sorry for slow bloggin, been doin this and that. i recently hooked up a turntable, and am turning back to my ancient lps. allow me to say that i am actually in favor of digital sound, alright? surface sounds on vinyl might have a retro charm or whatever, but they also grew worse on your favorite albums until they were distracting. i actually think that the average mp3 sounds much better - clearer and more transparent - than the average lp. of course vinyl can have irremediable skips and pops; many of my old things do. now, when people describe vinyl as a richer or a warmer sound, when they describe all the lost microtones or whatever they do, i do not dismiss what they say. however, i must also remark that these are somewhat elusive in my actual audible experience.
at any rate i am digging through. one resuscitation: toots and the maytals' knock out!, which i beieve was my record of the year for the baltimore city paper in '81. however, it's not on itunes and it's not all on youtube. everyone listens to funky kingston and reggae got soul, of course, and many people know that he goes back all the way to the dawn of jamaican recorded music. all the ska and rock steady stuff is amazing and fundamental, and he is a figure comparable to marley. toots hibbert is a very great singer. (also he is a christian anti-rasta, which he prosecutes on "careless ethiopians" on knock out!.)
obviously toots himself as well as anybody who ever wrote about him places him at the intersection of reggae and soul, but reggae has always been intertwined with soul; well, especially rock steady. but toots is an otis redding/wilson pickett-type, paradigmatic, baptist-church shouter. better recognize, though: he started recording before they did, but obviously he also listened to them when they came.
so there are a bunch of good songs on knock out!; it's a fully coherent record by a master at the height of his abilities. and i'm going to say that "missing you", which i really can't find to show you here, may be the single greatest recorded performance of his career: it is transcendent. it's a full-on soul arrangement, with black-girl back-up singers, full horn chart, etc.; he's definitely taken on al green or that hi records thing by '81. it's also a great composition, building in quite a complex structure, and he doesn't sound like anyone other than himself, finally. i say 'recorded performance' because as anyone who saw toots in the '70s will tell you, he killed live every damn night. ok ok! he sounds good on vinyl.
that one, which is on knock out!, as you might notice, has a pedal steel going, and actually when i was going to jamaica, jamaican christaians were always asking me to bring down country cds; they love that shit. for that matter, the man can yodel.
