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TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS
April 29, 2001
Star Hill Music Hall
Charlottesville, VA
If
evidence was needed that global warming has affected the seasons, the wealth
of talent that has graced the stage in Charlottesville makes it seem as
if it's been Harvest Time, months early. Following the sublime shows by
the Meditations and Sugar Minott, the reggae-loving community appeared en
masse on a Sunday evening to sell out the house at Starr Hill Music Hall
(and there was tear-stained regret at the doors, also), as Toots Hibbert
and his Maytals staged a triumphant return to the area... after a several-year
absence.When the club is full at 9:00 PM, it's obvious that something special is going to occur. Lem Oppenheimer, one of the Four Horsemen of the Easy Star posse, manned the Sound System in a massive attack of "vintage" reggae and Rock Steady (providing, of course, that you'd ever heard it before), laying the soul foundation for the man who gave the music its name. Quite fitting, as the Ska Father was accompanied on keys by the legendary Ansel Collins--no stranger to the American charts with Dave Barker on "Double Barrel."
Unlike most performances, the band didn't stage the customary three-to-four-song instrumental warm-up... instead, after some stretching exercises with the groove, the Jamaican Soul Man catapulted to the stage in a firey version of "Time Tough." And so the evening began. Touching all phases of his musical career, including his first recorded selections with an extended, reggae-paced send-up of the ska classic "Never Grow Old" (recently reissued by Heartbeat), the wooden dancefloor was again transformed into a communal trampoline, continuing through a mighty version of "Reggae Got Soul" (given the opening track to the compilation Jamaica, from Putumayo--this song proving that the best never rest).
Several delightful improvised experiments with a funk groove also helped showcase the versatility of Mr. Hibbert and Associates, stepping up to the Memphis style with the much-anticipated "54-46 (That's My Number)."
Toots has become the only performer to sucessfully exorcise the John Denver out of "Country Roads," the rhythm fuel-injected with the hand claps of a tent revival... and carried on in the gospel style to sanctify the Sunday Meeting (a tradition that Sugar Minott began not-so-many weeks ago). A full two hours of the man and his music... there wasn't a dry change of clothes in the house! Setting and maintaining a pace with which James Brown can't compete (at half the time, and nearly thrice the price--despite the absence of a guest list), maybe they should've provided fans at the door!
As the show drew to a close, selections from the new Sister Carol/Easy Star gem "All I Have Is Love" led the recessional, the artists giving way to the adulation of the assembled. All fruits ripe on a Sunday night!
By Scott "Goldfinger" Shisler
"Reggae Vibrations"
WTJU/Charlottesville 91.1FM
www.reggaetrain.com
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::
Sanchez
:: Sugar Minott Dec
3, 2002 New York City ::
Frankie Paul ::
Sugar
Minott ::
The Meditations
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