Chant Down Babylon: The Island Anthology [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [IMPORT]

Burning Spear

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 1996)
• Original Release Date: June 18, 1996
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B000001E8X
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #161,904 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Between 1975 and 1978, while he was on Island, Burning Spear, aka Winston Rodney, recorded his classic albums. The combination of Spear and producer Jack Ruby seem unstoppable, bringing forth heavy, spiritual reggae and some wicked dub, making him one of the most influential reggae figures of the period. Chant Down Babylon cherry-picks the best from his six records for Island, and two CDs is barely enough to contain it, with gems like "Slavery Days," "Man in the Hills," "Mek We Dweet," and "Social Living." As an introduction to the man at his very best, this can't be beat. Chris Nickson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roots Music, June 10, 2000

By	Enrique Torres "Rico" (San Diegotitlan, Califas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This collection of songs by one of the mainstays of reggae is priceless, old school reggae for the new millennium. The recordings are remastered from the originals and sound pretty good.This CD chronicles Winston Rodneys rise to stardom which began in 1969 up to the present. The classic reggae beat is sweetened with the voice of Rodney as he chants and works his magic on the mic. The Rastaman gives his message that is filled wiith references that are political and spiritual. Marcus Garvey is a favorite theme with his Pan-Africanism as is the religion of Rastafarianism. Although many of these songs are from the mid 70's to the early 90's they still sound good. The classics abound on this CD, notably work from "Man In The Hills" and "Marcus Garvey's Ghost", two of his best works, IMO. If you like dub there are some great dub numbers here, with their haunting rhythmns and bass lines that drop out intermittingly. Thirty five songs and a booklet that give a little history on Burnibg Spear make this a good musical package that pays tribute to one of the superstars of reggae, Burning Spear.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great songs, but a little repetitive., January 25, 1999

By A Customer

Burning Spear is a great reggae singer, and this album certainly shows that. Unfortunately, all the songs begin to sound the same! There's simply not enough variation (as there is with a lot of his other albums) to make this a representative of Burning Spear as a whole. There are many jems, but not enough to make it an album you can put on 'repeat.'

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First disc is much better, February 27, 2005

By	atlantamoi (Scottdale, Ga United States) - See all my reviews

This is going to sound like a mildly negative review, but it would truly be hard to slag the first disc on this set. Some of these tunes are high water marks in reggae. I'm a fan of early 70's reggae and late 60's ska. I don't care for watered-down, drum machine (1980's) reggae music. The problem with this collection is that the first disc makes the second one sound weak. Too many songs on the second disc slide into UB40 territory w/out the hooks. And I can only take so much Marcus Garvey talk... it's harder to take the music seriously when you kind of just want to roll your eyes over the worship of this guy (or ANY man).

I would suggest looking into his early albums before purchasing this set for full price.