Gregory Isaacs may be best known for his cool, romantic approach to reggae. But this smooth singer is much more complex than a mere pop balladeer, as the reissue of his fourth album proves. Produced by the keen-eared Oswald "Ossie" Hibbert and written primarily by Isaacs, Mr. Isaacs was conceived as an existential song cycle that traces the sufferings, incarceration, and ultimate freedom of a Jamaican ghetto youth. Isaacs's purr of a voice slips tough lyrics about the "black man's hell" into the passenger seat of a shiny pop vehicle. Standout track "Handcuffs" describes one of the singer's first arrests for drugs with an understated intensity that doesn't flinch from conveying pain. Sizzling backing band the Revolutionaries (featuring Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare) provides a nervous, often harrowing atmosphere, while harmony trio the Heptones add wraithlike accompanying vocals. Even the lighter fare feels edgy, including a vaguely ominous cover of the Temptations' "Get Ready" and love song "Story Book Children," which buttresses the loss and deliverance motif. Compiler Steve Barrow widens the scope of the original 1977 release by adding Dillinger's "Take a Dip" deejay version of Isaac's "Slavemaster" along with other rarities culled from Jamaican 12-inch singles. --Bob Tarte