Soul Jazz - The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture

By Gabriel_Heatwave |
Friday 14 November 2008 |
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I reviewed the latest Soul Jazz compilation, The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture, for FACT magazine. The double CD accompanies Beth Lesser's book about the birth of Jamaican dancehall in the 1980s, also published by Soul Jazz.

You can read more about the book in recent articles by The Guardian, Independent and The Times. One of my favourite tracks off the album is Frankie Paul's Call The Brigade, employing the same melody as Courtney Melody's classic Bad Boy:

MP3: Frankie Paul - Call The Brigade

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Various Artists - The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture (Soul Jazz)
By Gabriel Heatwave for FACT magazine

An excellent double CD compilation soundtracking Beth Lesser's new book of the same name on the Jamaican dancehall scene in the 1980s. Fittingly, the album is dominated by classic tracks from that fertile decade when a generation of Jamaican vocalists, musicians and producers left their stamp on the island's music.

Most of the big players are represented here: of course there are notable exceptions but this will always be the case on a compilation chronicling such a vibrant musical era. There's a nice mix of singers (Cornell Campbell, Frankie Paul or Gregory Isaacs) and deejays (Yellowman, Lone Ranger or Reggie Stepper), giving a variation sometimes missing from today's MC-dominated dancehall world.

The birth of dancehall is audible in the shift from rootsy, stepping rhythm tracks used by Trinity and General Echo in the late 70s to the stripped down sound of the Roots Radics band on Wa Do Dem, Bam Bam and Diseases. The rise of digital dancehall production is also documented, with the groundbreaking Sleng Teng rhythm included twice in the form of Tenor Saw's Pumpkin Belly and Super Cat's Trash & Ready. Earlier digital or semi-digital productions also feature: Horace Ferguson's brilliant Sensi Addict and Half Pint's syndrum-propelled stormer, Greetings.

The fully digitized, minimalist style of early 90s tunes by Chaka Demus & Pliers, Cutty Ranks and Early Black stands out a little on the compilation but their inclusion bookends the era nicely and gives a hint as to the next chapter in the dancehall story.