Search - Gregory Isaacs :: Mr Love

THE VERY BEST GREGORY ALBUM OF ALL TIME !

Mr.Phono | westcoast of Canada | 06/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A very smooth yet hard hitting album by the legendary Gregory. This album is my favorite and deserves 5 stars((( PLEASE DO NOT )))over look this one if you are a fan of gregory isaacs and a reggae lover period.... and thats my opinion =)"

Well Selected Retrospective of Issac's Work with Taxi Record

Gavin B. | St. Louis MO | 11/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Mr.Love" is an awful title for the best package of Gregory Isaacs' sublime work with Sly and Robbie at their Taxi studio from 1978 until 1982. It was era when the roots conscious reggae was at the summit of it's international popularity. Also included are selections from Gregory's earliest self produced albums with the Roots Radics musical crew on Virgin Records



Mr. Love is a deceptive title because is an equitable balance between Mr. Isaac's most powerful Rastafarian musical statements and the seductive lover's rock that earned Gregory his undisputed title of the Cool Ruler of the rockers genre. There are even a few selections from Gregory's 1979 masterpiece "Soon Forward" which Mr. Isaacs produced himself.



The collection is so well bundled, it has the seamless feel of an album, not a retrospective. The pseudo-indie label Caroline Records was able to cherry-pick from a broad selection because their parent company Virgin was once the world's largest independent label and the earliest business project of the swashbuckling Virgin CEO Richard Branson. Branson was one of the earliest non-Jamaican fans of reggae music. One of Branson's mission objectives in founding Virgin was to record and distribute reggae music in his native UK.



As a result of Branson's early involvement in the Jamaican reggae scene, Virgin Records holds the licensing rights to a bumper crop of classic reggae gems including Gregory's earliest blockbuster hits in Jamaica and the UK. Simon Heyworth who produced "Mr. Love" in 1995 cherry picked the selections for the album and certainly got it right. Heyworth was also at the helm for the digital re-mastering of "Mr. Love" a couple of years ago. The re-master adds a fresh layer of vibrancy and clarity to songs, that even Sly and Robbie were unable to capture at Taxi Studios, back in the stone age of primitive digital technology.



My favorite selection is "One More Time" an early dance hall favorite with a mesmerizing Hammond B-3 organ musical hook by keyboard maestro Steelie Johnson in his maximum overdrive modality. A trio of Gregory's best African consciousness "Black Liberation Struggle", "Universal Tribulation", and "Slave Market" are songs that anchor the selections of Gregory's earliest socio/political music. "Word of the Farmer" is an emotionally charged populist outcry against the exploitation of the Rastafarian sufferer. Another sufferer's tale "Poor and Clean" features a muscular one drop bass n' drum line from Sly and Robbie, enhanced by tour de force of exotic percussion flourishes by Roots Radics drummer Style Scott.



The lilting riddim driven "Soon Forward" perhaps Gregory's finest lover's rock ballad is the highlight of the lover's rock selections which includes chestnuts like "Poor Millionaire", "Lonely Girl", "Let's Dance", and perhaps my favorite of Gregory Isaacs rockers, "My Only Love" which is a concert favorite that first appeared on his 1981 self produced rockers album, "More Gregory."



Gregory Isaacs has always been a master vocal stylist with his impeccable ear for phrasing, his heartbreakingly bitter sweet tenor and his intuitive choices of cover and original songs that inevitably showcase his haunting and sensual style of singing. Gregory could have been an international reggae star with the stature of a Bob Marley or a Peter Tosh.



Sadly, Gregory's erratic behavior put him behind bars on drug or weapons charges at the peak of his career. Those busts made Gregory an undesirable alien outside of Jamaica and severely limited his ability to tour outside of Jamaica.



Gregory has often said his only regret in life was sidetracking his career by engaging in misbehavior that derailed his career. When Gregory engages in that sort of Brandoesque "I could have been a contender" pathos, he needs to be reminded that he was and is once and future King of Lover's Rock. "Mr. Love" is a fantastic point of introduction for anyone interested in roots reggae or Mr. Isaac's prolific career."