Peter Tosh

Certain Songs #1550: Peter Tosh – “Wanted Dread and Alive”

May 30, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Wanted Dread and Alive
Year: 1981

. . .

Yes, the title is slightly cheesy, and the lyrics aren’t all that original, but fuck all that, “Wanted Dread And Alive” is quite possibly my all-time favorite reggae song.

Maybe “Armagideon Time,” “Book of Rules,” “Put It On” or “Funky Kingston” could have claims to that title, but “Wanted Dread And Alive” has absolutely killed me ever since I first spun it at the pre-air KFSR in 1981.

Certain Songs #1549: Peter Tosh – “Equal Rights”

May 29, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Equal Rights
Year: 1977

. . .

They never covered anything from it, but given that it came out in the same year as their debut, and given their penchant for reggae and politics, I can’t imagine that The Clash didn’t on Peter Tosh’s Equal Rights album, especially the stellar title track, one of the most uncompromising songs Tosh ever wrote.

After all, the affinity between punk and reggae in the U.K. was so strong in 1977 that Bob Marley put out a single celebrating it, the utopian “Punky Reggae Party,” but compared to the powerhouse “Equal Rights,” or Culture’s “Calling Rasta For I” — which also featured Sly and Robbie — Marley’s effort felt a bit slight.

Certain Songs #1548: Peter Tosh – “Stepping Razor”

May 28, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Equal Rights
Year: 1977

. . .

One of the first reggae albums I ever purchased, Peter Tosh’s 1977 Equal Rights is also one of my all-time favorite reggae albums, mixing and matching furious political commentary with thrilling and propulsive music.

Mixing and matching Wailers vets like keyboardist Earl Lindo and guitarist Al Anderson, Equal Rights was also one of the earliest albums that the crack rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare played on, and their incredible groove was just part of the reason Equal Rights sounded so great, especially compared to the somewhat thin Legalize It.

Certain Songs #1547: Peter Tosh – “Legalize It”

May 24, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Legalize It
Year: 1976

. . .

First off, it’s just a coincidence of the alphabet that “Legalize It” follows “Puff, The Magic Dragon” in Certain Songs, especially since — as I pointed out yesterday — “Puff, The Magic Dragon” is most certainly not a weed song.

Whereas, “Legalize It” absolutely is. Perhaps the most weed song ever, almost instant shorthand for cannabis usage in popular culture.