Equal Rights [Bonus Tracks] [Remaster]

Performer: Peter Tosh
Artist: Robbie Shakespeare; Bunny Wailer; Sly Dunbar
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Peter Tosh (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Al Anderson, Abdul Wali, Karl Pitterson (guitar); Dirty Harry (tenor saxophone); Bobby Ellis (trumpet); Harold Butler (Clavinet); Earl Lindo, Tyrone Downie (keyboards); Robbie Shakespeare (bass); Sly Dunbar, Carlie Barrett (drums); Skully (percussion); Bunny Wailer (background vocals) Producer: Peter Tosh. Reissue producer: Bruce Dickinson. Includes liner notes by Roger Steffens. Digitally remastered by Chris Athens (Sterling Sound, New York, New York). Personnel: Peter Tosh (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Bunny Wailer (vocals, background vocals); Abdul Wali, Karl Pitterson, Al Anderson (guitar); Dirty Harry Hall (tenor saxophone); Bobby Ellis (trumpet); Harold Butler (Clavinet); Earl Lindo, Tyrone Downie (keyboards); Sly Dunbar (drums); Skully (percussion). Liner Note Author: Roger Steffens. Photographers: Kim Gottlieb-Walker; Chuck Pulin. Peter Tosh served as a counterpoint to the worldwide success of his former partner Bob Marley. Their relationship is often compared to that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with Tosh playing the role of the cynical Lennon to Marley's love-song-oriented McCartney. The analogy worked loosely at best, as both musicians simply followed different muses after the 1974 break-up of the original Wailers. Tosh's recorded output had as much cross-over appeal as Marley's more commercial work, culminating in a duet with Mick Jagger on the song "Walk And Don't Look Back." But Tosh always had the more militant stance which resulted in many beatings and arrests leading up to his murder in 1987. Tosh's 1977 album, EQUAL RIGHTS, is a peak in his career. It begins with a new version of "Get Up, Stand Up," one of Marley's signature songs (co-written by Tosh). Tosh's version is more sinewy than Marley's, with biting guitar lines snaking throughout. Likewise, "Stepping Razor" struts with a dangerous swagger, "African" plays like a mirror to Marley's pan-Africanism, and "Apartheid" shows that Tosh is not afraid to indict any enemy, no matter how large. But the most chilling song is the title track, where Tosh sings, "Everyone is crying out for peace/None is crying out for justice," a self-assured call-to-arms as pertinent today as it was eighteen years ago. EQUAL RIGHTS represents Tosh to a tee--no-nonsense, gritty, political reggae with some of the most fully realized and best produced tracks this side of Tuff Gong. Equal Rights was to be the album that propelled Peter Tosh to the top of the reggae world -- the rival to onetime fellow Wailer Bob Marley. Time has shown that this lofty aspiration was not borne out, but Equal Rights remains among the handful of best, and most influential, reggae albums ever recorded. Tosh was always the most militant of the original Wailers and this album reflects that outlook. Whether it is preaching about the unity of the African diaspora ("African"), protesting conditions in South Africa ("Apartheid"), or giving a more general call to arms ("Get Up, Stand Up"), Equal Rights is a political album. This is at times crippling, as some tracks are more effective as political statements than they are as songs. This, in fact, is a primary difference between Tosh and Marley -- Marley's political statements never overwhelmed his songs. Unfortunately, this is not always the case with Tosh. That being said, "Downpresser Man" (based on a folk standard), "Stepping Razor," and his definitive version of "Get Up, Stand Up" are as good a trio of songs as you will find on any album, reggae or not. Tosh's singing is angry and forceful and the music is intricate and distinctive. On these three tracks you can see why people thought that Tosh could become a transcendent international star. The rest of the album, however, shows why he never quite lived up to that potential. [Columbia/Legacy reissued the album in 1999 with a pair of live, previously unreleased bonus tracks.] ~ Toby Ball

CMJ (7/19/99, pp.27,35) - "...among the most crucial reggae albums ever released....EQUAL RIGHTS [is] considered by many to be Tosh's best studio effort....Smoke it up, kid." Q (Magazine) (p.109) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "The chilling 'Equal Rights' took on apartheid-era South Africa, unequal rights and police oppression. Its fury remains almost palpable..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.120) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Tosh makes Joe Higgs' 'Stepping Razor' his own signature tune..."

Along with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh was a founding member of Jamaican reggae legends the Wailers. With his rough-and-tumble sound and image, Tosh gave the early incarnation of the Wailers an edge that was informed by ska and its "rude boy" lifestyle. Splitting from the group in the mid-1970s, Tosh embarked on a solo career with the pro-marijuana album LEGALIZE IT. Sadly, in 1987, Tosh was gunned down during an incident at his home in Kingston, ending the life of a reggae innovator.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25