GREGORY ISAACS
Slum In Dub
Coupled with the succinct Revolutionaries band and Isaacs quality songwriting, the deconstructed cuts, weave and flow like any good quality dub album should. with some of the track names giving more than a hint of the original song title such as "Public Eyes", which was one of the major hits off The Cool Ruler as "John Public". The dense "Slum" originated as "Party In The Slum", while the brighter "Reform Institution" began life as "Uncle Joe". "Word Of The Farmer" becomes "Croft" and "Tam Tam" began life as "One More Time".
One of Gregory Isaacs's early hits, "Black A Kill Black" is translated into "Leaving" while "Leggo Beast" using an updated old Studio One rhythm, Swing Easy, probably refers to Trevor "Leggo" Douglas who ran the Cash & Carry label with Isaacs. The track "Nigger" also uses an old Studio One rhythm track updated and this time it's The Heptones breezy "Party Time" which gets the Jammy treatment as "Embarrassment" which again revitalises a Studio One gem; "Frozen Soul" by The Soul Vendors band.