“Mystic Man” by Peter Tosh - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1979Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

His second album on the very welcome Rolling Stones platform continued to give him good exposure and he used it well. For me, it was a cohesive and meaningful improvement on last years “Bush Doctor”. “Mystic Man” lays out the manifesto. He don't drink no champagne, don't sniff them cocaine. It choke brain, ye know? Frankfurters are out too. Garbage. What he's doing is “Recruiting Soldiers” for Jah army, “Can't You See”? There are some nice ideas, for example on the well-executed on “Jah Seh No”: “He's coming to tear down the walls of downpression, Drive away transgression, Clean up corruption, Rule equality”. Echoing Marley's “Survival” message of '79, Tosh urges his African brothers to “Fight On”: “Africa has got to be free by 1983”. Specific. This guy is focused. Side two opens with a big surprise on “Buk-In-Hamm Palace” built on a pucker Hamilton-Bohannon-esque disco groove. On the premise that music and herb is the healing of the nation, we're going to chase away all the vampires and smoke it all the way from the House of Congress to Buckingham Palace; he's got a vivid imagination! Taking Rastafari to it's logical conclusion, “The Day The Dollar Die” espouses the communist dream, empathising with Johnny and his eternal struggle against the cost of living. Album highlight “Crystal Ball” continues along the same theme. What does culture man see in that crystal ball? “I see youths rising, Blood running, Fire burning… In The City, In The Shitty”. Fair enough, but no need for the language I thought. In all seriousness, this has been a beautifully constructed set, and the album's closer, “Rumors Of War”, takes the message full circle: “And I see war in a Beirut, War in a-Lebanon, Syria, yeah, Pakistan, Namibia, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, Make sure your hands and heart are clean, So you can rally around the red, gold and green”. Well played Peter Tosh.

The Jukebox Rebel
12–Nov–2008

Tracklist
A1 [05:56] 6.7.png Peter Tosh - Mystic Man (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
A2 [04:28] 7.0.png Peter Tosh - Recruiting Soldiers (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
A3 [03:43] 5.4.png Peter Tosh - Can’t You See [1979 version] (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
A4 [04:40] 6.8.png Peter Tosh - Jah Seh No (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
A5 [03:21] 6.6.png Peter Tosh - Fight On (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
B1 [08:49] 6.4.png Peter Tosh - Buk-In-Hamm Palace (Winston McIntosh) Disco / Funk
B2 [04:50] 6.2.png Peter Tosh - The Day The Dollar Die (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
B3 [05:12] 7.9.png Peter Tosh - Crystal Ball (Winston McIntosh) Reggae
B4 [03:29] 6.8.png Peter Tosh - Rumors Of War (Winston McIntosh) Reggae

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