What’s the Kingston connection with yesterday’s Johnny Nash? Aside from Nash recording reggae in Jamaica, Toots & The Maytals also later covered his best known song I Can See Clearly Now. This particular classic, written by Frederick “Toots” Hibbert (lead vocals) and recorded at Dynamic Sound Studios, was from a band that had already produced a string of hits in Jamaica in after forming in 1963 (they currently hold a record 31 number ones there) but didn’t reach a wider audience until later. Chris Blackwell signed on the band, and as he did with The Wailers fronted by Bob Marley, and released this track in the UK in 1972 following previous success with 1970s Monkey Man. It came in two albums of the same name, first on Dragon Records under his Island label, and with different songs in the US on Mango Records. Joyous, uplifting, and indeed funky, particularly with the piano and sax parts, it also has a darker side, lyrical frustrations “people keep on asking me for Funky Kingston, But I ain't got none, somebody take it away from me”, yet there are few more rousing ways to end a night out than to let you hair down to this. Inspiration to many artists, and after a three-year break due a stage incident, in 2016 Toots and co announced a returned to touring.
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