal music and if you're into R&B vocal stylings, you'll love the lush 3-part harmonies of this era.

Lyrically, you're not gonna find much here. Most of the poetry is of the bitter sweet love variety. However, if you are sonically moved by this music I suggest you look out for early Rocksteady - as it was first championed by the rudeboys - the disaffected youth of Western Kingston's shanty towns. Fueled in part by James Bond movies that offered a tantalizing glimpse of a glamorous world far removed from the rundown streets of Trenchtown, the rudeboys' sense of hopeless resentment offers much more powerful lyricism.

Let's Do Rocksteady's vocal friendliness and brilliance of it's players makes me want to grab my special lady and get up and dance. Being a balding, white male, that says a lot, soldier. Give this record a chance if you're sick and tired of listening to the Nickelback's and Creed's of the world. 'Cause they suck. Special thanks to Shinobi for recommending this one.

Standout tracks: Save a Bread - Justin Hinds & The Dominoes, Take it Easy - Hopeton Lewis, Unity - Desmond Dekker & The Aces, Napoleon Solo - Lyn Taitt & The Jets

let's push things forward

this is a test. this is a test. this is a test. a voice. can you hear it? free to go where i please. politiks. musik. sport. believe me, this IS happening. let's do rocksteady. forced to bed, but free to dream. now available. these people are refugees in their own country. a fence? the moment's already passed. the new arithmetic. the rational method. negative slump. in Simon's right temple. fodder for the animals. 'cause that's what we are. 800,000 in 100 days. how dare you invade? the music of chance.



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