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Saturday, September 12, 2020

Toots and the Maytals - "Pressure Drop" (sound file, information, & comments)


shark5981, Oct 12, 2012

Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group and one of the best known ska and rock steady vocal groups. According to Sandra Brennan at Allmusic, "The Maytals were key figures in reggae music. Formed in the early 1960s when ska was hot, the Maytals had a reputation for having strong, well-blended voices and a seldom-rivaled passion for their music. Frontman Hibbert's soulful style led him to be compared to Otis Redding".

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about Toots Hibbert and the group "Toots And The Maytals" (also known as "The Maytals"). This post also presents information about and lyrics for the Toots And The Maytals' song "Pressure Drop". 

Selected comments from the discussion thread of this embedded YouTube sound file and from the discussion thread of another YouTube sound file of this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners. 

Thanks to Toots Hibbert and to The Maytals for their cultural legacies. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of these YouTube examples.

Rest In Peace and Rest In Power, Toots Hibbert.

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INFORMATION ABOUT TOOTS HIBBERT
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toots_Hibbert
"Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert, O.J. (8 December 1942 – 11 September 2020) was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music.[1][2] Hibbert's 1968 song "Do the Reggay" is widely credited as the genesis of the genre name reggae.[3] His band's greatest hits album True Love won a Grammy Award in 2005.[2]

[...]

.Hibbert formed Toots and the Maytals in 1961. According to Hibbert, Maytals is a reference to the Rastafari term for "do the right thing".[4] The Maytals became one of the more popular vocal groups in Jamaica in the 1960s, recording with producers Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster, Byron Lee, Ronnie Nasralla, and Leslie Kong. This success included winning Jamaica's National Popular Song Contest three times with songs Hibbert wrote: in 1966 with "Bam Bam", 1969 with "Sweet and Dandy" and 1972 with "Pomps & Pride".[6]

In 1966, Hibbert was sentenced to 18 months in prison for possession of marijuana.[7] This experience provided the inspiration for one of his best known songs, "54-46 That's My Number".[7] Hibbert was one of the first artists to use the word "reggae", in 1968's "Do the Reggay".[2]"...

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE TOOTS AND MAYTAL SONG "PRESSURE DROP"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_Drop_(song)

"Pressure Drop" is a song recorded in 1969 by the Maytals for record producer Leslie Kong. The song appears on their 1970 album Monkey Man (released in Jamaica by Beverley's Records) and From the Roots (released in the UK by Trojan Records). "Pressure Drop" helped launch the band's career outside Jamaica when the song was featured on the soundtrack to the 1972 film The Harder They Come, which introduced reggae to much of the world.[1] In 2004, Rolling Stone rated the song No. 453 in its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[2] ...

 "Pressure Drop" refers to the barometric pressure. This song predates modern weather forecasting, and at that time in the context of this song, island populations relied on the simple but reliable instrument (barometer) to predict adverse weather. The liquid barometer displays pressure as a measure of the fluid in a glass tube, and when the air pressure drops the fluid level "drops" accordingly. A rapid drop in air pressure indicates the severity of the approaching storm (hurricane), and is sometimes referred to as "the bottom dropping out". Attention to pressure changes could spell the difference between life and death for an island dweller. "Pressure drop" is used as a poetic device in this song, and is the artist's way of saying, "A storm is coming for you."

The song was featured in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the radio station K-Jah West.

In an interview in 2016, songwriter Frederick "Toots" Hibbert said that "Pressure Drop" was a song about karmic justice.

It’s a song about revenge, but in the form of karma: If you do bad things to innocent people, then bad things will happen to you. The title was a phrase I used to say. If someone done me wrong, rather than fight them like a warrior, I’d say: 'The pressure’s going to drop on you.'"
— Frederick ‘Toots’ Hibbert, The Guardian[3]"
-snip-
Click https://genius.com/Toots-and-the-maytals-pressure-drop-lyrics for the lyrics for Toots And The Maytals' Reggae song "Pressure Drop" which was composed in 1969 by Frederick "Toots" Hibbert and released in 1970
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A note on that genius.com website indicates that
"Pressure Drop” was recorded in 1969 and gained The Maytals publicity outside of their home country with its appearance in the movie The Harder they Come.

Despite the uplifting nature of the song, the theme is rather foreboding. The song is about karmic justice"...

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM TWO DISCUSSION THREADS FOR THIS SONG

Comments Source #1: embedded song file:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw66FA6OTqA&ab_channel=shark5981

All of these comments were posted on Sept. 12, 2020


1. Graeme Mackenzie
"R.I.P. Toots. Your positivity and the  warmth you brought to the world shall live on."

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2. Elise Schissler 
"Sad day, Toots gone. His music was part of my early years, oh how I danced! such joy in his songs!
He gave us such a gift."

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3. Mickey Knox, 2020
"Pioneer of Reggae, Ska, Rocksteady, Skinhead, Two-tone, Northern, Beat."

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4. Erik Sheppard
"Rest in piece legend. Forever helping me get thru these pressures times"

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5. Paul Kersey
"I'm listening to this wanting to tear up. What a legendary voice and sound. Jah bless Mr. Hibbert."

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6. MusicJools

"RIP Toots - a very sad day indeed. What an amazing musician and most beautiful, soulful voice. Every time I went to one of his concerts I knew I was very lucky to be experiencing the live music of a true legend. 40 years of listening and I still feel this way."

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7. Divette2
"Very sad at the passing of the reggae legend. He coined the term and waved the banner high! Take your rest Toots Hibbert"

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8. mstephens44
"I hate 2020

Rest on to Paradise Toots."

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9. Enrico Ramos
"Rest in Zion Toots!"

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10. Paul Kleiman
"He looked great performing at Coachella 3 years ago. This guy could have gone another ten easy. COVID takes another great. And what a song this is. Rest in Peace, Toots."

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Comments Source #2:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmNJvSyWyQM&ab_channel=TootsandTheMaytals-Topic   Pressure Drop - Original
Toots and the Maytals, April 8, 2020

Comments posted in July 2020 or August 2020

1. Holalos Foffo
"Always lovely Jamaican old school.

Thank you Toots and the Maytals"

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2. Alt Bread
"I
 swear this song is in every Jamaican movie"

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3. Kauê Marques
"Gta san andreas😥"

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REPLY
4. Melwin Olsen,  August 2020
"Allways when i played gta sa driving round in the van with roof spoiler this song played and when i turned the wheels the song ended☹"

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Comments posted on Sept. 12, 2020

5. Da_kingjayjay
"TOOTS JUST PASSED AWAY FROM COVID-19 TODAY😪"
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6. George Muehlheim
"I went to see Toots and the Maytals at the Pirates Cove in Cleveland in 1981 I believe.  I was already a fan at the time as I had a friend who had gotten me into reggae and was listening to Marley and Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker and had worn out my tape of The Harder They Come soundtrack. It was the middle of summer, the club was packed and hotter than blazes and Toots came out dressed in all leather. He proceeded to put out this energetic soulful performance that blew everyone away. He never stopped moving, he was pouring sweat and putting everything into his work and the place was going crazy, everybody was dancing along with him. It was truly a powerful performance in that little out of the way club in Cleveland, Ohio, but one that I will never forget.  Thanks Toots! Go easy bro, RIP."

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7. Brandon kuhn
"Rip Toots! Thanks for all the good tunes and vibes for the past half century."

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