Dreader Dread 1976-78
What a joy to have this singing legend so judiciously and respectfully presented. Clarke may not have received his due back at the time, but thanks to U.K. reissue-compilation label Blood and Fire, he's finally receiving the quality presentation he merits.  Along with Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown, Clarke held down the '70s Jamaican scene while Bob Marley was busy taking reggae to the world, and his gutsy yet refined vibrato in the tenor "youthman" style helped set the standard for the music's fabled "roots" vocalists. As a songwriter, Clarke was one of those who defined that exalted, yearning voice so peculiar to reggae with instantly recognizable anthems like "Live Up Jah Man," "Every Knee Shall Bow," and "Love Up Your Brothers and Sisters"--urgent calls for justice and spiritual grace that are the music's specialty. Yet the producers provide a marker of Clarke's glowing talent by leading this set not with an original, but with an interpretation of a classic Peter Tosh rude bwoy anthem, "Top Ranking (I'm The Toughest)," and closing with Bob Marley's "Time Will Tell." That's because both tunes gain from being filtered through the bittersweet soul of this lesser-known artist.--Elena Oumano