Funky Kingston

Toots & The Maytals

1973

3.33

Rating

Votes

33%

Distribution

Genres: Reggae

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Album Summary

Funky Kingston is the name of two albums by Jamaican reggae group Toots and the Maytals. The first was issued in Jamaica and the United Kingdom in 1973 on Dragon Records, a subsidiary label of Island Records, owned by Chris Blackwell. A different album, with the same cover and title, was issued in the United States in 1975 on Mango Records. That album was compiled from three previous Maytals albums by Island Records employee Danny Holloway and peaked at No. 164 on the Billboard 200. It was voted the eleventh best album of 1975 in the annual Pazz & Jop poll. In 2003, the American version was placed at number 378 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", 380 in a 2012 revised list and 344 in a 2020 revised list.

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Apr 08 2026 Author

Funky Kingston is one of the best reggae albums made. When listening to it, I'm always impressed by the great voice of Frederick "Toots" Hibbert. The songs are fabulous. Each of the cover tracks ("Louie Louie", "I Can't Believe", "Country Road") is a rewritten version that adds a lot to the original song. Certainly the extended (1975) edition including "Pressure Drop" as one of the best reggae songs ever, is a must listen.

Apr 09 2026 Author

Yes. I saw Toots perform at a small/medium sized club in my college town of Lawrence, KS back in the day. He had such a powerful voice. He held the mic far away from his mouth because he could project so well - like he barely needed the mic. Definitely one of my warmest musical memories. RIP Toots.

Apr 08 2026 Author

In the 90s by brother made these fantastic mix cassettes for me, back when media was wierd and fun and listening to music wasn't mainly proscribed among half a dozen tech behemoths, via the ubiquitous pocket hellmouth. He put the title track from this on one, along with (maybe on the same tape, maybe another) Pressure Drop. The former being the absolute banger of this album, by a pretty wide margin to my ears. I like all of it though, very much including the idiosyncratic covers.

Apr 08 2026 Author

I went through a reggae phase many years ago. I still enjoy it, but only on occasion. This is a solid album. 3 stars.