Customer Reviews

42 Great Performances

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I am one of those people who think that Marley's music improved immeasurably after he went to Island Records, after the split with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and with the addition of a guitar driven sound and the female backing group the I Threes.

What you have here is a very generous collection of 42 songs from the earlier Jamaican era, encompassing, as far as I can make out material from Leslie Kong's The Best of the Wailers, as well as some Coxone Dodd and Lee Perry era cuts. (The sleeve notes have a short biography of Marley, but tell you little about the music. Since the sleeve notes refer to one of Marley's great albums as 'Kayo' (actually Kaya), one has to wonder how much the author knew about Marley's work.)

The music runs the range from doo-wop through R&B to soul, and shows that even in this era of uneven instrumentation, Marley had a wonderful soulful voice, and a masterful way with a ballad. What you will not find here is any of the Rastafarian fuelled music or politically oriented material which turned the later Marley into such a prophetic figure. You will hear, though, Simmer Down, a best selling early effort appealing for an end to violence in the Kingston ghetto.

Highlights on these discs for me are There She Goes on disc one, and Stand Alone on disc two.

Many of the songs heard hear in proto versions turn up later in revamped versions on albums like Catch A Fire and Kaya, and I think it is probably true to say that these are the best songs of this bunch.

Anyway, there are a lot of packages of early Marley material out there in the stores, but I honestly don't think you could beat this one for value for money. So if you want to hear the early Marley, you should probably get this, but if you are not familiar with Marley's music, you would probably do better with one of the Island Records era collections as a first buy.

Here is my rating scale for albums:

* Absolute {dud}
** Some good stuff, but some definite flaws

*** Fans of the artist in question will like this.
**** This represents the best work of the artist.
***** An absolute masterpiece, a classic. Your collection starts here.

That one aspect that holds it back is that it does not include Concrete Jungle. That point aside, this fulfills it's goal flawlessly.

Marley's work is essentially split into 2 sections, the more well known "Island" work, and the earlier work. A few songs bridge the gap by means of re-recordings, songs like Stop That Train, Kaya, and 400 Years among others, all of which have their early versions on this 2 Cd collection.

Many fans feel that the move to Island Records took Marley's work from good to great. I however am of the opinion that while many of his greatest songs did come about in this time period, some of his most amazing work came well before it. They may not have the anthemic beauty of "No Woman No Cry", or the the instant recognition of "I Shot the Sheriff", but there is something in the production and delivery that makes up for it. Songs like "Fussin'& Fightin'", "Sun is Shining" and "Kaya" are all among his best works. While the latter two were re-recorded later, the process lost the gritty Kingston sound that make the recordings featured here so exceptional.

Now, in the process, the compilation features some mildly unnecessary selections, but never to the point it detracts from what can truly be described as a collection of Marley's best work.

This is an illegal bootleg release. Buy 'The Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967-1972', parts 2 and 3 (from JAD Records) or Bob Marley & The Wailers albums from Trojan Records instead, if you want to have the songs on this album. JAD's and Trojan's releases are legal, and the sound quality is often much better on their albums. Also, if you buy the box sets from JAD, part of the money will go to the Bob Marley and Peter Tosh families and Bunny Wailer (the three original Wailers).