The Observer Book of I-Roy collects 11 sides that the unfailingly inspired DJ I-Roy cut for producer Winston “Niney” Holness in 1976 and 1977. By this stage of his career, I-Roy had already cut scores of remarkable records for producers like Gussie Clarke, Lee Perry, Keith Hudson, and Joseph Hoo Kim. Yet his recordings for Niney are particularly outstanding, containing some of his finest performances. Take “Step on the Dragon": it's an incredible version of Dennis Brown’s 1977 hit “Wolf and Leopard” that finds I-Roy issuing characteristically charismatic declamations on everything from Kingston street violence to the Old Testament and Rastafarian prophecy. On “Sister Maggie Breast,” I-Roy reworks “Wolf and Leopards” yet again, this time in the service of a clever bit of lascivious rhyming that anticipates the similarly explicit “slack” vocal style of DJs like General Echo and Clint Eastwood by at least half a decade. Best of all, though, may be “Jah Is My Light/Wicked Eat Dirt,” an incredibly intense performance on the Satta Massagana rhythm that burns with an incandescent righteousness that must be heard to be believed.