Peter Tosh

I remember hearing the song Legalize It on a Montreal radio station many years ago and being awe-struck by it. Bob Marley managed to be the symbol of reggae music but had two important band mates in Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh.

My knowledge of Peter Tosh's solo music was very limited until the day I heard his Legalize It song. I knew he covered The Temptations’ Don’t Look Back with assistance from Mick Jagger but had it not been for prior exposure to song, Peter Tosh would have been even more unfamiliar to me.  After hearing Legalize It, I wanted to hear more of his music.

HMV was smaller and across the street from its current downtown Montreal location. I saw and sampled the Legalize It CD there one day. Before I got to the last track of the album, I knew I was leaving the store with it.

For whatever reasons, Tosh's 1976 solo debut ranks among the greatest reggae albums I've ever heard.

Tosh's unapologetic defiance was a slight shock at first because it was the second solo song of his I had heard and a far cry from Don't Look Back.

I then remembered Get Up Stand Up and began to understand Tosh was the real militant element of Bob Marley & the Wailers.

After understanding Tosh was not going to sugar-coat or present a Utopian idea of the world though his music, I realized this was the realest reggae I would ever hear.