[Today: Toots & The Maytals want to take you higher...]
Frederick “Toots” Hibbert grew up singing in the congregational choir of his local Baptist church before forming The Maytals with Jerry Matthias and Raleigh Gordon in 1962. It isn’t a surprising influence – Toots sings with a joyous, full-throated voice of redemption that wouldn’t sound out of place on a preacher at an old-time revival tent meeting. His vocal delivery allows the group to turn songs like The Kingsmen’s ‘Louie Louie’ and John Devnver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ into something approaching spiritual experiences. Most reggae music has soul and funk at its core, but Funky Kingston is built on a foundation of gospel.
It’s an album with a confusing lineage. There are actually two LPs in The Maytals’ catalogue under this title – a middling 1973 studio album that featured the title track and ‘Louie Louie’, and the 1976 compilation (pictured above and discussed here) that pulled together many of the group’s best singles to that point. Adding to the confusion, recent reissues have flipped the release dates, so the ’76 compilation is labeled as a 1973 release, and the original studio album is listed as a product of 1976. It’s enough to make a sane man fire up a big fat spliff.
Toots & The Maytals were one of the few reggae acts to span several different eras of the genre’s development. They were ska sensations in the mid-60′s and created some of the best ‘rock steady’ reggae of the early-70′s before shifting gears to a more standard roots/rock/reggae sound. The band called it quits in the early 80′s, but has been touring regularly since at least the mid-1990′s, and they still put on a fierce live show. I saw them play New Year’s Eve 1997, and a daytime concert on Pier 28 in San Francisco, and both shows were marked by high-energy, positive vibrations, and excellent reggae music.
Which brings us back to Funky Kingston. Jamaican music doesn’t get much better, and this should be one of the first reggae albums in any collection. Just make sure you pick up the right one…
Listen: Funky Kingston
Listen II: Time Tough
Tags: Funky Kingston, reggae, Toots & The Maytals
14 September 2008 at 12:28 pm |
I love Toots and the Maytals! The concert I saw at the House of Blues in LA a few years ago was fantastic! Another great, recent album: True Love, has a ton of guest musicians singing classic Toots tunes. Keith singing Careless Ethiopians…priceless.
17 September 2008 at 8:37 am |
I love ‘em too. i saw them at the greek in berkeley in about ’87-’89 on an overcast gloomy day. reggae sunsplash i think. toots came out and screamed “I a gonna sing until the sun come out”. Immediately after he spoke those words the clouds broke and a ray of sun shine hit the stage. no shit. i will never forget that. the gods were there.
24 October 2008 at 5:36 pm |
[...] ever seen, a New Year’s Eve extravaganza at the old Maritime Hall that was co-headlined by Toots & The Maytals. Saunders played until 4am, and by the end of the evening, drunks were being carried out of the [...]