Consumer Guide Album

Toots and the Maytals: Funky Kingston [Island, 1975]
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. A-