Toots, yeah...great guy and all...but those MAYTALS are friggin' WISEACRES.

And you can't just invite Toots over for the back yard barbecues, either. Then you get an earful of that "They my BROTHERS, mon" stuff and you say "Toots, can't you leave them HOME, just ONCE," and he pouts and you have to smoke a fuckin' spliff with him to bring him back to reality and by the time you do that the fucker has gotten you high and you'll agree to anything, especially a back yard full of Maytals at your barbecue, the smart-assed bastards who make faces at you from the other side of the yard when you're trying to chat up the pretty female guests.

Them fuckin' MAYTALS. Whatta couple of jokers.

:rofl:

In all seriousness, this has to be one of the single greatest Reggae albums OF ALL TIME:



:toast:

One of my bands still does Pressure Drop every once in a while---always a fun one to play. Saw them a couple of times, quite a few years ago....First time was absolutely amazing... Second time, Toots was still great, but it seemed like many of the musicians were a new crew he'd just picked up on the road or something; and as a unit, just not nearly as tight as that first time. I actually listened to Do The Reggay on youtube just last night too. I don't know if this is all that good a description, but once when telling someone about Toots, I said to imagine if Otis Redding had been born in Jamaica. If you listen to old Lee Dorsey albums, you can hear some musical resemblance there too.... I'm sure Toots was digging him some Lee Dorsey on American radio stations as a young guy.

the finest things I have ever heard.

...all you have to do to connect the dots is listen to the part where Otis revs up "Try A Little Tenderness" and compare it to Toots' performance of "Funky Kingston." That really is the test of any great artist...to absorb and give back influences without becoming derivative or a "cover band." And when Toots is working the Otis thing, he's not telling the audience "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to do a song by Otis Redding." No, he just channels Otis and knows that people like you and I and anyone else who loves music is going to hear his love for Otis' talent in his performance.

I also was amazed at his willingness to kick over the apple cart..."Take me home, to the place I love, West Jamaica, mountain mama, take me home, Country Roads..."

:rofl:

Love it.

I know there are many mixed feelings about people like Eric Clapton "breaking" Reggae in the U.S. with "I Shot The Sherrif," just as there are still mixed feelings about people like Elvis and Pat Boone (!) scoring hits with songs by Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

But the truth of the matter is that I ran with a crowd that DID get pulled in by Clapton, and it DID lead us directly to Toots / Bob / Jimmy and more, so in my book it's no harm, no foul.

I would have either never discovered blues , or would have a lot later than I did, were it not for the British groups. And Elvis stimulated a desire for the real thing too, although in my book, he IS the real thing , and as long as you're doing the music with obvious passion and respect for where it came from, I don't even have a problem with being a "cover band". My problem way back when was Georgia Gibbs or Pat Boone etc doing lame, watered down, white-bread copies of Little Richard or Hank Ballard, and raking in the money by being lame ( or their managers raking it in). Clapton, The Stones, Elvis...they got nothing to apologize for by doing the music they did. They obviously did it because they loved it, not as a cynical way of cashing in on music somebody else did infinitely better. I myself always try to put on my own spin when I'm doing black music ( which I've mostly done over the years), and to keep an awareness of where it came from and what I owe to the people and historical forces that created this powerful music in the first place ( blues, R&B, soul, gospel ,reggae...). Just like when I'm doing rockabilly; I don't try for a minute to pretend I'm from the hills of Tennessee or Arkansas,and have even been sort of shunned by the very clique-ish rockabilly community for not slicking my hair back and driving a '55 Chevy etc. I got no problem with putting on a show and dressing/looking appropriate for the music, but I think being authentic is more being true to yourself with an appreciation for the music and its origins, than trying to mimic the original artists. I think I'll stop now, because I'm not sure I know what the hell I'm trying to say at this point, but just wanted to say that as far as I'm concerned, any artist that gets you turned on to something else worth listening to, was worth listening to themselves. (although I guess by that theory, if even one kid got turned on to Little Richard by way of Pat Boone, then I suppose that was OK too--just sucked that because of racism, Pat made the bigger bucks). I don't know, it's complicated, there's so much "classic rock" that's just white guys doing old blues and soul...and now I really have no idea what I'm trying to say, so I WILL shut up now.........p.s. Check out Lee Dorsey if you haven't already .

a few years ago.
He said that, like clockwork, every 20 minutes Toots would pull out a chillum and take a big ol' hit. In my buddy's words, "Man,it was just like those pictures we used to see in Creem. His whole head would just disappear in a cloud of smoke"

...I hear those songs and I see that smile and I know that if you got high with Toots there's at least a 50% chance that you might wake up in a tree. I used to know people who would take ONE HIT and start acting like Dwight Frye in "Dracula." I mean, COME ONE...you only had ONE HIT...

:rofl:

Pure awesomeness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_St8Kbo4uwU

I mentioned above that I still do Pressure Drop once in a while...I tried to get that same band to learn this, but they were too lazy by then...and not because of plenty bottle of cola wine...