A living breathing catalogue of Jamaican music is on display in Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes. Vincent Randy Chin took a job repairing jukeboxes in the '50s. As the records changed out the company usually just threw the old ones away. Vincent asked if he could buy them which he did and started a store with his soon to be wife Patricia selling used records at a discount. The set up at 17 North Parade street right in the centre of the downtown Kingston, Jamaica music scene. Artists would come in, talk music exchange stories eventually leading to a studio upstairs where every major artist passed through at some point. There was a buzz around the place and a specific sound was generated in the studio ala Muscle Shoals in Alabama or Stax Records in Memphis Tennessee. Plus session musicians hung around downstairs, out front, and next door at a local spot known as Idlers Rest. The guest producer was Lee Scratch Perry arranging, and orchestrating in his unique way. Perry would bless the studio using his flask of white rum splashing all four corners of the studio moving in his herkie jerky fashion. Perry felt his job was to bring people together, find solutions and destroy problems. Scratch felt the studio had pure sound while others had a hum, woooh or a shhh sound. Main sound engineer Errol Thompson had a habit of letting the meters creep into the red. The sound got very heavy and identifiable under Errol. The jump from two to four tracks helped as well. As long as there was no distortion the sounds were left peeking.
History is mixed into the story voiced by narrator Levi Roots. Starting with the milestone of August 12, 1962 Independence of Jamaica. An initial bump and flourish followed but the film does not shy away from depicting the decline, violence , poverty, and political corruption that took hold of the country no more than 15 years later. The underground method of distribution is also highlighted. Reggae was not played on the radio. Instead, artists went door to door to sell their music. Pat tells it that they offered the musicians money if they left their goods at Randy's taking away their individual leg work that was not producing much. The performers working upstairs in the studio could record and press their records come downstairs to listen to the product then sell it all in one spot. Archivist Melody Kenneth and picture producer Sarah Wells deserve special mention for gathering, sorting and ordering old clips, and photos to bring the Kingston Downtown parade back to life. Editor Paul Burgess then performed the difficult task of putting it all together is a tight 85-minute package.
Clive Chin the next generation moves to the centre as the story progresses. He learned at his father's knee plus a keen ear for sound engineering working hand and glove with Errol Thompson. His first big splash was working with Augustus Pablo alongside Thompson on Java creating the Dub sound. Heavy roots under Pablo's melodica. An echo reverb sound between drums and base where the main vocal, doubles back different and complements itself underneath; the early stages of what would grow to become drum and bass. The family had to flee Jamaica in the late 70"s due to all of the political violence. They fled and left everything behind where it stood setting up anew in New York on Jamaica avenue rebranding as VP Records. Clive eventually rescued the master tapes from Kingston transferring them to digital after the tragic shooting death of his firstborn son Joel who returned to Jamaica to get a better sense of the artist the family worked with. Joel's death inspired Clive to get the digital transfer complete brining back memories, hearing live raw footage including background chatter of some long lost friends. A bonus was finding some unfinished unreleased tracks like Kissing by Lord Creator and When You Get Right Down To It by Dennis Brown. The Brown track leads to a compelling third act segment where a 16 year old protegee of Dave Stewart, Hollie Stephenson at the same age as Brown was when he recorded the song finishes the vocal.
**** Out of 4.
Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes | Mark James | U.K. | 2019 | 85 Minutes.
Tags: Jamaica, Independence, Calypso, Ska, Dub, Reggae, Kingston, North Parade, Lee Scratch Perry, Errol Thompson, Lord Creator, Augustus Pablo, Dennis Brown, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Brian & Wayne Jobson, New York City.
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