eMusic Review 0
Horace Andy's falsetto voice was inspiration to a generation of Jamaican singers and, years later, to admirers such as Massive Attack (who employed the dread crooner to vocalize over their own reggae-inflected electronica). Pure Ranking was co-produced by Andy, dub virtuoso King Tubby and Brad Osbourne, whose Record Den store in New York's South Bronx neighborhood was a reggae mecca for serious collectors. Horace Andy's voice could settle comfortably into any number of different grooves, but he was at his zenith during the years of cultural reggae; his lyrics and sweet voice spoke directly to the innumerable “idlers,” the unemployed youth who peopled Kingston's sidewalks. The drumming of Santa Davis, best known from Peter Tosh's Skin, Flesh and Bones band, underpins Andy's every move on great songs like “African Liberation” and “Modern Babylon.”
