Toots & The Maytals-Funky Kingston (1973)

Toots & The Maytals were one of the first groups to popularize reggae internationally in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in 1963, this group, led by Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, built a strong reputation in Jamaica throughout the rest of the decade, thanks to a long string of locally successful recordings. The rest of the lineup consisted of Jackie Jackson, Hux Brown, Paul Douglas, and Rad Bryan. Their style was steeped in multiple influences that somewhat deviated from the established norms of Jamaican music, fusing jazz, R&B, ska, and rock, resulting in what would later be called reggae. In 1966, the group triumphed at the Jamaica Song Festival with the song "Bam Bam", further boosting their already immense popularity. New songs like "Pressure Drop", "Monkey Man", "54-46 That's My Number", "Sweet and Dandy" and "Pomps and Pride" established them as one of the most influential reggae groups. Their appearance in the 1972 film "The Harder They" catapulted them to international stardom. During those years, they signed with Island Records, and under the production of Chris Blackwell, they released the successful albums "Funky Kingston" and "Reggae Got Soul". In the latter half of the 1970s, their popularity gradually declined, although they remained active and released albums fairly regularly, some of them highly significant, such as "True Love" (2004) and "Light Your Light" (2007). For many years, the band was a regular fixture at reggae festivals. On September 11, 2020, Toots Hibbert passed away at the age of 77, exactly one year after his death. Later, the group would win the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for "Got to Be Tough".

Bob Marley And The Wailers-Natty Dread (1974)

Although Bob Marley's previous album, "Burnin' ", was released internationally in England and the United States, this would be the first to be distributed globally, introducing him and his band, The Wailers, to the world. That year, Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston, two of the original members of The Wailers, had left the group due to the pressures of constant touring and their growing popularity. With a reformed lineup featuring guitarist Al Anderson, bassist Aston Barrett, and organist Jean Roussel, Bob Marley undertook the recording of this seventh album, which would achieve unprecedented success in the Jamaican musician's career up to that point. Somewhat softening the political message of his earlier works, Bob Marley approached this project with a profound spiritual and emotional intensity. The powerful rhythm section of drummer Carlton Barrett and his brother, bassist Aston Barrett, along with Anderson's riffs and Marley's subtle guitar work and soulful, African-tinged vocals, drive an album brimming with African-American sounds adorned with reggae rhythms. "Takin' Blues", "Them Belly Full", and "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)" are clearly geared toward that antisocial message, while the rebellious "Lively Up Yourself" and the glorious "No Woman No Cry" complete one of Bob Marley and The Wailers' finest albums.