Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Sly and Robbie - File

FOUR previous winners of the Best Reggae Album Grammy Award have been nominated for the 2008 category, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) announced Thursday.

The nominees are Burning Spear for The Burning Spear Experience; Stephen Marley for Mind Control; Lee 'Scratch' Perry with The End of An American Dream; Sly and Robbie's Anniversary; and Toots and The Maytals for Light Your Light.

Spear, Perry, Sly and Robbie and Toots and The Maytals have all won Grammy Awards. Stephen Marley has never won the award as a solo act, but while he was a member of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, he collected three Grammies.

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Lee 'Scratch' Perry (left) and Burning Spear (right)

Mind Control, distributed by the Marley family's Tuff Gong company through Universal Music, is the most popular of the nominees. It made a brief appearance on the Billboard pop chart earlier this year.

It and The End of An American Dream are the only nominees in the category featuring all original music. The Burning Spear Experience is a double-disc of originals and live versions of Spear classics like Man From the Hills and Throw Down Your Arms, while Anniversary is a collection of Sly and Robbie productions since the last 10 years.

Light Your Light hears Toots following a similar track as True Love, the set that won the 2005 Best Reggae Album Grammy. On his current effort, he again works with guest acts, including slide guitarist Derek Trucks and blues great Bonnie Raitt.

There is no place for some of the top reggae albums released during the past 18 months, such as neo-roots singer Tarrus Riley's impressive Parables. That set was released on October 23 last year, three weeks after the Grammy deadline.

Since reggae was granted Grammy status in 1983, persons close to the music have criticised the NARAS for selecting obscure albums for the Best Reggae Album category. The organisation has also come under fire for giving the award to performers associated with reggae legend Bob Marley.

The drum and bass team of Sly and Robbie, who have worked together for over 30 years, took the Best Reggae Album category in 1998 with Friends; Spear, a pillar of the roots-reggae explosion of the 1970s, won in 1999 for Calling Rastafari.

Perry, now 71 ears old, is arguably reggae's most influential producer.

He won in 2002 with Jamaican E.T. Black Uhuru won the first reggae Grammy in 1984 with the Sly and Robbie-produced Anthem.