As with all his stable, The Maytals were initially shaken by the unexpected death of their producer Leslie Kong, but recovered quickly, recording the Slaytam Stoot album the following year with Kong's assistant Warwick Lyn. A year later, in 1973, the group returned to Dynamic Studio, with Lyn still in tow, but this time accompanied by Chris Blackwell and Dave Bloxham.
The result was the Funky Kingston album, and its title track was as funky as you would expect, an exhilarating blend of bright, bouncy reggae, with funky lead guitar. As usual, though, Blackwell couldn't leave well enough alone, adding overdubs back in Britain. However, in this case, the addition of the Sons of Jamaica's brass worked a treat, giving the song an even funkier feel.
As did Toots Hibbert himself, whose declarations of love for reggae and Kingston brook no argument, as he storms from his usual gospel inflected style to James Brown-ish infected vocals. Also released on single, funk was definitely flooding the island with this number.
