Mr Isaacs
Gregory Isaacs may be best known for his cool, romantic  approach to reggae. But this smooth singer is much more complex than a  mere pop balladeer, as the reissue of his fourth album proves. Produced  by the keen-eared Oswald "Ossie" Hibbert and written primarily by  Isaacs,Mr. Isaacswas conceived as an existential song cycle  that traces the sufferings, incarceration, and ultimate freedom of a  Jamaican ghetto youth. Isaacs's purr of a voice slips tough lyrics  about the "black man's hell" into the passenger seat of a shiny pop  vehicle. Standout track "Handcuffs" describes one of the singer's first  arrests for drugs with an understated intensity that doesn't flinch  from conveying pain. Sizzling backing band the Revolutionaries  (featuringSly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare) provides a nervous, often harrowing atmosphere, while  harmony trio the Heptones add wraithlike accompanying vocals. Even the  lighter fare feels edgy, including a vaguely ominous cover of theTemptations'  "Get Ready" and love song "Story Book Children," which buttresses the  loss and deliverance motif. Compiler Steve Barrow widens the scope of  the original 1977 release by addingDillinger's "Take a  Dip" deejay version of Isaac's "Slavemaster" along with other rarities  culled from Jamaican 12-inch singles.--Bob Tarte