Black Uhuru

When the first reggae GRAMMY was finally handed out in 1984, Black Uhuru snatched the statuette on the strength of its poppiest songs yet. "Solidarity" steps out of the shade and into sunny synthesizers, "Party Next Door" rings Santa's bell and rocks steady to a rubbery guitar.

Sly & Robbie's cavernous, ultramodern reading of Black Uhuru on The Dub Factor may induce paranoia in some listeners, since it's like being trapped in a cocoon and able to hear nothing but multi-tracked keyboards and alien drums. That's why it's considered a classic of the genre, while Red represents reggae's transition between the roots and digital age.

The various lineups of Black Uhuru were leaders in second-wave reggae, and the ever-evolving sound on these Deep Cuts shows why. Lead vocalist Michael Rose went on to quite a solo career as well, hinting at the trip-hop touches of Massive Attack with "Throw Some Stone" and continued collaborating with Sly & Robbie on such albums as The Taxi Sessions.

There's much more to reggae than Bob Marley accentuated by copious amounts of marijuana. Anyone interested in understanding its development over the decades can do so by tracing the lineage of Black Uhuru, from their early-'80s output of stripped-down redemption songs and hard-edged dissention to Michael Rose's just-waiting-to-be-sampled solo work and post-roots collaboration with Twilight Circus Dub Sound System. Kind of makes you want to rub on suntan lotion and start a revolution at the same time, doesn't it?