Gregory Isaacs & Prince Far I - Uncle Joe / Brother Joe (With Lyrics)

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Also includes the dub "Reform Institution" by The Revolutionaries, from the "Slum In Dub" album, released the same year.

Backed by Sly & Robbie

Gregory Isaacs "The Cool Ruler" (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010) was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in The New York Times, described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae"

In his teenage years, Isaacs became a veteran of the talent contests that regularly took place in Jamaica. In 1968, he made his recording debut as Winston Sinclair, with the single "Another Heartache", recorded for producer Byron Lee. The single sold poorly and Isaacs went on to team up with Errol Dunkley to start the African Museum record label and shop, and soon had a hit with "My Only Lover", credited as the first lovers' rock record ever made. He recorded for other producers to finance further African Museum recordings, having a string of hits in the three years that followed, ranging from ballads to roots reggae, including "All I Have Is Love", "Lonely Soldier", "Black a Kill Black", "Extra Classic" and his cover version of Dobby Dobson's "Loving Pauper". In 1974, he began working with producer Alvin Ranglin, and that year he had his first Jamaican no. 1 single with "Love Is Overdue"

International stardom seemed assured in 1978 when Isaacs signed to the Virgin Records offshoot Front Line Records, and appeared in the film Rockers, in which he performed "Slavemaster". The Cool Ruler (which became one of his nicknames) and Soon Forward albums, however, failed to sell as well as expected, although they are now considered among his best work. In 1981, he made his first appearance at the Reggae Sunsplash festival (returning annually until 1991), and he moved on to the Charisma Records offshoot Pre, who released his The Lonely Lover and More Gregory albums along with a string of increasingly successful singles including "Tune In", "Permanent Lover", "Wailing Rudie" and "Tribute to Waddy". He signed to Island Records and released the record that broke through to a wider audience, "Night Nurse", the title track from his first album for the label (Night Nurse (1982)). Although "Night Nurse" was not a chart hit in either the UK or US, it was popular in clubs and received heavy radio play, and the album reached number 32 in the UK. It was also used in adverts for an over the counter cold & flu remedy of the same name.

Isaacs died of lung cancer on 25 October 2010 at his home in Harrow Weald.

Prince Far I (23 March 1945 – 15 September 1983)[1] was a Jamaican reggae deejay and producer, and a Rastafarian. He was known for his gruff voice and critical assessment of the Jamaican government. His track "Heavy Manners" used lyrics about government measures initiated at the time against violent crime.

He was born Michael James Williams in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Williams' first job in the music industry was as a deejay on the Sir Mike the Musical Dragon sound system, also working as a security guard at Joe Gibbs' studio, and later as a bouncer at Studio One, but after recording "The Great Booga Wooga" for Bunny Lee in 1969 (under the name King Cry Cry, a reference to his habit of breaking into tears when angered), he got the chance in 1970 to record for Coxsone Dodd when King Stitt failed to turn up for a session. Dodd was sufficiently impressed to release the resulting recordings, Williams now using the name Prince Far I at the suggestion of another producer he had worked with, Enos McLeod. With a unique deep bass voice and talking over style, preferring to describe himself as a "chanter" rather than a "toaster", he became a popular reggae musician, styling himself "The Voice of Thunder".

Later that year he recorded the album Umkhonto We Sizwe with producer Roy Cousins in Kingston. Before the album was finished he was shot at his home in Kingston, Jamaica, during a robbery, allegedly relating to a dispute over money, and died later in hospital.

Adrian Sherwood, deeply upset by the murder of his friend, took a production hiatus from his beloved reggae genre and in 1983 recorded with his group Circut and Neneh Cherry, "Dead Come Alive". Prince Far I is also referred to by The Clash in their single "Clash City Rockers" and also by The Mountain Goats in the song "Sept. 15th 1983", a reference to the date of his death.

Special thanks to Natty Dougman for assisting with transcribing these lyrics.

Doug also has a YouTube channel aswell as a Facebook page where he talks about Jamaican music, everything from different albums, artists and just general history of the genre, so if you enjoy reggae music and would like to dig a little deeper into the history of the music, please check out his channel linked below

@FatCityVinyl

#reggaemusic #reggae #gregoryisaacs #princefari