Studio One, the influential Jamaican record label spanning the years of ska, rocksteady and reggae, lasted an impressive fifty years. No wonder then, that there are plenty of great songs with which to make compilations for people who didn’t quite catch everything. The people at Soul Jazz have put together a few of these, and Studio One Scorcher Vol 2 is a another collection of some pretty nice music stripped of vocals for the collector. Now with instrumental collections, you generally have releases only beat freaks might be expected to want. On the other hand though, this release shows that some of the bands that made Studio One their home over that half century were pretty damn tight.

The Skatalites, still touring today, were probably by far the biggest band to come out on the label, not to mention hugely influential, and the first song is more than understandably the catchy early ska of Dick Tracy, still heard today. But it’s the less known who get a good showing here, with names like Vin Gordon, and his Frozen Soul dub slowing things down, as well as the groove of Pablove Black’s Black Wax. Roland Alphonso is another artist showcased, or rather his band is, with the bumping Nimble Foot Ska. But it’s the middle of the disc that really gets the thumbs up, when the seductive sax of Sugar Belly’s Cousin Joe Pt 1 kicks in. I think I really need to get some of these songs with vocals actually on them – that would be too good. Jackie Mittoo’s A Big Car, the instrumental of which was made famous by Massive Attack on their Diamonds In The Back, is the next inclusion, before the trumpet-skank rhythm of Sound Almighty from the Soul Defenders.

Perhaps the highlight to Vol 2 though is the magical instrumental to After Christmas, recorded by a quartet of artists, although the inlay fails to publish all the original dates, which might have been nice. There’s some backing vocals left on this track calling for yuletide Joy To The World. Lovely stuff. Also of interest are the great drums and percussion on Tommy McCook’s reggae Jamaica Bolero, sweet sax and a fat bassline also making the dub of this a real treat. And to finish off this fine CD, Dub Specialist’s Gumbay Jump is included, with horns anyone with a passing interest in Jamaican music would have heard. So not just one for the collectors at all then.