When Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987, one of the biggest names
\nin reggae music was forever silenced. But despite making a name for
\nhimself with such albums as
\nLegalize It<\/i> and
\nEqual Rights<\/i>, Tosh never achieved the same level of success
\nthat his former bandmates, Bob Marley and the Wailers, did. It
\nwasn’t for lack of talent; Tosh obviously had that. It might have
\nbeen his outspoken political nature that held him back from the
\nrungs of superstardom; Tosh was nearly killed several times after
\nbeatings from the police.<\/p>\n
Whatever the reason that Tosh never grabbed a bigger portion of
\nthe spotlight will be left for us to debate until the end of time.
\nUntil that comes, we can enjoy the recently remastered versions of
\nhis first two solo albums.
\nLegalize It<\/i>, released in 1976, is a solid effort filled with
\nsome great reggae – but sometimes it feels like Tosh is missing the
\ncreative spark he shared with the rest of the Wailers.<\/p>\n
And it’s not like he was lacking a decent backing band – who
\njust happened to be the Wailers (minus one Robert Nesta Marley).
\nHaving his old band behind him helps Tosh out a lot; it almost
\nmakes the transition from his days with the Wailers to his solo
\ncareer a little easier to take.<\/p>\n
The title track is one of the anthems of the pro-marajuana
\nmovement (“Legalize it and I will advertise it,” Tosh sings). Even
\nsomeone like myself, who is staunchly anti-drug, can appreciate the
\nsong on its own merits. (One has to keep in mind that in the
\nRastafarian religion, which both Tosh and Marley practiced, “ganja”
\nwas seen as a sacrament.) The groove that Tosh and crew lay down is
\nincredible, and starts the album off on the right foot.<\/p>\n
Tosh’s strong political views come through on the track
\n“Burial,” which decries the way some dishonest people sought to
\nprofit from the dead by taking their valuables. The opening strains
\nof the death march put to a reggae beat seems to hammer the point
\nhome the hardest, while Tosh makes a strong case against the
\nvultures.<\/p>\n
Where
\nLegaliaze It<\/i> begins to lose a little focus is when Tosh
\nbegins moving away from solid subject matters and into more
\ntrippy-happy reggae, as on “Ketchy Shuby”. (The bonus track – an
\ninstrumental version of the song, is really for the diehard fans
\nonly.) After you’ve heard the emotional punch of tracks like “Why
\nMust I Cry” and “No Sympathy”, this particular track seems to do
\nnothing but confuse the listener.<\/p>\n
Tosh regains a little power in the tracks “Till Your Well Runs
\nDry” and “Brand New Second Hand,” though I thought the former track
\nran a little long in getting its point across. Tosh was obviously
\nnot writing with hit singles in mind – possibly the thing that
\ndrove him from the Wailers.<\/p>\n
\nLegalize It<\/i> is still very much worth checking out – even
\nwith the bonus track, it clocks in at just over 41 minutes – and is
\na great starting place for one to discover Tosh’s solo career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6135],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-39229","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-peter-tosh","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39229","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=39229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39229"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}