The more I listen to reggae artist Peter Tosh, the more I have
\nto question why he never achieved the superstardom that his former
\nbandmate Bob Marley did.<\/p>\n
Tosh’s second solo album,
\nEqual Rights<\/i>, is the disc that (at least so far in my
\njourneys) makes the strongest case for Tosh’s career. Solid from
\nstart to finish, Tosh shows that he was just as good a songwriter
\nand performer as Marley, even if his material didn’t fit perfectly
\nin the “hit single” mold.<\/p>\n
Tosh makes only one slip on this album – and that’s his cover of
\nThe Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up”. He has every right to cover the
\nsong; after all, he was a member of the band when this song was
\nwritten and first recorded. But this version seems to leave
\nsomething out, though I can’t put my finger on what’s missing from
\nit. Its more plodding pace also seems to take away some of the
\nsong’s social urgency.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, this is the only mistake that Tosh makes on this
\nentire album. From that point on,
\nEqual Rights<\/i> challenges and entertains you at every turn.
\n“Downpressor Man” is a track that seems to be much shorter than the
\nsix-plus minutes it’s clocked at; you’ll actually find yourself
\nwishing that this groove didn’t end. The title track and
\n“Apartheid” are powerful messages for social upheaval and doing
\naway with the old systems of oppressing blacks, no matter what
\ncountry you live in.<\/p>\n
And while it’s not necessarily a “black-is-beautiful” anthem per
\nse, “African” is a track that Tosh uses to remind people that no
\nmatter where you live or what your background is, if you’re black,
\nyou still have firm roots in Africa, and you shouldn’t forget your
\npast. (I know, a strong interpretation of the track from a white
\nguy, but I think that Tosh was onto something.)<\/p>\n
While many of these songs won’t be familiar unless you’ve really
\nfollowed Tosh’s work, there is something about listening to
\nEqual Rights<\/i> for the first time that makes you feel like
\nyou’re putting on a pair of old, comfortable slippers. Tosh’s style
\nflows so freely and his music is so accessible that it’s almost
\nlike you’ve been listening to him all your life. And this is where
\nthe paradox of his lack of stardom in the U.S. comes into play.<\/p>\n
The recently-remastered disc includes a live version of “Pick
\nMyself Up” – and though the disc says the second bonus track is an
\nalternate version of “Wanted Dread And Alive,” I hear a live
\nversion of “African” in its place. Not that I’m complaining; the
\nlive version smokes.<\/p>\n
\nEqual Rights<\/i> is possibly the must-own album of Tosh’s
\ncareer, and deserves to be spoken about in the same breath as any
\nBob Marley album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6135],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36278","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-peter-tosh","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36278"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36278"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}