Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston (LP) 2019 (Mint (M))

Funky Kingston, recorded at Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, was released in Jamaica and the UK in 1973 before a reworked US edition followed on Mango in 1975, combining tracks from three earlier Toots & The Maytals albums. Producer Chris Blackwell largely left the recordings alone, adding only horn overdubs from the Ghanaian band Sons of the Jungle. The songs work through the grind of working-class Jamaican life without losing sight of celebration, and critic Lester Bangs later called it "the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released." It helped carry reggae to international audiences at a moment when the genre was still largely unknown outside Jamaica.