Reggae Anthology: Sugar Minott - Hard Time Pressure

iTunes Review

Sugar Minott’s close-cropped locks, gap-toothed smile, and sartorial flair made him an unmistakable presence on the Jamaican dancehall circuit, but it was his unfailing versatility that ensured his star rose even as Jamaican music started to change in the mid-‘80s. As a singer, Minott could adapt himself to any style, from the languid, deliberately paced rhythms of classic roots productions like “Hard Time Pressure” to the harder, more dissonant sounds of dancehall classics like “Herbsman Hustling” and “Informer.” Because of this eclecticism, Minott’s career is hard to encapsulate in a single collection; most compilations focus on either his roots or his dancehall material. VP’s Hard Time Pressure ambitiously attempts to survey both sides of Minott’s work, and it succeeds thanks to its extended runtime and well-selected tracklist. The 36 tunes here are drawn from all stages of Minott’s career. They include recordings he made with producers like Ranking Dread, Lloyd “Bullwackie” Barnes, and Linval Thompson, as well as sessions that Minott himself oversaw for release on his own imprint, African Roots.