I don't see a lot of older Jamaican 45's, but when I do, I mostly grab 'em. Unfortunately, they're often pretty beat up...seems to come with the territory.
This cut is the flip-side of The Maytals' 1967 Festival song, and it's an odd one because Toots Hibbert doesn't sing on it. Toots was in jail for pot possession at the time.
What I find interesting about this is that the other members of the Maytals supposedly waited for Toots to get out of jail and did not try to replace him. Which really only made good sense, because Toots' lead vocal was by that time totally defining the group's sound.
But ya know, this 45 gives some lie to that story....the festival song itself, I'm A Big Man, is obviously a duet....and the cut I'm offering up here either has three singers on it, or the lead vocal was overdubbed over the background singing. As I said above, there's no Toots on the record.
So much for waiting for your friend to get out of jail.
Ultimately, Toots and the Maytals won the Festival song competition three out of the first seven years of it's existence. But only with Toots singing the lead.
Still, this is a great cut....or I wouldn't be posting it, would I?
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