release date: 1973
format: cd (1991 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Warwick Lyn, Chris Blackwell & Dave Bloxham
label: Island Records - nationality: Jamaica
Tracklist: 1. "Sit Right Down" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Pomp and Pride" (4 / 5) - 3. "Louie Louie" (4 / 5) - 4. "I Can't Believe" - 5. "Redemption Song" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Daddy's Home" (4 / 5) - 7. "Funky Kingston" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "It Was Written Down" (3,5 / 5)
7th studio album by Toots & The Maytals org. released on Dragon (Records) and the first to be released internationally. It's quite evident that the album had been in the hands of more talented producers, as the sound is clearly bettering the predecessor Slatyam Stoot (1972). The album comes in two major different versions: the original Jamaican and similar European issues, and a 1975 issue released for the American market with a completely different track set [found here].
Many of the tracks had been issued on previous albums. "Pomp and Pride", "Louie Louie", "Redemption Song" and "It Was Written Down" were all on the '72 album in other versions. "Daddy's Home" is also found on the previous album and on the debut The Sensational Maytals (1965) as "Daddy", but here that song has been given its original name and the song has doubled its running time and become a reggae composition instead of the former rocksteady version(s), which built on the original 1961 doo-wop single by Shep and the Limelites (written by James Sheppard. The song has been covered by a vast number of artists).
[ allmusic.com, Sputnikmusic 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 5 / 5 stars ]
