The “Backbone” of Studio One

Songs & tracks

Every song the chapter names, in the order the text names them, each with the sentence that introduces it, set as printed.

• 001

  Throw Me Corn

  Larry Marshall

  Morris also explained the ways he achieved the characteristic delay heard on Studio One recordings of the period such as Larry Marshall’s “Throw Me Corn” or The Bassies “Things A Come Up to Bump”:

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• 002

  Things A Come Up to Bump

  The Bassies

  Morris also explained the ways he achieved the characteristic delay heard on Studio One recordings of the period such as Larry Marshall’s “Throw Me Corn” or The Bassies “Things A Come Up to Bump”:

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• 003

  Love Me Forever

  Carlton and the Shoes

  Carlton and the Shoes: “Love Me Forever” In technical terms, a facility such as Studio One was not on par with American and British studios of the time, and it is to Morris’s credit as an engineer that a song like Carlton and the Shoes’ 1968 “Love Me Forever” achieves production values roughly on par with international standards while still reflecting a characteristically Jamaican aesthetic.

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• 004

  Hello Carol

  The Gladiators

  Although the cover information credits Dodd as sole engineer of these sessions, several songs (such as “Hello Carol”) clearly sound as if they have been engineered by Morris.

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• 005

  Love and Meditation

  The Gladiators

  Other tracks (such as “Love and Meditation”) are mixed in a manner more typical of Studio One in the mid-1970s, and seem an attempt to replicate the studio’s 1960s sound.

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• 006

  Musical Science

  Dub Specialist (Clement “Coxsone” Dodd)

  “Musical Science”

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• 007

  Crazy Baldhead

  Bob Marley & The Wailers

  Bob Marley & The Wailers: “Crazy Baldhead” / Johnny Clarke: “Crazy Baldhead Man”

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• 008

  Crazy Baldhead Man

  Johnny Clarke

  Bob Marley & The Wailers: “Crazy Baldhead” / Johnny Clarke: “Crazy Baldhead Man” Certainly one of Marley’s most enduring riddims, “Crazy Baldhead” is given a mix that pushes Aston Barrett’s bluesy bass riff to the foreground.

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• 009

  One Drop

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Brown himself recalled that an album of Marley dubs had actually been prepared, but was never released aside from a few dub plates for Barrett’s sound system: “We did a couple, I remember ‘One Drop’ and ‘Ambush’ and a couple of others from Survival.

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• 010

  Ambush

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Brown himself recalled that an album of Marley dubs had actually been prepared, but was never released aside from a few dub plates for Barrett’s sound system: “We did a couple, I remember ‘One Drop’ and ‘Ambush’ and a couple of others from Survival.

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• 011

  Natural Way

  Augustus Pablo

  Augustus Pablo: “Natural Way” > Sylvan Morris: “Nature Dub”; Bunny Wailer: “Armagideon” > Sylvan Morris: “Armageddon Dub”

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• 012

  Nature Dub

  Sylvan Morris

  Augustus Pablo: “Natural Way” > Sylvan Morris: “Nature Dub”; Bunny Wailer: “Armagideon” > Sylvan Morris: “Armageddon Dub”

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• 013

  Armagideon

  Bunny Wailer

  Augustus Pablo: “Natural Way” > Sylvan Morris: “Nature Dub”; Bunny Wailer: “Armagideon” > Sylvan Morris: “Armageddon Dub”

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• 014

  Armageddon Dub

  Sylvan Morris

  Augustus Pablo: “Natural Way” > Sylvan Morris: “Nature Dub”; Bunny Wailer: “Armagideon” > Sylvan Morris: “Armageddon Dub” Although one is instrumental and the other vocal, Augustus Pablo’s “Natural Way” and Bunny Wailer’s “Armagideon” are both suspenseful, minorkey songs with heavy Rastafarian themes.

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Albums, compilations & series

Albums, compilations and series, again in the order the chapter names them.

• 015

  East of the River Nile

  Augustus Pablo

  As engineer of some of the most enduring popular music ever recorded in Jamaica, however, Morris laid a crucial foundation for the dub music that followed Studio One’s heyday in the 1970s. And as engineer at Harry J studio during the roots era, he also mixed many of the most influential recordings of dub music: Augustus Pablo’s East of the River Nile, portions of Burning Spear’s two-volume Living Dub collection, and the first volume of Bunny Wailer’s Dubd’sco.

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• 016

  Living Dub

  Burning Spear

  As engineer of some of the most enduring popular music ever recorded in Jamaica, however, Morris laid a crucial foundation for the dub music that followed Studio One’s heyday in the 1970s. And as engineer at Harry J studio during the roots era, he also mixed many of the most influential recordings of dub music: Augustus Pablo’s East of the River Nile, portions of Burning Spear’s two-volume Living Dub collection, and the first volume of Bunny Wailer’s Dubd’sco.

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• 017

  Dubd’sco

  Bunny Wailer

  As engineer of some of the most enduring popular music ever recorded in Jamaica, however, Morris laid a crucial foundation for the dub music that followed Studio One’s heyday in the 1970s. And as engineer at Harry J studio during the roots era, he also mixed many of the most influential recordings of dub music: Augustus Pablo’s East of the River Nile, portions of Burning Spear’s two-volume Living Dub collection, and the first volume of Bunny Wailer’s Dubd’sco. No lesser a dub luminary than Augustus Pablo praised Morris as his preferred engineer for remixing, citing the engineer’s “spiritual” sound.

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• 018

  Juks Incorporation

  Dub Specialist (Coxsone Dodd)

  His work can be found on LPs such as Juks Incorporation, Better Dub, Dub Store Special, and others.

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• 019

  Better Dub

  Dub Specialist (Coxsone Dodd)

  His work can be found on LPs such as Juks Incorporation, Better Dub, Dub Store Special, and others.

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• 020

  Badda Dan Dem

  Lone Ranger

  The earnestness with which Dodd regarded himself as an engineer is reflected, for example, by the cover of Lone Ranger’s late 1970s Badda Dan Dem LP, which contains a sci-fi cartoon portrait of the producer as engineer, seated at a futuristic hybrid of a mixing desk and spaceship console.

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• 021

  Scientific Dub

  Scientist

  The cover art was drawn by artist Jamaal Pete, who provided sci-fi illustrations for several dub albums at this time, including Scientist’s seminal Scientific Dub. I do not cite Dodd’s work here in order to make a claim for him as an engineer on par with the other engineers discussed in this chapter.

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• 022

  Presenting the Gladiators

  The Gladiators

  Studio One recordings from the early 1970s have a characteristic sound typified by, for example, several tracks from the Gladiators debut LP Presenting the Gladiators. Although the cover information credits Dodd as sole engineer of these sessions, several songs (such as “Hello Carol”) clearly sound as if they have been engineered by Morris.

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• 023

  Dub Store Special

  Dub Specialist (Coxsone Dodd)

  Dodd didn’t possess an engineer’s facility with studio equipment, and the mixing strategies on Dub Store Special are minimal, mostly amounting to low-fidelity drum & bass versions with passages of very basic drop-out.

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• 024

  Catch a Fire

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Along with Jimmy Cliff’s soundtrack for Perry Henzell’s film The Harder They Come, Marley’s Catch A Fire, Burnin,’ Natty Dread, and Rastaman Vibration albums were more responsible than any other for stamping Jamaican music authoritatively on the map of world popular music.

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• 025

  Burnin'

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Along with Jimmy Cliff’s soundtrack for Perry Henzell’s film The Harder They Come, Marley’s Catch A Fire, Burnin,’ Natty Dread, and Rastaman Vibration albums were more responsible than any other for stamping Jamaican music authoritatively on the map of world popular music.

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• 026

  Natty Dread

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Along with Jimmy Cliff’s soundtrack for Perry Henzell’s film The Harder They Come, Marley’s Catch A Fire, Burnin,’ Natty Dread, and Rastaman Vibration albums were more responsible than any other for stamping Jamaican music authoritatively on the map of world popular music.

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• 027

  Rastaman Vibration

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Along with Jimmy Cliff’s soundtrack for Perry Henzell’s film The Harder They Come, Marley’s Catch A Fire, Burnin,’ Natty Dread, and Rastaman Vibration albums were more responsible than any other for stamping Jamaican music authoritatively on the map of world popular music.

  album Open ↗ YouTube
• 028

  Survival

  Bob Marley and the Wailers

  Brown himself recalled that an album of Marley dubs had actually been prepared, but was never released aside from a few dub plates for Barrett’s sound system: “We did a couple, I remember ‘One Drop’ and ‘Ambush’ and a couple of others from Survival. We did a dub LP but they never put it out.

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• 029

  Hail Him

  Burning Spear

  I brought that to Marley and Burning Spear—Hail Him and the next one, Farover.

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• 030

  Farover

  Burning Spear

  I brought that to Marley and Burning Spear—Hail Him and the next one, Farover. Plus, I like to hear separation in the instruments, where you can pick out the instruments out in the mix.

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