The Sensational Maytals

By the time Toots & The Maytals recorded their second album, *Sensational Maytals*, they were already veterans of the Jamaican studio scene, having recorded with Coxsone Dodd at Studio One and with the tirelessly self-promoting DJ Prince Buster. The sides that The Maytals recorded for these producers were raw and viscerally electrifying, pairing frantic ska rhythms with vocal performances of a positively Pentecostal intensity. On *The Sensational Maytals*, the gospel-influenced fervor of these early sides is exchanged for a more restrained sound. It borrows as much from the slow burn of American soul ballads as from the beatific hosannas of Jamaican religious services. VP’s deluxe reissue of *The Sensational Maytals* includes the 12 tracks that appeared on the album’s original 1965 release. It adds six extra Byron Lee–produced sides from the same period, including the Toots-penned “Bam Bam”: a tune that won the group top honors at Jamaica’s first Independence Festival Popular Song Competition.