(Jamaica Gleaner) VP Records will honour two dancehall greats this month through its 17 North Parade Anthology series. Hard Time Pressure revisits the catalogue of Sugar Minott, while The Ruler 1972-1990 covers the career of Gregory Isaacs.
Both singers died in 2010 – Minott in July at age 54, and Isaacs in October at age 60.
Hard Time Pressure is a 36-song double-CD that contains Minott staples such as Hard Time Pressure, River Jordan, Never Gonna Give Jah Up, Good Thing Going and Herbman Hustling.
The set is accompanied by a DVD of Minott performing at JapanSplash in 1986.
Isaacs, or ‘The Cool Ruler’ to fans, first made the charts in the mid-1970s with All I Have Is Love and Love Is Overdue, which are both on the 40-track collection.
Tumbling Tears, My Number One, Storm, Tune In, Soon Forward, Night Nurse and Rumours, songs which helped make him one of reggae’s great hitmakers, are also included.
Like the Minott compilation, The Ruler is complemented by an in-concert DVD. It features Isaacs performing at the Brixton Academy in 1984.
