Record Label: Heartbeat/ Studio One
Genre: Reggae/Rocksteady
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

What better way to discover some lesser known Studio One bands than putting 6 of them on one CD! Six The Hard Way is the 12th installment of the Sir Coxsone Dodd/Studio One tribute and features music from Slim Smith, The Termites, The Cables, Larry Marshall, The Viceroys, and Willie Williams. Like the rest of the reissued Studio One releases, the albums are all remastered for better sound quality. I’m sure people will like the remastered songs (like me) but I know people who still buy records and they think the records sound better. Clearly they are insane but that’s another story for another time.

I’ve heard Slim Smith and Willie Williams before. Willie Williams was the one who originally did the song “Armageddon Time,” which was made popular by the Clash on their ‘Black Market Clash’ album. I haven’t really heard the other artists before today though. That’s one thing I love about all these Heartbeat/Studio One reissue releases is there is informative backgrounds on each artist. Out of the artists that I haven’t heard before, I liked the Cables the most. They had a lot of great ska/rocksteady tunes. Not sure what else to say about this compilation. But any fan of Jamaican Motown, a.k.a 60’s ska, reggae and rocksteady; will love this disc if they haven’t heard it already.

Bottom Line: 6 Artists/Bands on 1 Cd. Can’t beat that.
Notable Tracks: Slim Smith- “You Don’t Care,” The Termites- “Do the Rocksteady,” The Cables- “Love is a Pleasure” The Viceroys- “Slogan on the Wall,” Willie Williams- “Armageddon Time” and “Master Plan”
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