Natty Dread [Original recording reissued]

Bob Marley & the Wailers (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 31, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1974
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001FXX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,422 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lively Up Yourself

2. No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley

3. Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)

4. Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Road Block)

5. So Jah Seh

6. Natty Dread

7. Bend Down Low

8. Talkin' Blues

9. Revolution

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Natty Dread captures Bob Marley's decisive transition from Wailers band member to auteur. His singing and writing are now front and center, and the revamped band is securely reined in to his defiant, Rastafarian worldview. This 1974 release mirrors the lineup's more sinewy sound, carved by Al Anderson's spidery guitar fills, Touter's telegraphic keyboard, the I-Threes' female vocal choruses and vamping horns--a potent brew that bubbles under his then most openly political songs. A position paper on the daunting ghetto realities of Jamaica's Trenchtown, the album reels off a series of enduring Marley classics and kicks off with the giddy, sexy reggae anthem, "Lively Up Yourself," with its hilarious but mysterious spoken fadeout ("What you got in dat bag, dere?"). It continues with the uplifting pep talk in "No Woman No Cry," the grim dispatches of "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)" and "Rebel Music (3 O'Clock Roadblock)," as well as the exhortations of the title song and "Revolution." Marley's own dreadlocks were still just growing in then, but this is nonetheless fully matured, riveting reggae at its most focused, righteous, and rhythmically irresistible. --Sam Sutherland

Product Description

Limited Edition Japanese pressing comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Universal. 2008. * Please note these are issued on Universal EU barcodes but are in fact pressed in Japan and include an OBI and booklet. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars important, September 18, 2000

By	Sean M. Kelly (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The demise of the original Wailers was certainly tougher on Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh in terms of later success than it was on Bob Marley, who saw the value in spreading his beautifully defiant messages in music that meant crossing over to reach white audiences at the risk of alienating his core Rastafarian audiences at home.

As it turned out, Bob successfully reached everyone, and "Natty Dread," his first crossover success, proved it. There is little I can say about this lp that hasn't been said hundreds of times before, but here goes. It is one of the most perfect reggae lps made. Bob, now the undisputed leader, shines his visionary lights on high beam for the world to see. His was a message of defiant unity- a message that Peter Tosh also embraced, but in a much more radical way.

The key to Bob's success was that he understood moderation. His protests were subtle, poignant, yet you still knew they were protests, whereas Tosh's protests were blatent, in your face accusations (which I admire to no end) that left little to the imagination..

Bob's protest/love songs, such as "No Woman No Cry," are true tearjerkers, while "Revolution" leaves no doubt where Bob is at. The mix of love and protest on "Natty Dread" is a perfect yin/yang balance that Bob, no less anyone else, was ever able to reach again. It's a beautifully frozen moment in time that can be relived again and again- and should.

One of the most important reggae lps ever made, and one of my top 50 lps of any genre, any time period, and one I always seem to go back to for inspiration, "Natty Dread" is simply incomperable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rebel Music, March 8, 2001

By	Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

Natty Dread was an extremely important album for Bob Marley. Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer had left the band and Mr. Marley was out on his own. He delivered an album that painted a vivid portrait of live in the shanties in the ghettoes of Jamaica. Many of the songs like "Them Belly Full (But We Hungary)", "Revolution", "Rebel Music" and "Bend Down Low" were a call to arms, songs that didn't asked for change, but demanded it. "Talkin' Blues" takes its cue from Bob Dylan's early 60's songs. Not everything on Natty Dread is angry, "Lively Up Yourself" is a bouncy number about having a good time and the original studio version of "No Woman No Cry" is a reaffirmation that as the line goes, "everything's gonna be alright".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bob Marley's Breakout Album, October 25, 2002

By	rodog63jr (bronx, N.Y.C. N.Y. USA) - See all my reviews

As one who listened to my mother's Bob Marley records in my childhood (she's from Jamaica), this the one I like the most. The songs on here such as No Woman, No Cry, Natty Dread, Lively Up yourself, and Talkin' Blues are the songs that helped Bob Marley reach a worldwide audience.