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No need to persuade the audience here, who were clearly revved up for a Toots and the Maytals
greatest hits session, and that’s exactly what they got. Opening with Do the Reggay from all those
years ago, familiar songs followed in rapid succession, with Time Tough ratcheting up the rhythm
from reggae to ska in the final bars to get people moving, a trick nicely repeated throughout the set.
After all this time, Toots clearly knows exactly how to work an audience in a seemingly effortless
way, and it was straight into Pressure Drop, Amen, Sweet and Dandy, Reggae Got Soul, Louie Louie, Funky
Kingston, Monkey Man and more.

The bass and rhythm guitarists didn’t move all evening, content to lay down a perfect tight rhythm
throughout. The encore, while beginning with some implausibly Santana-ish guitar twiddlings,
inevitably culminated in a triumphant 54-46 Was My Number. They must have played this set
hundreds of times but it still sounded fresh.

No sign of any material from the new Toots album (see album review of Flip and Twist): this session
was the classic sound of Toots and the Maytals in full flight which is what everyone had turned up to
hear, and which presumably gives him the means to do what he wants on his new releases. Good for
him, and long may it continue.

Toots and the Maytals, O2 Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne, 13th August 2010

On first hearing it’s quite difficult to know what to make of this album from Toots and the Maytals, but after several listening it becomes…quite difficult to know what to make of it. It is certainly branching off in a different direction. Recorded in Jamaica with some A-list musicians in support, it comes from the man who popularised the word reggae all those years ago, but is not in any sense a reggae album. It would be much more accurate to say this is R and B, so long as that’s understood as Rhythm and Blues in the old school/soul/Stax sense rather than contemporary club-oriented R and B.

Written for the most part by Toots, some of the songs herein are pretty good. The opening track, Fool for You, would have fitted well into a set from vintage Otis Redding and it’s no exaggeration to say it would have passed an audition for inclusion on Otis Blue without much difficulty. In similar period R and B style is Perfect Lover, soulful deliveries over strong melody. Good Woman goes back further: simple 12-bar blues.

A few tracks reveal more contemporary influences – What Kind of Woman and There is a Reason travel along happily enough with their hip-hop beats, while the appropriately named Jungle shows that Toots is still writing as well as performing with his senses open to different influences. Maybe in the end there are too many influences: Bye Bye is a strange sort of hyperactive gospel hoedown which is difficult to describe adequately.

After a few listens, it becomes clear that this album is a kind of homage. The only cover versions on an album of 15 tracks are those of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground and Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes’ Philadelphia classic Hope we Can Be Together Soon. Ironically, the latter can be described as the only reggae song on the album, albeit a relaxed subtle jazz-influenced kind of reggae, very different from the received sound of Toots and the Maytals. The other original tracks written for this album pay homage in their own way.

It’ll be interesting to see how this intriguing and in places strong new material sits alongside Toot’s considerable reggae back catalogue when performed live…watch this space for a live review soon.

Flip and Twist, released on Mediacom, July 2010

Sweden’s leading reggae festival this year offers the opportunity to see international artists including Bunny Wailer, the Abyssinians, Busy Signal, Peetah and Gramps Morgan (as in Morgan Heritage), Jah Cure, Misty in Roots, Natural Way, SKAnsen and many others: for details of the programme, more information about the performers and ticket information see the English/Swedish language site by clicking here.

Running from 5th to 7th August 2010, the Uppsala festival first took place 25 years ago, and has over the years developed into a full-blown three-day event, firmly established as the leading northern European reggae gathering. The music on offer this year includes both classic and contemporary reggae. Bunny Wailer, original member of the Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, is scheduled to play on the opening day.

So too are the venerable Abyssinians, who have been playing since the late 1960s, initially working alongside producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd before going their own way in the 1970s. The band reformed with their original lineup in 1998. Misty in Roots are associated in many people’s minds with the UK’s Rock Against Racism movement of the late 70s, with themes of conflict and urban dislocation in a musical moment that brought together rock, punk and reggae. Busy Signal (Reanno Gordon) from St Ann, Jamaica, represents a more contemporary dancehall feel, his second studio album in 2008 gaining wide attention. His album DOB is released July 2010 with a gentler sort of dancehall sound.

The New York reggae outfit with a strange habit or reinventing rock albums we thought we all knew to saturation point already must have wondered what to expect from this venue – we’re playing where? On a summer’s afternoon on a stage set on a headland stretching itself out in the North Sea against a backdrop of buildings from the 13th century – some new bits were added in the 15th century – with medieval flags fluttering in the warm breeze this is definitely a different sort of place to see the band, just as it must have been to play. It seemed to have an effect on crowd and band alike with an infectious kind of positive energy. The set started in a lively style with Bed of Rose from their EP ‘Until that Day’, then it was into selections from their three covers of classic rock albums. These were principally drawn from last year’s ‘Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band’, starting with Sergeant Pepper then into With a Little Help from my Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and She’s Leaving Home.

These come over much more strongly live than in the recorded versions, a great stage presence, powerful sound system and excellent musicianship. There were two songs from ‘Radiodread’ (their cover of OK Computer) in the shape of two of the strongest and most affecting Radiohead tracks, Paranoid Android and Karma Police, with Kirsty Rock on vocals (though sadly no Let Down, a highlight of Radiodread). There’s a nod to their first venture into reinterpreting classic albums in a reggae style by the inclusion of Money from ‘Dub Side of the Moon’, but towards the end of the set they find room to return to Lonely Heart’s Dub Band for When I’m Sixty Four, doing a fine job of dubbing it up in the extended final section. This was a great session.

The Easy Stars are touring, due for more dates in the UK, Italy, France, the USA, Canada and the delightful Sziget festival in Hungary. See www.easystar.com for more details. So if you are still unpersuaded by the idea of some New York musicians specialising in meticulously produced covers of classic rock albums in a reggae style you can go listen for yourself somewhere near you soon.