Toots & The Maytals - Light Your Light

The Winning Team

Reviewed by Seb on September 07, 2007

3 years after the release of the Grammy Awards winning 'True Love', Toots Hibberts comes back with his new CD 'Light Your Light'. It's wrong to change a winning team so Richard Feldman again takes charge of the production. He explains the angle chosen for this recording session :

« This is a record on which Toots packs more of his grooviness than ever before. He also plays guitar on nearly all the tracks, and adds several backing vocals to give it a bit of the classic Maytals trio sound. »

Since the debut of the Maytals way back in in 1962, Toots marked out reggae history of numerous hit singles and albums. Now he's big again thanks to his previous release and a triumphant live tour. The very same musicians who accompanied him during his last gigs are back to work with him on this release. It's a line up packed with talent and well known names like Jackie Jackson (bass), Paul Douglas (drums), Dougie Bryan (rhythm guitar), Carl Harvey (lead guitar) and Charles Farquharson (keyboard). Only the best!

These players seem to enjoy their time with the old songs re-arranged for this occasion and the songs presented here for the first time. That's probably why it features a pleasant "live" feeling all-through. The veteran Hibbert's voice is still as warm as it used to be and is accompanied with highly crafted backing vocals. The production has been given first class treatment and explores different styles and influences - reggae, pop, soul.

'Light Your Light' is an album I'd recommend to everyone who has been enjoying Toots on stage recently and to any reggae pop lover in general.

Seb - Roots Archives, September 2007
Edited by Leggo Rocker