New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Reggae pioneers coming to city
NEW HAVEN — When you talk about reggae music — especially when you talk about living, breathing, still-performing reggae artists — it just doesn’t come any steadier or more classic than Toots and the Maytals.
Toots Hibbert has been around since reggae’s early days — and in fact, one of his songs, “Do the Reggay,” released in 1968, was the first song to first use the word “reggae” and has been credited with giving the genre its name.
Another Toots and the Maytals song, “Pressure Drop” — which has since been covered by the Specials, Keith Richards, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, and the Clash — was included on the soundtrack of the 1972 film, “The Harder They Come,” which introduced reggae to much of the world.
Toots, who would be alongside Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Bunny Wailer and perhaps Sly & Robbie on reggae’s Mount Rushmore if it had one, is an important enough figure in music that the Maytals’ latest album, “True Love,” features appearances by the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Bonnie Raitt.
It also includes younger stars such as No Doubt, The Roots and Phish’s Trey
Anastasio — along with reggae icons Bunny Wailer and Marcia Griffiths, who was one of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ I Threes.
But what’s really amazing about Toots and the Maytals’ appearance this Wednesday at the College Street Music Hall is that for the price of the ticket ($30-$40), you also get Fishbone.
Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are available at collegestreetmusichall.com or 877-987-6487. The show is presented by Premier Concerts and Manic Presents.
Fishbone broke out in the 1980s with an electrifying fusion of American ska and funky rock fusion that included elements of funk, punk and ska all mashed into one.
The band has long held a reputation as one of the best live acts around — causing The Roots’ Questlove once to say, “Fishbone is the greatest band that the world ignored” and Les Claypool of Primus to declare, “Fishbone is the world’s greatest live band. ... I’ve been blown away by them many times.”