Before 'Night Nurse' (yes, you know the one) Gregory Isaacs had recorded vocal tracks for a huge number of producers across Jamaica. Early in his career he was famous for a 'conscious' vocal theme with a hard dread attitude, before mixing in a much smoother lovers style from the early eighties on.

For me it is the 1979 album with Sly and Robbie, 'Soon Forward', that is the stand out of his career. With the classic 'Universal Tribulation' opening the album and 'Black Liberation Struggle' somewhere in the middle it is the title track (and the album's closer) that sees the Cool Ruler at his smoothest and Sly and Robbie at their toughest. 3 minutes of vocals slip easily into another 3 minutes of the highest quality dubbed out Rockers rhythms.

This video is a live performance of the vocal section of the track (without the driving instrumental ending) and he's being backed by the Roots Radics rather than Sly and Robbie but it should give you enough of a flavour to make you seriously check out the original album.

Soon after the success of the late seventies and early eighties (like so many Jamaican artists caught up in the Virgin/Island fuelled UK export of reggae that happened around then) serious drug problems started to make his output more variable, making Soon Forward an increasingly rare gem. The current Virgin Frontline mid-price re-release of his finest hour is worth a damn sight more than £5.97.