Peter Tosh

★★★★ Live At My Father’s Place ROCKBEAT. CD/DL/LP

Peak-period 1978 live set with full-spectrum audio. After signing to Rolling Stones Records for the Bush

Doctor album, Peter Tosh hit the States with his Word, Sound And Power band as support act on the Some Girls tour, headlining Long Island reggae haunt My Father’s Place during a stopgap. Recorded for broadcast by local FM station WLIR, this concert album has pristine audio, highlighting the expressive power of Tosh’s baritone, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare’s unbeatable rhythm section, and guitar pyrotechnics from bandleader Mikey Chung. Beginning with expanded takes of 400 Years and Stepping Razor, Tosh comes into his own on a playfully delivered African and the dejected Pick Myself Up, both embellished by keyboard flourishes from Robbie Lyn a nd Keith Sterling. The cheeky rendition of Don’t Look Back, meanwhile, with its dribbling snare, provides some light relief before the rousing, militant climaxes of Get Up Stand Up and Legalize It.