Sound Dimension were the in-house backing band of Clement “Coxsone” Dodd’s reggae label Studio One, Brentford Road, Kingston Jamaica, after the Soul Vendors, with whom they shared many members.
The group’s name allegedly comes from an early English-made echo effect unit, and their sound is considerably influenced by US soul: the Sound Dimension were arguably as important to Jamaican music as Booker T. & The Mg’s, The Funk Brothers or MFSB were to American R&B.
The line-up was a floating roster of players, including keyboardist Jackie Mittoo, guitarist Ernest Ranglin, Roland Alphonso, Leroy Sibbles, Vin Gordon and Eric Frater.
Their many recordings are acknowleged to be the definitive or founding cuts of reggae; endlessly versioned and widely sampled, the most well-known example being the (1968) instrumental side ‘Real Rock,’ famously covered in 1980 by (amongst many others) The Clash as ‘Armagideon Time,’ taking the lyric from Willie Williams’ vocal version of the tune. |
