{"id":1071,"date":"2010-11-18T15:54:45","date_gmt":"2010-11-18T20:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2012-08-03T15:26:14","modified_gmt":"2012-08-03T20:26:14","slug":"the-maytals-54-46-was-my-number","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1071","title":{"rendered":"The Maytals – 54-46 Was My Number"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toots and the Maytals <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong>
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – The Maytals – 54-46 Was My Number<\/span> <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greetings all. <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I sit here at the heart of the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Podcasting Nerve Center<\/strong>, while the biting winds of autumn howl outside the window.<\/p>\n

I was outside waiting for the littlest Corner to get off the bus, and I was reveling in the cool breeze, bright blue sky and wave upon wave of bright yellow and red leaves blowing around the neighborhood, digging the fall-ness of it all, though dreading that the leaves must eventually be removed, lest the neighbors soil themselves in a rage.<\/em><\/p>\n

Such is life in the suburbs, where one side of the walls is wailing leaf blowers, and the other is heaps of warming vinyl, providing protection from the elements.<\/p>\n

It behooves me to pause here and remind you all that this Friday night at 9PM you should all gather around your computers for warmth for another episode of the Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong> on Viva<\/strong> internet radio.<\/a> I promise you that if funk and soul is your bag, then you will not be disappointed (on account of that\u2019s how we roll).<\/p>\n

I will now return to our regularly scheduled post and unleash a killer record for your delectation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s reggae time again (thanks go out to my youngest sister for the inspiration<\/em>).<\/p>\n

If you are not hep to the mighty Toots Hibbert <\/strong>and his faithful Maytals, <\/strong>then I have something for you that will surely be a nice surprise.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll spare you my usual reggae = soul<\/em> boilerplate*, since of all the soulful singers from that particular genre, none is more so than Toots Hibbert.<\/p>\n

Back in the olden days, when I was first becoming wise to the sounds of Jamaica via the Two Tone-rs, the name Toots and the Maytals <\/strong>was one frequently invoked by those in the know. Their songs were covered by the likes of the Clash<\/strong> (Pressure Drop) and the Specials <\/strong>(Monkey Man) among others**<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

My first exposure to their music was via comps of ska originals, but the record that really pulled me in was their 1980 live album.<\/p>\n

Recorded at the Hammersmith Palais in London, \u2018Toots and the Maytals Live\u2019 is as ass-kicking a reggae album as you\u2019re ever likely to hear, with the band at the top of their game, feeding off of the energy of an audience that was clearly in love with their music.<\/p>\n

It was on that album that I first heard the song \u201954-46 Was My Number\u2019. The tale of Toots being framed and jailed for possession of the lowly collie weed***<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It is a remarkable bit of stomping, danceable skinhead reggae, one of Toots finest, and an all around masterpiece of Island soul.<\/p>\n

The original version was released in 1969 on Beverlys (in Jamaica) and Pyramid and Trojan (in the UK), and as far as I can tell did not have a contemporary US release.<\/p>\n

Which is where today\u2019s 45 (credited only to the Maytals) comes into play.<\/p>\n

Despite some diligent searching I have not been able to find out how this song (and no accompanying LP) got issued as a 45 by Leon Russell <\/strong>and Denny Cordell\u2019s<\/strong> Shelter Records.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1970, Shelter had a discography that tilted heavily in the direction of gospel-tinged roots rock (Russell) , blues (Freddy King<\/strong>), pop (Phoebe Snow\u2019s<\/strong> \u2018Poetry Man\u2019, probably the label\u2019s biggest hit) and by the mid-70s the proto-New Wave\/power pop of Dwight Twilley<\/strong> and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As far as I can tell, aside from this hard to find 45 (in 1972) , and a two-sider of Funky Kingston and Pressure Drop (which I’ve never seen a copy of) a year later, Shelter never released another reggae 45 or LP in their decade-plus history.<\/p>\n

Though I haven’t turned up any specific info on how Toots and the Maytals hooked up with Shelter, my best guess is that is has something to do with Denny Cordell.<\/p>\n

Cordell, who hailed from the UK got his start working for Chris Blackwell<\/strong> at Island Records in the mid-60s, and was certainly exposed to the sounds of Jamaica. Whether bringing Toots and the Maytals to Shelter was his idea of a way to test the waters for further reggae releases on the label (which never materialized) I can\u2019t say for sure, but Island would release the \u2018Funky Kingston\u2019 LP (an amalgam of tracks released a few years earlier in Jamaica) in 1973, in the US.<\/p>\n

Either way, it is indeed a mighty record, and as an object, an unusual footnote to the history of reggae in the US.<\/p>\n

Dig it, and I will join you all again on Monday.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n*Laid out in detail a number of times previously<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

** 54-46 Was My Number was later covered by Sublime
\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

***Based no doubt on Hibbert\u2019s actual arrest and jailing in 1966
\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg
\n<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toots and the Maytals Listen\/Download – The Maytals – 54-46 Was My Number   Greetings all. I sit here at the heart of the Funky16Corners Record Vault and Podcasting Nerve Center, while the biting winds of autumn howl outside the window. I was outside waiting for the littlest Corner to get off the bus, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,55,48,12,18],"tags":[166,167,47,172,164],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-funky16cornersviva-internet-radio","category-reggae","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-funky16corners-radio","tag-island-soul","tag-reggae","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-hh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2999,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/2999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}