Peter Tosh — Legalize It | Reggae's #2 — Or Should He Be #1?

Reggae Summer Vol. 2 kicks off with Peter Tosh's 1976 debut, Legalize It — and we've got a guest. Brian Wallace, aka Dub Robot, returns for his second appearance on the show (he joined us last year for Exodus): a saxophonist, engineer, and the man who taught us reggae in the first place. Brandon's pick is the first solo album from the Wailer who never softened the message — recorded with what's essentially the Wailers minus Bob Marley, including Bunny Wailer, Rita Marley and Judy Mowatt. It sounds like a loose jam played to perfection, and it exists in two very different mixes: the bone-dry original Jamaican mix and the lush, Spector-ized version polished at CBS in New York.

We dig into Tosh's place as reggae's perpetual "number two" and the argument that he could have been number one, the Wailers split and the management feuds behind it, Al Anderson's New York guitar overdubs, the guitar Tosh built himself, the surprisingly forward-looking synth work, and the difference between Tosh's confrontational, specific protest and Marley's universal approach. Plus our standout songs, including the Bob Marley diss track hiding in plain sight, and Brian's deep cuts off the dub plates.

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