Time Tough: Anthology

The 30-year career of Frederick "Toots" Hibbert and his Maytals is in many ways the story of Jamaican pop music. A ska originator who adapted early '60s soul into an original and irresistible island groove, Toots slowed ska's staccato chops and shuffle beats to create a midtempo rock-steady. As the '70s approached, Toots's music eased even more and evolved into reggae (with his 1968 single "Do the Reggay," he even named the genre). Through the '70s and '80s, as other styles appropriated reggae, Toots pulled in the opposite direction to bring funk, R&B, rock, and pop into his music. The two-disc, 41-track Time Tough: The Anthology, which extends from Toots's earliest single, 1963's "Six and Seven Books of Moses", to his 1988 album Toots in Memphis, covers all of the reggae survivor's transformations. More than Toots's lack of rastaman dreadlocks, what distinguishes him from countrymen Bob Marley and Peter Tosh is his continual embrace of American music. Throughout his career, his comfort with mainland forms worked both for and against him. On Disc One's early singles ("54-46 That's My Number," "Sweet & Dandy"), Toots's crooning and the Maytals' classic soul hooks make for first-rate ska and rock-steady. Disc Two, though, documents how, while Marley turned reggae into protest music, Toots remained largely apolitical and recorded pale versions of American hits like "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (yes, John Denver) and "Spiritual Healing" (reworking Marvin Gaye). By the '80s, his embrace of slick R&B ("Just Like That") and use of Memphis musicians made his sound at times barely recognizable as reggae. Disc One's glory, though, easily compensates for Disc Two's late-career shortcomings; Toots's rightful place in reggae royalty was secured long ago. --Roni Sarig