Boosted by a belated Grammy Award in 2004 for True Love and a recent induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, Toots carries on in the same vein. The man who wrote the fine pages of soul-reggae now enjoys mixing it with pop, or "international easy listening" as the sourpusses would say. 45 years after the formation of the Maytals, Toots has little left to prove and his determination to have fun with a music he christened underpins his latest projects, including of course "True Love", recorded with a multitude of guests.
With "Light your light", the man with 31 hits in Jamaica (!) looks back on his past. Musically first, by covering two old titles from his discography: the indestructible Johnny Coolman, lifted by a blues guitar, and Premature, in which he warns young girls who become mothers before their time. The nostalgia is even more explicit on Do You Remember, a recollection of school days.
One cannot listen to Toots without thinking of the kings of soul, Otis Redding or Ray Charles. It is precisely these two artists he pays tribute to by covering Pain in my heart and I Got A woman respectively, with an irresistible pulse and incredible modernity, just like the haunting No Bother Me. Short and uneven, "Light Your Light" is above all astonishingly fresh for the latest instalment of a 35-year career.
