Best of Studio One 1

Coxsonne Dodd's Kingston, Jamaica, recording studio may have lacked the latest equipment, but it was the laboratory where such legends as guitarist Ernie Ranglin experimented and made their greatest riddimic [cq] discoveries, and where young singers like Sugar Minott, the Wailing Souls, and The Heptones refined their vocal chops. During the time period covered in this first volume of Heartbeat's Studio One series (ca. late 1960s to early '70s), Ranglin and other stellar musicians like The Skatalites were the house band, composing tracks on the spot but usually uncredited on the innumerable vinyl classics that the studio churned out. Diehard reggaeites will recognize virtually every track but still thrill to hear The Cables' "Baby Why" elide into The Termites' "My Last Love," and a very young Dennis Brown's "Impossible" giving way to "The Heptone's "Party Time." Nonreggae-heads will wonder what they've been listening to these past 30 or so years. --Elena Oumano