ReviewA very nice collection of Jamaican recordings from the "Rocksteady Era" of 1966-1968, complete with a fascinating essay about how "Rocksteady" evolved out of "Ska" as the dominant form of Jamaican popular music and gave way to "Reggae", all in the space of little more than two years.
As an indication of the endurable nature of the "Rocksteady" style (essentially a slowed down version of "Ska"), many of the musical backing tracks from the era have been endlessly recycled over the decades to form the basis of assorted Reggae, Dub, Lovers-Rock, Ragga and Dancehall hits.
The music was heavily influenced by the US Soul vocal groups of the time, so expect a lot of harmonisation in the style of The Impressions, Temptations, Miracles, Mad Lads etc. etc. etc. over those chugging Rocksteady rhythms.
Also expect a degree of plagiarism, "Ilya Kuryakin" is a thinly disguised version of Percy Faith's "Summer Place" while "Young Wings Can Fly" (allegedly written by that most prolific of songwriters "Unknown") is the same song as the 1963 US hit of the same name by Ruby & The Romantics.