Consumer Guide Album

Gregory Isaacs: Best of Volumes One and Two [Heartbeat, 1992]
After roots reggae and before dancehall there was lovers rock, a tag devised for U.K.-based women singers and soon seized by JA crooners who'd never escaped their tight little island. Usually for good reason, too--if you don't believe me, check out Dennis Brown next time you have a week to kill. But even if few non-Jamaicans know it, the equally prolific Isaacs--I bet by now he's recorded 500 songs--is a master. Cooly crooning lyrics that declare for self-determination up against romance or oppression, caressing and suffering with equal imperturbability, he's the aural image of an unconquerable, ganja-guzzling serenity. This showcases keepers from back when sheathing his sexism and talking that dread both came naturally, though great titles like "Slave Master" and "Night Nurse" and "Extra Classic" would follow, as would a sweeter version of the chilled baritone he eventually macked to shreds. It supplants the now semiredundant My Number One as your chance to decide whether to agitate for a box. A−