Got to Be Tough is a studio album by Jamaican reggae band Toots and the Maytals. It was released through Trojan Jamaica/BMG on 28 August 2020 and financed by Trojan Jamaica owner Zak Starkey, who also played guitar for the recording. The album is the first studio release from Toots and the Maytals in more than a decade and the first after an accident wherein bandleader Toots Hibbert was hit in the head with a glass bottle, leading to his hiatus from performing. The lyrical content of the album is political, featuring pleas for unity among people.
Got to Be Tough was the band's final studio release before Hibbert's death on 11 September 2020 due to complications from COVID-19. After his death, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Critical reception
Got to Be Tough was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 10 reviews. Reviewing in his "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau said, "What I like about these [songs], and Starkey must have too, is how conscious they are. Having long favored danceable love songs, [Hibbert] spends most [of] these 36 minutes looking time tough in its ugly face. 'Just Brutal,' 'Warning Warning,' and 'Got to Be Tough'; bus fares, low wages, invisible pensions, and picking yourself up off the ground. But he's also proud to stand accused for feeding his enemies." Tom Dibb from Gigwise wrote that the album "calls the world to task, and has them dancing all the while", describing it as "politically minded, brutally honest but maintaining the heartfelt and soulful nature of rocksteady and ska". Variety magazine's Steve Bloom also applauded Hibbert's messages of optimism on songs that "alternate between reggae and R&B".
Track listing
Personnel Producer: Frederick "Toots" Hibbert Co-producers: Nigel Burrell, Zak Starkey, Martin "Youth" Glover
Other - credits taken from AllMusic: Nigel Burrell – drum programming, engineer, harmony Tomas Crow – engineer Lisa Davis – harmony Sly Dunbar – drums Latoya Hall-Downer – harmony Carl Harvey – guitar Frederick "Toots" Hibbert – bass, composer, drums, guitar, harmony, keyboards, vocals Leba Hibbert – harmony Stewart Hurwood – guitar technician Sharna Liguz – cover art concept Gavin Lurssen – mastering Bob Marley – composer Ziggy Marley – featured artist, vocals Dario Morgan – guitar Cyril Neville – percussion Max Noise – engineer Conrad Pinnock – saxophone Delroy "Fatta" Pottinger – engineer Michael Rendall – engineer Dwight Richards – trumpet Nambo Robinson – trombone Dave Sardy – mixing Sheldon Palmer – saxophone Sshh – editing Zak Starkey – editing, guitar Ringo Starr – tambourine Steven Stewart – keyboards Bruce Sugar – engineer Toots & the Maytals – primary artist Twiggy – harmony Dale Voelker – design, illustrations Hopeton Williams – trumpet
References
External links