Over the years,
Gregory Isaacs has unleashed a veritable CD shop's worth of releases, a flood of full-lengths that have reached dizzying heights and, conversely, abyss-like lows. The star needs a tough producer to bring out his best, and Alvin Ranglin has proved once again to be up to the task. As listeners have come to expect, the singer offers up both new songs and reinventions of old faves. Sly & Robbie alone provide accompaniment yet, through the miracles of modern technology, create incredibly organic accompaniments that encompass rich brass and even (otherwise uncredited) backing vocalists. Ranglin's productions inevitably boast a melodious, breezy quality, a sound that dovetails beautifully with the mix of rhythms offered up by the Riddim Twins. Skipping brightly from more modern digitized styles to lusher '70s reggae with nods to rocksteady, the entire set has a lovely lightness. "Notebook Pages" resurrects
Isaacs' own "Border" rhythm and drives it to the dancehalls, while "Why Did You Leave" drags
the Heptones' "Mama" back out of the house (again, it's a popular rhythm), tosses her into the rumble seat of an old jalopy, and then cruises around town honking and cheerfully jeering her cries to slow down. Meanwhile, "Time Getting Crucial" finds time literally clicking by amidst the unusual percussive effects.
Isaacs hits all the emotional peaks with conviction, covering love and loss in all their myriad entanglements, with a couple of cultural numbers thrown in for good measure. The title track, "A Bit Too Shy," the aforementioned "Time Getting Crucial," and a perky remodel of "Miss Cutie" are particularly good, but in truth, the singer gives a stellar performance across the entire album. "The vibes I give when I sing, that's eternal,"
Isaacs insists on "Teacher Inner Dis," and that's no idle boast. ~ Jo-Ann Greene