Search - Peter Tosh :: Complete Captured Live

An honest rating for one of the greatest live recordings

12/11/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This two-CD set is a must-have for all Peter Tosh fans. And to have the 1983 show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California (U.S.A.) in its entirety is a gem.Just to have Tosh's 11-plus minute version of "Rastafari Is" is worth the price alone.While that track is the apex of the CD, it's blessed to hear and know that it's surrounded by many gems (some you may have heard, some may seem new.)Among the familiar are his rousing, passionate versions of "Pick Myself Up" and "Mama Africa."Chills run down my spine every time I hear "Equal Rights/Downpresser Man." "Everybody wants to go up to heaven, I say, but none of them want to die, I don't know why." His words still resonate and I've listened to this album so many times, I feel as if I were there at the concert.And while the rest of the album may not quite meet the astral heights of "Rastafari Is," they're nothing sneeze at.Songs from his "Mama Africa" album fill up much of the two CDs (it came out the same year as the concert), and they prove to be some of the more powerful tracks -- as driven as the studio tracks. "Not Gonna Give It Up," "Glass House," "Johnny B. Goode," "Where You Gonna Run" and "Mama Africa" are rousing, fist-raisers definite to get you out your seat. You can't help but nod your head.If there's only thing to pick at (and it's a small thing, nothing wrong done on Tosh's part), but there's no fiery, outspoken speeches on the level of those he delivered at the One Love Peace Concert due to time restrictions, but he does deliver a three-minute live-atribe.Just a side note -- I gave this a four although I know most would leave their brains at home and give every album (yes, each and every album)a 5-star, basing their so-called rating on emotions and bubblegum-pop, starry-eyed fandom foolishness and not wise, studied, honest and accurate ratings.This album is a true 4-star. Not overdone or based on emotion in the least."

OK, I SURRENDER!!!

Coleen | Down in the alley | 09/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I never thought this could live up to the hype I read about it, but it does, completely! An incredible live performance - blows away ALL of Marley's live albums (and I love Marley!). This is one of the best live albums I have ever heard. Blows me away!!!

I'm not even a big fan of the track selection, but the band and Tosh play with such sincerity and conviction that each song becomes a winner. Terrific reggae album - one of the very best!

If you like LIVE albums, HIGHLY recommended!!!"

It Doesn't Get Better

Douglas H. Watts | Augusta, ME United States | 08/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First, "Complete Captured Live" has perhaps the best sound and production of any live concert recording I have ever heard. It actually SOUNDS better than most studio recordings. The drums are clean, crisp and in your face; the bass is perfectly placed and full; and the entire mix is well balanced and pristine.

Second, the song selection is excellent, focussing mostly on songs from Mama Africa, probly Peter Tosh's most artistically realized group of songs.

Third, Peter Tosh's vocal performances are astounding. His voice is in fine condition, his phrasing is spot-on, and his delivery is remarkably confident, assured and strong. Peter Tosh was a big man (6' 3") and he possessed a husky and very masculine voice that emanated deep from within his chest. In these songs, he sounds like a giant who could bend a microphone stand into a pretzel with one hand.

This CD has really made me re-analyze Tosh's work and place in all music, not just reggae. By the time this 1983 concert took place, Peter Tosh had been writing songs, singing and performing for nearly 20 years and it is obvious that by 1983 he had honed his art to a razor's edge. Remember that most American and English rock musicians of Tosh's age (Tosh started writing and recording around 1964) were already burned out, dead, or drugged out by age 38, milking their "greatest hits" of years past or making crappy, forgettable new music their fans did not want to hear. But here, in August 1983, Peter Tosh delivers a concert dominated by freshly written material that is among his best and delivers a live performance that is probably his personal best, one of the best ever in reggae music, and one of the best recorded live concerts in any genre. Even his one chestnut ("Get Up Stand Up") is recast in a crushing version that is miles from "sunny reggae style" and owes more to heavy metal and punk in its arrangement and ferocity. The Jamaican "rude boy" was the original punk of music (see The Clash). Tosh was a rude boy but he was disarmingly smart and a dedicated craftsman of his art. And although he smoked more weed than many small European countries the stuff seemed to make his art stronger and sharper rather than weaker. Go figure.

Peter Tosh's art was as a writer and singer of politically charged songs that still worked as singable songs with effective and catchy melodic hooks. In this arena, he has almost no peers. While Bob Marley shares the prize with Marvin Gaye for some of the best sensual songs (an arena Tosh rarely touched), Peter Tosh practically owns the political song and could be said to have invented the genre and taken it its highest level of development. His review of his early work on the 1976 album "Live & Dangerous Boston 1976" shows how in his late teens and early 20s Tosh had already mastered the craft of marrying the political with the singable and danceable. As anyone knows who has tried to write songs with a political tint, it is very rocky terrain and fraught with artistic pitfalls (just ask Bruce Springsteen). It is a genre of songwriting that is horrendously difficult to do well without sounding preachy, dogmatic, cliched or annoyingly self-righteous. Peter Tosh succeeds repeatedly by using simple, singable language:

"Africa is the richest place
But it has the poorest race
And to me it's just a disgrace
Just a disgrace.
That's why I'm not gonna give it up.
I will be fighting.
I've got to be fighting
I'm always fighting
Until Africa and Africans are free."

The above, from "Not Gonna Give It Up" works so well because in this concert Peter Tosh sings the words with amazing force, strength and honesty with a twinge of tenderness and sadness underneath. In this song, and others ("Mama Africa", "African" and "Pick Myself Up") Peter Tosh melds the folk, soul, blues, gospel and reggae vocal stylings into an amazingly effective whole.

Having not listened to much reggae -- or Peter Tosh -- for 15 years I was able to hear this CD with very fresh and open ears. It totally blew me away.

Tosh's speech (about 3 minutes) called "Peter's Rap" is a hidden gem of force, bluntness, braggadoccio and humbleness. What starts as a rant about record companies (ala Tinsel Town Rebellion by Frank Zappa) quickly unfolds to a much wider and deeper palette until he finishes with the statement (to folks in Los Angeles) to prepare for World War III. The crowd clearly does not know whether to cheer or what to do. And he says "it will not happen to me, it will happen to you because Rastafari have already fought the first, second and third world wars." It is obvious here where Jamaican political dub poet Mutabaruku turned to develop his own craft. Check him out too.

While it first sounds self-serving and self-pitying, Tosh's rant about record companies disrespecting reggae music and Jamaican singers and songwriters -- and Tosh himself -- is true. The music has always (and still) has been treated by record companies as novelty music, exotica, silly songs that are dancy and Bob Marley. Tosh wanted his music, his country's music and his own songs to be taken seriously and treated with the deference they deserve. Tosh's best songs and lyrics achieve a level of art that fully merits the treatment he felt they earned.

The closing and encore song ("Mama Africa") is a stroke of genius. Most artists save their final song in a concert for their "big hit" that everyone knows, is waiting for and came to the concert to hear. Peter gives the final song slot to a brand new song, 9 minutes long, that many in the audience had not yet heard. And he tears the house down with it. Using a very light and "old fashioned" rock-steady beat, "Mama Africa" could perhaps be Tosh's best song. It is tough, tender, heartfelt and his singing contains a plaintive vulnerability he rarely let out. For a man whose parents abandoned him as an infant -- as a boy growing up with no mother or father -- the words he sings here as a grown man are amazing:

"I've been waiting, yearning, looking
Searching to find you.
I've been crying, praying hoping
That I may find you Mama.

You're my mother Africa
You're my father Africa.

I'm proud of you Mama
I love you Mama
I'm proud of you Mama
I love you heavenly."

Rarely in any music has the personal and political been fused so tightly, perfectly and heartfully as in this song. Walt Whitman declared "I contain multitudes" -- Peter Tosh did too.

This CD gives a picture of Peter Tosh at the very height of his power and it is awesome to behold.

The only thing wrong with the CD package is that it stupidly and inexplicably does not list the names of ANY of the musicians performing with Peter Tosh. What elaborate double CD package of an historic, live concert does not even MENTION the names of the players (even in tiny type)? Interestly, the name of the producer is VERY prominently placed all over the package. Go figure.

Peter Tosh was a fierce and gentle giant. He is very much missed in the world he was taken from by a hail of bullets in 1987.
"