Toots & The Maytals - Sweet And Dandy (1968)

It´s november, the weather is getting more and more awfull - cold and rainy. So it is definitly time for some fine reggae music to warm our hearts.

While they never achieved the commercial success or cultural impact of the Wailers, Toots & the Maytals were nearly as important in the history of Jamaican music; like the Wailers, the Maytals thrived as ska gave way to rocksteady and then evolved into reggae, they boasted one of the island's finest singers and most charismatic frontmen in the great Toots Hibbert, and they worked with many of the most important producers and sidemen on the island. The Maytals were also the band that most clearly demonstrated the links between Jamaican sounds and American R&B (Hibbert's rich, emotive vocal style was informed by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and other soul icons), and the group's catalog contains a number of crucial, frequently covered tracks, most notably the classic "Pressure Drop."        

Here´s the Leslie Kong production "Sweet And Dandy" from 1968, recorded at Dynamic Sounds (Kingston, JA). Led by Toots' Kingston-by-way-of-Memphis lead vocals, and the ragged call-and-response background singing of Nathaniel "Jerry" McCarthy and Raleigh Gordon, the trio created gospel-fueled reggae classics like "54-46 That´s My Number," "Monkey Man," "Sweet and Dandy,"  and the immortal "Pressure Drop," all of which carried the stomp and wallop of the best and most enduring soul music of the day.

Tracklist:

Monkey Man
Pressure Drop
I Shall Be Free
Bla, Bla, Bla
Just Tell Me
We Shall Overcome
Sweet And Dandy
Scare Him
Alidina
I Need Your Love
54-46 That’s My Number
Oh Yeah

Toots & The Maytals - Sweet And Dandy (1968)
(320 kbps, cover art included)