Classic Album Review: Peter Tosh – Equal Rights (1977)

Like his friend and fellow Wailers collaborator Bob Marley, Peter Tosh was fated to depart this earth long before he was supposed to, shot dead in his own home, in execution fashion, when an attempted robbery went tragically wrong back in 1987. But unlike Marley, Tosh has not been bestowed the acclaim or posthumous legendary status his wider body of work would suggest he deserves.

Having split from Bob and the Wailers in 1974, Tosh released his debut solo album Legalize It in 1976, with the title track going on to become something of a staunch pro-weed anthem for every subsequent generation of smoker. Such was its universal appeal, Legalize It consequently became the album most often associated with Peter Tosh, and while it is pretty darn good, it isn’t (in my opinion) his best solo work … step forward, Equal Rights, Tosh’s 1977 follow-up.

There are two immediately identifiable characteristics to be found in Tosh’s music – the first being that powerful and compelling baritone. Always forceful and utterly persuasive, Tosh’s vocal leaves the listener in no doubt he actually believes every word he sings.

The second key element is the lyrics; anti-establishment, militant, political, with a strong spiritual undercurrent never too far from the surface, Tosh pretty much always dealt with issues close to his heart. Important stuff like Rastafari, equality, race, unity, and um, weed. Equal Rights is chock full of these themes.

But even if it wasn’t, and Tosh had decided to sing about other issues, perhaps if he’d offered us an occasional lovers track – something that Bob Marley doubtlessly identified as being pivotal to his own commercial success – none of it would have detracted from the quality of the sounds underpinning the lyrics on Equal Rights.

That’s due, in the main, to a supporting cast of musicians that reads like a Who’s Who of Seventies Jamaican reggae – not least the likes of Sly Dunbar (drums), Robbie Shakespeare (bass), and fellow onetime Wailers, Bunny Wailer (backing vocals), Carlton Barrett (drums) and Al Anderson (guitar). A virtual roots reggae supergroup. Production comes from Tosh himself.

A 2011 deluxe, or “legacy” edition, included seven additional tracks, plus a second disc of various dubplate and dub versions. A stone cold roots classic.

Highlights: ‘Get Up, Stand Up’, ‘Downpressor Man’, ‘Stepping Razor’, ‘Equal Rights’, ‘Apartheid’.

Here's the title track:

List: 10 Important Reggae Albums

Local music blog ‘Blog on the Tracks’ (on www.stuff.co.nz) recently featured a post on the “ten most important” Reggae albums. It was part of a series where blogger Simon Sweetman selects a genre and then proceeds to list the most important albums of said genre. Or the “most important” as they relate to Simon’s journey and life as a music consumer. Not the ten best-sellers or the ten most acclaimed but the ten that have touched on a personal level.

I personally listen to a lot of Reggae (and/or Dub and a multitude of sub genres) so I thought I’d follow the blog’s lead and create my own list of ten for the genre. As with most lists of this nature, I suspect the contents would vary from one day to the next, depending on my whim, but the only prerequisite I’d insist upon for inclusion is that I own a copy of the album in some form or another – be it LP vinyl, CD, or a digital version … or in the case of one of the below (Signing Off), all three variations.

Here’s the list I submitted in response to the blog:

1. Third World – 96 Degrees in the Shade – combines Jamaican rhythms with funk to produce the perfect soundtrack for those long balmy summer nights.

2. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Kaya – won’t be the one for Bob purists but means so much to me on a personal level for reasons perhaps best not gone into here. Contains no filler.

3. Lee Scratch Perry & Dub Syndicate – Time Boom x De Devil Dead – Perry’s second coming masterfully produced by Adrian Sherwood. An important album in the evolution of Dub.

4. Peter Tosh – Equal Rights – Tosh’s most consistent solo effort just shading Legalise It. The title track is one of contemporary music’s all-time greatest protest songs.

5. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Exodus – prime period Bob. An important statement at a troublesome time for him personally.

6. Burning Spear – Marcus Garvey – Look no further for the true definition of ‘Roots’ in black plastic form.

7. Max Romeo – War Ina Babylon – Perry-produced set that raised the bar for all pretenders.

8. Jimmy Cliff/OST – The Harder They Come – not so much a Cliff solo set as a who’s who of Reggae as it morphed from its Ska and Rocksteady origins. My extended review of this soundtrack made the front page of the popular ‘Rate Your Music’ site … just sayin’.

9. UB40 – Signing Off – before they turned to mush, this Brummie collective had a lot to say. The opening quartet of tracks on this album ensured they said it with plenty of style and substance. The rest ain’t bad either.

10. Various – 15 Years in an Open Boat – showcases Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound label with 15 years worth of gems from a whole range of sources. A one-stop-shop/intro to an important label … but look out too for any one of the half dozen or so Pay It All Back compilations on On-U.

( … but ten is obviously all too finite as a number and there really is a batch of other albums that on any other given day I’d probably rate just as highly as some of the above. I’ll doubtlessly be looking to create a more definitive personal list at some point in the future …)