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Reggy bob marley7/14/2023 ![]() ![]() Any fears the Wailers might be diminished were dispelled by the simmering tension of Them Belly Full, its invocation to “forget your troubles and dance” tempered by its ominous warning: “A hungry mob is an angry mob.” 12. Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) (1974)Īfter the departure of Tosh and Bunny Wailer, Marley came out swinging on 1974’s Natty Dread. Photograph: Sheila Rock/REX/Shutterstock 13. Check out the instrumental and dub versions appended to the deluxe edition of Exodus for proof of what a fantastic rhythm section the Wailers boasted. Jamming is Marley at his most genial and pop-facing, but the music that underpins the charming tune is surprisingly tough. Marley frequently reworked old material during the 70s, but the version of Sun Is Shining (a song apparently inspired by Eleanor Rigby, of all things) on 1978’s Kaya is dwarfed by the 1971 version produced by Perry: minimal, bass-heavy, gloomier-sounding than the lyric suggests, with Tosh’s melodica snaking around Marley’s voice. His 1979 LP Survival was Marley’s most politically militant statement, its preoccupation with pan-Africanism reflected not just in the lyrics of Top Rankin’ (“They don’t want to see us unite … all they want us to do is keep killing one another”) but its sound: the horns carry more than a hint of Fela Kuti about them. It would be a brilliant song however it was produced, but its bass-heavy sound makes it feel like something from far later in the decade. Of all the tracks the Wailers cut with Perry in the early 70s, the title track of their December 1970 album feels the most forward-looking. The re-recording on Burnin’ beats the Lee Perry original – slightly slower, with lovely backing vocals courtesy of Peter Tosh.īob Marley on stage in Chicago in 1979. Usually taken as a metaphorical song about colonialism, there seems every chance that the defiant Small Axe was, at heart, actually about the Wailers’ perennially volatile relationship with the Jamaican music industry. Its contemporary role as jolly soundtrack to umpteen Jamaican tourist ads overlooks the fire and brimstone aspect of the lyrics. Marley recorded several versions of One Love – it began life as a ska track in 1965 – but the version on Exodus, interpolated with People Get Ready, is definitive. The music exists as an austere backdrop for words taken from a Haile Selassie speech: “Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war.” 19. War (1976)Īs stark and potent as late 70s Marley got, War dispenses with standard verse-chorus structure and any semblance of lyrical poetry. Recorded at the first Wailers session following Marley’s return to Jamaica from his mid-60s sojourn in America, Freedom Time is audibly influenced by the music he heard in the US – there’s a distinct hint of the Impressions’ civil rights anthem People Get Ready about the lyric – and a total delight: piano-led rocksteady with a beautiful descending melody. It’s tempting to suggest the track itself is oddly prescient: despite the title, there’s something brooding and overcast about its sound, as if Marley didn’t quite have faith in the sentiment the lyrics were supposed to be espousing. Smile Jamaica was the theme song for the Kingston concert that almost got Marley killed – he was shot by gunmen two days before the gig. It’s tempting to call Johnny Was his answer to Mayfield’s Freddie’s Dead: an empathic examination of an accidental death (“from a stray bullet”) that nevertheless has wider implications, the lushness of the harmonies at odds with the lyrics. Marley’s great musical inspiration was Curtis Mayfield – the young Wailers even copied the Impressions’ poses in photos. Marley’s pre-Island discography can be baffling – umpteen releases, umpteen labels – but the 00s box sets Fy-ah Fy-ah, Man to Man and Grooving Kingston 12 do a good job of sorting through it, revealing gems such as Caution: an odd, tremulous lead guitar, eerie harmonies on the chorus and a winning refrain of “hit me from the top, you crazy mother-funky”. Could You Be Loved?, meanwhile, allied Marley’s sharp pop instinct to disco, with backing vocalists the I-Threes on particularly fine form. The Wailers were always musically open-minded – in the 60s they covered everything from Bacharach and David to the Archies’ Sugar Sugar, while 1971’s Lick Samba dabbled in Latin-American music. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 25. (from left) Peter Tosh, Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, Bob Marley, Earl Lindo, Carlton Barrett and Bunny Wailer. ![]()
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