29 April 2011

Toots & The Maytals "Slatyam Stoot" (1972)

Slatyam Stoot
release date: 1972
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]
producer: Warrick Lyn
label: Dynamic Sounds - nationality: Jamaica

Tracklist: 1. "Louie Louie" - 2. "Pomp & Pride" - 3. "Daddy" (4 / 5) - 4. "If You Act This Way" - 5. "Pressure Drop" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "Redemption Song" (4 / 5) - 7. "Come Reggae" (4 / 5) - 8. "The Same Thing" - 9. "Collie Baby" - 10. "It Was Written Down"

6th studio album by Toots & The Maytals nearly only features compositions written by Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert. The first song is a cover written by Richard Berry. "Pomp & Pride" may be referred to as rocksteady but it fits nicely in the new emerging genre of reggae.
"Daddy" had first been released in '65 on The Sensational Maytals and is here rearranged into a roots reggae version, and "Pressure Drop" was issued in '69 on the album Sweet and Dandy, and is here slightly less tight. Track #7 "Come Reggae", an uptempo soul, rocksteady and reggae composition by Toots Hibbert is another song with the word "reggae" in the title - the first known song with the word was the 'Toots' Hibbert track "Do the Reggay" from 1968, thus giving name to the new genre. The last three tracks on the album are actually the most reggae-styled tracks on the entire album, although I don't find them bettering the first seven.
The album is yet another great release by Toots & The Maytals, and as such highly recommended.