Rocksteady - The Roots Of Reggae

Who can resist the sweet sounds and vocal harmonies of Jamdown’s Rocksteady era? Didn’t it give Blondie the chart topping ‘Tide Is High’? Didn’t it provide the film The Harder They Come with two rock steady classics – ‘Stop That Train’ and ‘Rivers Of Babylon’ - that are now worldwide anthems? As the Motown inspired Studio One slogan testified, Rocksteady was The Sound of Young Jamaica. On the one hand it was the era of the rude boy and on the other it was an era of post Independence political and musical optimism.   As singer Rita Marley puts it: “Reggae is nice, but if you go back to the days of Ska and Rocksteady, you find more rhythm and skirt-twirling and you enjoy the music more. Boys and girls danced together. During the Rocksteady era, people were having more fun than today. It was more loving and warm.”   So, in Autumn 2009, forty years on, Stascha Bader’s forthcoming film Rocksteady - The Roots of Reggae and its soundtrack have to be welcomed. Dedicated to the singers and players who orchestrated the sound of a time that bridged Ska and Reggae music this film shines a light on some of the most unique and individual voices to have graced any hi-fi system. Leroy ‘Heptone’ Sibbles is a classic example - what a voice - and a wikkid bass man. I still have memories of him riding onstage at the Lyceum on a motorcycle. Ken Boothe is another voice that takes me back to Musik City on Saturday mornings in Ridley Road market in Dalston. Of course, there is the voice of Duke Reid’s sound system - the mighty U Roy - a global legend who is still MCing. Chick-a-bow-wow-wow!   Sadly, in the past 40 years we have lost a host of originators like Alton Ellis, Joe Higgs, Jackie Mittoo, Tommy McCook, Delroy Wilson and Slim Smith. But this film still manages to unite some of the all-time greats - Derrick Morgan, Stranger Cole, Ken Boothe, Dawn Penn, Judy Mowatt, Hopeton Lewis - with a band led by guitar maestro Ernest Ranglin and arranger Lynn Taitt. The soundtrack to this film is crisp and tight . Fans of the originals will mourn the absence of the warm, slightly twisted, lo-fi intensity of those Treasure Isle, Derrick Harriot, Sonia Pottinger, Clandisc, Beverleys and Studio One originals but we live in a different time. What this all star band of musicians – including Sly Dunbar, ‘Gladdy’ Anderson, Leroy Sibbles, Lloyd Parks, ‘Robbie’ Lyn, Glen DaCosta and ‘Deadly’ Bennett - delivers is a contemporary JA sound manicured by experience and time. The spring-loaded rhythms of the Rocksteady era remain ‘easy snapping’ and it’s more than evident that all these artists are enjoying a return to their roots. Rocksteady is good time music and for this heartfelt tribute on film and CD we have to give thanks. Catch the beat, real neat - nice one Stascha!   Rocksteady film screening and CD launch party 30 Sept at The Ritzy Cinema Rocksteady The Roots Of Reggae CD is out 5 October 2009 www.rocksteadyrootsofreggae.com