Essential Collection

First, props must be given to liner notes author Ian McCann, whose lead sentence here -- "Some have compared Toots Hibbert to Otis Redding, but he's more like the Otis Elevator Company, so surely does he take you to a higher level." -- is truly one of the all-time openers. Thing is, he's right. There's an uplifting joyousness that pervades the music of Jamaica's Toots & the Maytals -- even when Hibbert's singing about being incarcerated, in "54-46 That's My Number," he seems so happy about it that you're glad they locked him away long enough for him to write the song. Toots & the Maytals don't often receive their due when the roots of reggae are discussed -- revisionists would have you thinking it was all Bob Marley -- but it was Hibbert who gave the genre its name, with his 1968 pre-spelling change hit "Do the Reggay." And it was Hibbert and his group, originally comprising Nathaniel "Jerry" McCarthy and Raleigh Gordon, which best exemplified the close connection between American R&B and gospel and the nascent Jamaican music that went through such phases as bluebeat, rocksteady, and ska before finally morphing into reggae as we've since known it. While there is no paucity of Toots best-ofs, this 40-track British anthology collects all of the crucial Toots & the Maytals recordings from 1966-1976 and then tosses in a whole lot more. The basics, of course, are all accounted for: "Pressure Drop," later covered by the Clash; "Monkey Man," covered by the Specials; "Sweet and Dandy" from the Jamaican film that broke reggae wide open, The Harder They Come; the unique reworkings of both the American rock & roll classic "Louie Louie," and John Denver's folk-country hit "(Take Me Home) Country Roads." There's a healthy sampling of tunes from the Maytals' landmark albums Funky Kingston and In the Dark, and a handful of album tracks and singles to fill it out. Those seeking only the essentials may be better served with one of the many single-disc Toots & the Maytals retrospectives, but anyone who wants to know why this pioneering artist -- when he is actually given his due -- is virtually credited with kick-starting reggae will do well to invest in this more comprehensive roundup. ~ Jeff Tamarkin|