In the manner of veterans such as Michigan & Smiley or Chaka Demus & Pliers, Sugar Roy & Conrad Crystal travel as a duo. Their musical attitude is clearly geared towards an old-school sound like those glorious predecessors, combining the soft, slightly soulful and nasal voice of Conrad Crystal with the guttural toasting of Sugar Roy.
The two partners pay tribute to the Cool Ruler with this album: "Universal Tribute To Gregory Isaacs". "I was the first to come up with the idea of a Tribute to Gregory Isaacs," explains producer/singer Sugar Roy, "and then others came along with the same idea and wanted to make people believe we were the ones imitating them. I have enormous respect for Gregory Isaacs as a reggae icon. Back in 2004, Conrad and I covered his Love Is Overdue and it was one of our biggest hits. In 2006, I recorded a remake of Soon Forward with Gregory Isaacs himself and it was a wonderful experience."
As producer via his label Fire Ball Records, he called on the Austrian band House Of Riddim to record a large part of the riddims. While they are replayed with talent, one is always short of the original when tackling legendary riddims such as the Night Nurse or the Rumours.
Over these riddims, Conrad Crystal's voice, softened to recapture the Cool Ruler's vibe, sits languorously. A seasoned DJ, Sugar Roy deejays effortlessly across all 18 tracks on the album, which mostly features Gregory's great classics.
While Conrad Crystal covers Gregory Isaacs' lyrics straight, Sugar Roy has done a whole writing job. Rather light on the lovers tracks, he becomes more serious on tracks such as Hard Drugs or My Religion, in which he sings: "No one can tell me who me fi send me prayers to, can't tell me which God fi pray to..." On the original Border, U Brown toasted on the "extended version". Sugar Roy replaces him with talent and his ode to Africa is simply sublime.
The duo called on two other artists to join them on this album: Fantan Mojah adds his flow to Sugar Roy's to launch into a diatribe against Babylon, and Luciano, as ever true to himself, on one of Isaacs' most conscious tracks, Universal Tribulation.
