Rating:
Genre:
Reggae
Release Date: 04/05/2005
There are countless
Bob Marley collections on the market, most of them drawing from his pre-
Island Records Jamaican releases. These are usually poorly annotated, tossed-together affairs of dubious legality, and since
Marley & the Wailers often re-recorded songs at various stages of their career, it can be nearly impossible to tell which versions you're getting without actually playing the disc. All of this confusion is a shame, since some of
Marley's best work was done before the group signed its
Island contract, and many casual
Marley fans have no idea this stuff even exists, which is why this two-disc set from
Trojan/
Sanctuary is so welcome. It does a decent job of cherry-picking key
Wailers tracks from several Jamaican producers, and makes a nice entry into the mare's nest of pre-
Island releases. Included are tracks produced by
Bunny Lee (
"Mr. Chatterbox"),
Leslie Kong (
"Caution," "Soul Shakedown Party," "Stop the Train," "Back Out," "Cheer Up," "Soul Captives"),
Ted Powder (
"Adam and Eve"), a handful of
Wailers self-productions (
"Concrete Jungle," "Lively Up Yourself," "Satisfy My Soul"), and a generous selection of
Lee "Scratch" Perry's 1970 and 1971 work with the group (
"Mr. Brown," "Small Axe," "Kaya," "Soul Rebel," "Sun Is Shining," "Brand New Second Hand," "Duppy Conqueror," "Stand Alone").
Perry also worked with
Marley for brief periods in 1976 and 1977, and
"Who Colt the Game," "I Know a Place," "Natural Mystic," and
"Keep on Skanking" are included from those sessions. The end result isn't the essential
Bob Marley & the Wailers, as the title proclaims, but it certainly contains tracks that are essential, particularly the
Perry material. Serious fans of
the Wailers will already have everything here, but for casual listeners looking for a well-sequenced set of the earlier years to augment the
Island releases, this one fills the bill nicely.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
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