The Studio One Story DVD
Studio One Story, a DVD that covers the history
of the famed Jamaican studio, has been released here, according to the company's
founder, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd. The producer told Splash that the set, which
also includes an 18-track CD, has been out since
October.
Dodd said Studio One Story has
been doing well in the United States and Europe where it was initially
distributed by London's Soul Jazz Records, but said 50 copies were released here
last week.
"We did 26,000 copies for
Europe and the US and I'm pleased to say that it has sold off," Dodd, 72, said
at the Studio One complex Wednesday. "The demand is so strong that we have had
to order more."
Studio One Story, the
DVD, has four hours of footage documenting the origin of Jamaica's best-known
recording facility. It contains interviews with Dodd and artistes who got their
start there, including singers Alton Ellis, Ken Boothe, Cornel Campbell and
Marcia Griffiths.
As well, there are
snippets with some of the key musicians who played on some of the biggest hit
songs recorded at Studio One, the most noted being guitarist Ernie Ranglin,
trumpeter Johnny "Dizzy" Moore of The Skatalites and keyboardist Jackie Mittoo,
Dodd's former musical director who died from cancer in Canada in
1990.
The CD segment features songs
from the Ska and rock steady eras of the 1960s, and the early roots-dancehall
scene of the mid and late 1970s. Theophilus Beckford's Easy Snapping, arguably
the first international hit recorded in Jamaica; The Skatalites' Guns of
Navarone; Dancing Mood by Delroy Wilson; Larry Marshall's Nanny Goat and Nice
up, The Dance by Michigan and Smiley are among the 18
songs.
The DVD and CD are accompanied
by a 100-page booklet. Dodd says Studio One Story has sparked even more interest
in the studio's history. "It's been very effective, I've gotten calls from
people who never knew much about Studio One," he
said.
Dodd explained that Studio One
Story took 14 months to complete. He says the concept came from management at
Soul Jazz, one of the main distributors of the Studio One catalogue in
Europe.
"They said our albums were
doing so well (in Europe) that they thought it would be a good idea to release a
DVD," said Dodd; Studio One Story marks the company's foray into the DVD format
which has become a lucrative market for major record and film companies since
its advent in the mid 1990s.
A former
farm worker, Dodd got into the music scene in the early 1950s and launched his
Downbeat sound system in 1955. He ventured into recording in the mid 1950s,
producing artistes like Beckford and Ellis, who had strong hits with Easy
Snapping and Muriel, respectively.
In
1963, he started Studio One at Brentford Road, setting the pace for a series of
hit songs as the Ska and rock steady beats grew in the dancehalls. Dodd had a
purple patch with The Skatalites band harmony groups, including The Heptones and
singers such as Boothe and Wilson.
In
the 1970s, Studio One was the stomping ground for upcoming roots singers,
Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne, Willie Williams and Sugar Minott, and
deejays, Lone Ranger and Michigan and
Smiley.
After living in the United
States for close to 20 years, Dodd resumed recording at Studio One's Brentford
Road base in the past five years, releasing albums by Glen Washington, Bobby
Brown, Lone Ranger, The Ethiopians and the Wailing Soul.
Posted: Fri - May 30, 2003 at 09:27 PM