Pure Ranking

Reggae singer Horace Andy’s distinct voice seems to be both at the edge of heartbreak and about to take flight, fraught and weightless all at once. His 1979 album Pure Ranking revels in this tension. The title track's cavernous congas give Andy’s voice plenty of space to soar, while the bittersweet “No Love in the City” finds him clenched at the social injustice surrounding him. Amid the political squalor depicted in “Modern Babylon”, Andy’s voice floats over it all like an angel.