Toots and the Maytals

If Sean Paul is all you know about reggae, tune into the sounds of Kingston circa 1973. Toots Hibbert is a man who can give soul to a John Denver song, so imagine what happens when he channels Otis Redding at his most love-tortured. Funky Kingston also launched the unbelievably great "Pressure Drop," later covered by the Clash.

This is the first album by Toots Hibbert and the Maytals (consisting of singers Jerry Mathias
and Raleigh Gordon plus various musicians) to be released in the States, despite their
deified status in Jamaica, where Jimmy Cliff is regarded as having moved to England long
ago and the Wailers are just another good band from the slums. Actually, the Maytals had
already been singing together for five years in 1968 when Toots, needing materi... More >

The quick way to explain the Maytals is to say that in reggae they're the Beatles to the Wailers' Rolling Stones. But how do I explain Toots himself? Well, he's the nearest thing to Otis Redding left on the planet: he transforms "do re mi fa sol la ti do" into joyful noise. I wish he had real politics--any Jamaican who can only pray to God about this time tough hasn't ever been compelled to explore all his options--and lately his arrangements have been looser than I'd like, but this is a gift. (Grade - A-)