Toots & The Maytals - Live! (Live In New Orleans / 1991) '2012

Tracks list

       Album review

Toots Hibbert is Jamaica's Otis Redding, and with his raspy, soulful,
gospel-fueled singing, he's been a riveting performer for nearly 50 years now.
The original incarnation of Toots & the Maytals (Toots, Nathaniel "Jerry"
Matthias, and Raleigh Gordon) parted ways in 1981, but they managed between the
years 1964 and 1974 to assemble one of the most highly charged and distinctive
bodies of work in the history of Jamaican music. Led by Toots'
Kingston-by-way-of-Memphis lead vocals and the ragged call-and-response
background singing of Matthias and Gordon, the trio created gospel-fueled reggae
classics like "54-46 Was My Number," "Monkey Man," "Funky Kingston," "Time
Tough," and the immortal "Pressure Drop," all of which carried the stomp and
wallop of the best and most enduring soul music of the day. Toots continued to
tour and record with various configurations as Toots & the Maytals, and he has
to this day, which is only fair. He was the voice. This set, a live performance
from 1991 in New Orleans, proves the point. With a full band and backup singers,
and before an enthusiastic audience, Hibbert runs through all of his hits, and
by the closer, "54-46 Was My Number," it feels like a secular reggae gospel
concert. That's Toots, with or without Maytals.

© Steve Leggett

Tracklist:
1 Get Up, Stand Up (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
2 Time Tough (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
3 Take Me Home, Country Roads (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
4 Pressure Drop (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
5 Knock On Wood (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
6 Hard To Handle (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
7 Irie (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
8 Monkey Man (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
9 Funky Kingston (Live In New Orleans / 1991)
10 54-46 Was My Number (Live In New Orleans / 1991) 

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