Earth & Stone
Kool Roots (2lp)
In the last half century the rapid development of Jamaican music has been subject to many different forces - social, political, cultural, and political, cultural and musical. Of all these influences that of American popular music has been one of the most signifigant. And so the sway of American popular music has continued through until the present day, with Jamaica mirroring many of the movements, innovations, styles and concerns of its larger neighbour. One such a movement was the emergence of the sound of Philadelphia, the musical bridge between Motown and disco, a brand of soul which tends not to receive proper critical respect-no doubt partly, but perversely, due to its commercial success. If the engine of the Philly sound was session band M.F.S.B. so the rhythm was driven for Channel One by the immortal Revolutionaries. And the sweet harmonies of ballad groups such as the Delphonics and the Stylistics surely had a direct effect on the Jamaican vocal groups of the same era, as is evidenced by the Channel One output of The Mighty Diamonds, The Rolands, The Wailing Souls, The Meditations, Black Uhuru, The Jays, and Earth & Stone.