Search - Peter Tosh :: Playlist: The Very Best of Peter Tosh

Covering all-too familiar territory

SteppingRZA | USA | 01/18/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This set follows the path that many Tosh compilations have before, with little, if any, straying.



These Playlist CDs are mostly for the casual fan who doesn't have any albums for the artists, including Tosh.



There is no booklet inside, but if you put the disc in a computer, you can access a PDF file with images and track information.



But the creators of the Tosh set of images erred in that one of them is of Wailers guitarist Al Anderson, who also played with Tosh. Anderson looks little next to nothing like Tosh, so it's rather embarrassing that Sony would make such an error. But not surprising. This is just a cheap, one-off, repackaging all-too-familiar tracks.



If you don't have any Tosh CDs, and aren't a big fan, this might be worth purchasing."

S.O.T. (Same Ol' Tosh)

Dartanyan Winston | Redford (Detroit), MI | 03/12/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"It's 2009 Peter has been gone for over two decades, and had his solo work out for over 30. It's been over 30 years for Tosh fans to enjoy these hits, so the question is, why do a repeat? This album is nothing but another version of "Scrolls Of The Prophet: The Best Of Peter Tosh", all they did was add a few more tracks and put "Very" smack dab at the beginning of the title, and yes "Scrolls Of The Prophet" do have the song "Mystery Babylon", which "The Very Best Of..." claims to have been "Unreleased".



Speaking of the term "The VERY Best", I highly doubt that this is the very best of Tosh. Although "Equal Rights" was a good album, it wasn't his best, so why is it getting so much credit? Don't get me wrong, they're classics on that album besides his solo version of "Get Up, Stand Up", which they did put on the album, but just like any other album the best ones usually get over looked. "I Am, That I Am" & "Jah Guide" would of done this album some justice, being that they're great songs but rarely receive any credit. Just like like any other compilation album from Sony, you'll find most of the "Legalize It" album on there, which would make any company think that the costumers would of gotten the hint by now; "Go Buy Legalize It!" We pretty much got the point from re-releases, re-re-releases, re-re-re-releases with bonus tracks, compilations, and even more compilations. We get it now "Legalize It" was a great piece of work, we get it now, any Peter Tosh fan without "Legalize It" in their collection is like a Bob Marley & The Wailers fan without "Legend", and speaking of The Wailers they do a wonderful job on "Legalize It", so maybe the title should of been "Peter Tosh & The Wailers: Legalize It."



Being that this is Sony I'm not going to ask why any of the other greats like; "No Nuclear War", "Mystic Man", or "Mama Africa", isn't on this compilation, but I do wonder why "(You Gotta Walk) Don't Look Back" is. If you're going to take some material off of "Bush Doctor", you better go all the way, there's too much good material on that album to just place one song on your compilation.



One thing I find disturbing is, while Peter Tosh was recording "Equal Rights", he recorded several tracks that did not make the line up. This line up consist of:



1) 400 Years

2) Hammer

3) Jam A Ina Jam Down

4) Vampire

5) Babylon Queendom (The Original Version Of "Mystery Babylon")

6) You Can't Blame The Youth

7) Mark Of The Beast

8) Get Up, Stand Up (Alternate Version)

9) Apartheid (Extended Mix)



Which brings me to my next question, why don't you release them. This would make an awesome "Deluxe Edition" to the "Equal Rights" series, and all you choose to do is make compilations of the same album with different names and track order? That's a bunch of BS, and it's a waste of money, if that "Deluxe Edition", were to ever be released I'd buy it, and I'm pretty sure other Tosh fans would to. Oh and for the record if they would of switched out some songs with those, "Equal Rights" would of been WAY much better of an album.



So the bottom line is just save your money, buy "Legalize It" & "Equal Rights", and start a petition of a possible release of an "Equal Rights: Deluxe Edition".



** 2 stars out of 5



Just because they released a compilation that anyone could easily make, dosen't mean that their isn't any jams on here.



-DJ Winston

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