Toots & the Maytals
Light Your Light
MUSIC REVIEWED BY BOB JONES

Light Your Light - Fantasy

Living in the sub-tropics, many Southwest Floridians always keep a place in their hearts for reggae and Caribbean music. In the 1970s, Toots & the Maytals made one of the best reggae albums ever with the landmark Funky Kingston, so I am always interested in hearing what Toots has to offer. Light Your Light's opening track, "Johnny Coolman," features the slide-guitar playing of the legendary Derek Trucks, so if you have ever wondered what reggae might sound like with slide guitar, here is your chance. It works well because Trucks' tasteful fills don't overpower the groove. "Premature" features Bonnie Raitt, who lends her vocals as well as more slide guitar. This is also done tastefully, as you would expect. Also lending itself very well to the Caribbean treatment is Toots' cover of the Otis Redding classic "Pain in My Heart." For me, the highlight of the disc is the ska standard "Guns of Navarone," where Toots sings what is normally a horn part. Light Your Light is a reggae album first, but like other Toots & the Maytals records, it's a mixture of R&B and blues, too. It's a bit mellower than Toots' earlier works, but it's still a great record to end the summer with. ¦