Peter Tosh - Equal Rights
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Peter ToshBrand: TOSH,PETER
Edition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-07-06
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Get Up, Stand Up
- Downpresser Man
- I Am That I Am
- Stepping Razor
- Equal Rights
- African
- Jah Guide
- Apartheid
- Pick Myself Up [Live][#][*]
- African [Live][#][*]
Free Music Notes for Equal Rights
Free Music Review: A Monument to Reggae and Classic Rock
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't remember the first time I heard this album or where I bought it or how I even knew to buy it, but I've owned Peter Tosh's "Equal Rights" since I was 14 or 15 (well over 15 years ago now). I can't recall listening to reggae without listening to this and I loved it then as much as I enjoy it now. Growing up with it for half of my life and being one of my all time favorites, it was only a matter of time before I bought this digitally remastered set with bonus tracks by Columbia Records.
I have fond memories of sitting outside in the summertime listening to this album either with friends or by myself with no school and nothing to do; they seemed like simpler times. I never listened to a lot of "mainstream" music even as a teenager. My radio consisted of the CDs I owned (or borrowed) which was largely an assortment of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals and like artists preferring Reggae to most other music.
Being constantly around Reggae through friends and their older brothers, I like to think I had an ear for good Reggae even back then but the fact that I loved "Equal Rights" right away probably had a lot to do with my dad who raised me listening to Rock groups like Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks etc. Because this album is an excellent crossover between both genres it's not hard to see why it appeals to me and so many other people as well. Of course, that doesn't mean most fans of Rock will like it. After all, it is still Reggae.
Peter Tosh's second solo album after leaving Bob Marley & the Wailers is definately his greatest (in studio). His music has matured significantly since his first album, "Legalize It" and backed by the "rhythm twins" Sly and Robbie, this album becomes a classic by monumental proportions. Many people argue that "Legalize It" is still better but the music for "Equal Rights" is much more unified, most of the songs sticking to the theme of the album while the tracks on "Legalize It" are remakes of old Peter Tosh singles ranging from politics to love to dance, making for a somewhat patchy (albeit, very good) set.
The beginning of this masterpiece sets the tone with his own political anthem "Get Up, Stand Up," which he originally wrote for "Burnin'" the Wailer's second album with Island. While the version he sang with Bob Marley may be more lively and even made it to Marley's greatest hits CD, "Legend," the Peter Tosh version we have here is the far superior one. I'm glad Tosh decided to remake this song for his second album. Still too few people know that he is the author of it and to see its lyrics on Bob Marley t-shirts and posters is especially annoying.
The standard of the set stays consistant throughout with brilliant reworkings of songs like "Downpresser Man," as well as original material like "I Am that I Am" and "Jah Guide." But Peter Tosh also went boldly where most Reggae artists at the time were afraid to go (Bob Marley included) with songs like the album's title track and also my personal favorite, "Apartheid." More than once would Peter Tosh's life be threatened because of his unwavering and outspoken stance on racial and political injustices in Afrcia and Jamaica. His very vocal opinion, on this album particularly, influenced many other Reggae artists to start speaking out as evidenced by Bob Marley's own tribute to African liberation, his classic "Survival" album released two years later.
Interestingly enough, what would become his signature song, "Stepping Razor" is the only track here that wasn't written by Peter Tosh himself. Joe Gibbs, an early Wailers mentor, originally wrote the song for Jamaica's annual song festival. Peter Tosh took it over and made it his own. It's the most commercialized song on the set and is almost too Rock n' Roll, but why carp. This album is an essential Reggae classic that needs to be listened too again and again.
Equal Rights Poster
Equal Rights brought together Peter Tosh s dedications to the revolutionary movements growing in Africa, and the mysticism and wonders of his personal growth as a prophet, poet, preacher and world-class musical trailblazer. The album included a number of songs that became human rights anthems over the next two decades: Get Up, Stand Up, Downpressor Man, African, Apartheid, and the title tune. There were also intensely personal songs of his revelations as a Rasta: I Am That I Am and Jah Guide ; and the ultimate rude boy, proto-punk declaration of Stepping Razor, by reggae s original roots-rock and Rasta ragamuffin. EQUAL RIGHTS (LEGACY EDITION) presents the original eight-song, 40-minute album as it has been embedded in listeners heads for decades. Then the the disc follows up with seven previously unreleased outtakes from the original album recording sessions, offering a different program of compositions. CD two presents a well-sequenced mix of 15 tracks about half of which are previously unreleased . These include original session alternate and extended versions, and extremely rare dubs.Even though Captured Live might be Peter Tosh's greatest recorded gift, this 1977 studio album was his best--by far--away from the stage. Equal Rights opens with two great salvos, "Get Up, Stand Up" and "Downpressor Man," both of them politically unequivocal in their support, aptly, of human rights and political equity. In his post-Wailers days, Tosh seemed ever in dialogue with his conscience and his obsession with Bob Marley's fame. Tosh sought a place for himself somewhere between reggae and pop (check out the Mick Jagger and Tosh duet, "(You Gotta Walk and) Don't Look Back" on the hits pack Scrolls of the Prophet). In itself, such a desire isn't at all surprising, but it did impact Tosh's music even on his best studio album. But even with any wrinkles, Equal Rights holds a spot firmly as one of the best reggae albums of the 1970s. In this reissue, it comes with a pair of live bonus tracks, "Pick Myself Up" and "African," both recorded live and charged with the best Tosh energy. --Andrew Bartlett
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