Twin City Riddim – Two Friends Records

Twin City Riddim comes with an unusually strong 11-track lineup for a late-’80s one-riddim set, and the names tell you plenty: Gregory Isaacs, Cocoa Tea, Shabba Ranks, and Brian and Tony Gold all get a turn, with the Isaacs cut “Meet Me At The Same Corner” sitting right in the middle of the sequence. Two Friends Records keeps the framework tight and unfussy, letting the version ride under a mix of lovers-rock sweetness and tougher dancehall edge, so the set moves from Cocoa Tea’s “On Top Of The World” to Shabba Ranks’ “Haffi Kill Me Dead” without losing its shape. The tracklist also includes duo work like “Dreaming” from Tuffest and Brian and Tony Gold, then closes with the “Twin City” version, which locks in the riddim’s clean, straight-ahead 1988 sound.