Cool Ruler is a 1978 studio album by Gregory Isaacs, his first released on the Virgin Records subsidiary Front Line. The Jamaican release was on Isaacs' African Museum imprint. The album was produced by Isaacs and mixed by Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie at Channel One Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Of the tracks on the album, "Let's Dance" had previously been released as a single.Thompson, Dave (2002) Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, , p.130 Some of the tracks on the album are considered among the best ever recorded by Isaacs, although the album failed to give him the international breakthrough that had been anticipated.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn., Rough Guides, , p.198 The album title did, however, endure as Isaacs' nickname.Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, , p.136 "John Public" was also released as a single. The album formed the basis of the dub album Slum in Dub, released the same year. Cool Ruler was reissued on compact disc by Virgin in 2000.
Track listing All tracks by Gregory Isaacs except where noted
"Native Woman" – 3:02 "John Public" – 3:06 "Party in the Slum" – 3:26 "Uncle Joe" – 3:50 "World of the Farmer" – 4:08 "One More Time" – 3:14 "Let's Dance" (John Holt) – 2:56 "Don't Pity Me" – 2:22 "Created by the Father" (Dennis Brown) – 2:31 "Raving Tonight" – 3:57
Personnel Gregory Isaacs - vocals The Heptones - backing vocals The Revolutionaries - backing band Sly Dunbar - drums Robbie Shakespeare, Ernest Wilson - bass Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont, Earl "Chinna" Smith, Ranchie McLean - guitar Ansel Collins - keyboards Bobby Ellis - trumpet Tommy McCook - tenor saxophone Herman Marquis - alto saxophone Technical Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie - engineer Armet Francis - sleeve Dave Hendley - photography
References