Bob Marley

[El_Jeffe]

since the other thread got removed, we need a new one. especially with the new movie billed to come out february 2010.one of the worlds most important artists & one of my personal favourites


one of musics most transcendent & iconic figures, bob introduced the sounds of his small nation to the far reaching corners of the globe. marley's music gave a voice to the every day struggles of the jamaican people, vividly capturing, not only the troubles of the country's impoverished & oppressed, but also the spirituality that remains their source of strength. his songs of faith, with a voice singing of revolution, revelation & romance created a legacy that continues to live on not only through his own music, but also through generations of artists the world over that were touched by his brilliance

he gave a voice to the “third world”, those suffering first hand the real & unimaginable cruelties of poverty, apartheid, social & political discrimination & inequalities. the power of his music goes above & beyond the face value, it became a deep-seated sound of hope that radiated throughout the lands & impacted on everyone's life, whether for mere enjoyment, on a spiritual level, or as the backdrop & drive for social change. those impacts of his music & message has been felt everywhere, even in situations that have next to no association to music. preaching peace & love, he gave the world hope. from the poverty lines to the materialistically rich, artists from all genres, people from all cultures, all countries. his music covered all concepts & was something everyone could relate too, music that has transcended through to today so well

while bob's songs were often written about his real life experiences, often in a jamaican setting, his songs always assumed a greater meaning. unfortunately bob experienced a time when a man of african decent was still fighting for a place in society. that's why his lyrics call for deeper assessment of human relations that move so far beyond his charismatic rhythms & melodic harmonies. whether he realized it at the time or not, his thoughts were being echoed around the world. this encouraged a sense of respecting cultures, respecting ideas, looking into & understanding political views, looking into where the real issues are throughout the world & what could/should be done. this movement reflected the growing human aspiration for racial harmony

marley's impact shouldn’t be underestimated. he turned his beliefs into a movement of universal force reaching out to all races. while his work for race relations may not be on par with the likes of martin luther king or the great nelson mandela, etc, you simply cannot understate the power music has to reach people who largely don't pay attention to politics/news, etc. bob may not have led the poor out from poverty, but he lent a sense of dignity & humanity to the struggles of such populations. his music brought the sound, the suffering, & the joys of some of the world's poorest places to the attention of people of all backgrounds & economic means. he achieved this through writing & playing music that made us groove & think

in much of today's popular music, romance is dying, politics is hit or miss, & spirituality & freedom are on the way out. yet marley covered it all. he took jamaica's complicated history, many unrelated social concepts, rasta philosophy, garveyism, rebellion, & his peoples homeland.. trench town, & bought new life to it; focused complex music that was concerned with reality, but weaved through with magic that transfixed not just his nation... but the world. he captured the essence of the "third world" & echoed it worldwide. many responded & many will never forget

any fans, share some love & discussion?

[chipdip18]

Craig, you're still awesome.

Exodus is a great album. I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a site that had links to his whole discography, and got like 5 albums at once, a blessing and a curse at the same time since it's hard to digest so much at once but i really grew to enjoy Exodus in the very least. Incredible artist for sure.

What is this movie exactly?

[El_Jeffe]

i've been trying to visit this site more lately, but there doesn't seem any/many music threads on the first few pages of the music forum & no discussion. what the?!

the movie is a martin scorsese rockumentary about marley's music & life. although i haven't seen either, think back to the other two scorsese music films did about bob dylan & the rolling stones. the film is meant to be released on february 6, 2010/bob's 65th birthday. ziggy marley is the executive producer as far as i know & said "this will be the ultimate, authorised documentary film on the life, legacy and global impact of one of the most influential singers, songwriters, musicians and activists in history". so it should be good, no doubt i'll be in the theatre upon release

[HangsLikeHeaven]

Posting in here because I love me some Craig. And I can show love for Marley... just probably not as much as I'd like to.

[jbaseball44]

Posting in support of Marley and in support of recreating old Ben threads.

[blinkme]

I had no idea there was a Bob Marley documentary coming out. Excited to see it!

[El_Jeffe]

yea i thought it was very petty to remove ben's threads, when many had some great discussion in them. sucks he doesn't post anymore

but the documentary should be great, i'm not sure what direction it's going to go in, i just hope it does some form of justice in a tasteful manner. there are so many possible avenues that could be brought to life by this film

[Jumpoff]

Can't wait to see this film.. I wonder who is going to be cast to play Marley, Stephen maybe?

Hope it turns out good.. love the man's music.

[Pat k]

Bump for Bob!

Bummer that Bob's recently been co-opted by bros and sorority girls, but it's better than listening to DMB at parties. Bob made like 5-10 essential records.

[ThisIsNotDan]

I only have his Legend collection, and I haven't listened to it. gonna put it on my iPod, but what actual album of his is most essential to get?

[PoweredbyPJ]

since im jamaican and pretty much grew up on his music being blared all over my house by my dad i feel kinda obliged to post something in this thread :p

love bob, love his music, love what he stood for

definitely interested in how the movie's gonna turn out too

[Dre Okorley]

The movie should be pretty awesome. Also, leave it to El Jeffe to start this thread :-)

[Pat k]

I only have his Legend collection, and I haven't listened to it. gonna put it on my iPod, but what actual album of his is most essential to get?

A lot of people would say, and Time magazine would say, Exodus. I think Burnin' is a great place to start because you get to hear Peter and Bunny too!

[El_Jeffe]

I only have his Legend collection, and I haven't listened to it. gonna put it on my iPod, but what actual album of his is most essential to get?

exodus has been quoted as the greatest album of all time by some publications, but many roots reggae fans claim catch a fire deserves that spot. but honestly... every album catch a fire on deserves some attention, they're all incredibly strong & take his music in a new direction, building on the portrayal painted with each subsequent album. one of the strongest bodies of work of any artist in the world

i know that's never the answer newer fans are looking for, everyone just wants ones that "one essential album" to add to their collection, but this is music that deserves & requires a great amount of attention, learning, discovery, & just letting your soul soak in as much as you can. there's a reason he's a legend, his music breathes such a freshness, messages of such purity, as if they were written for the world just this morning. don't look at searching through his catelogue as task, but more as a personal journey through a musical landscape incomparable to any other, enjoy it mate

[ThisIsNotDan]

A lot of people would say, and Time magazine would say, Exodus. I think Burnin' is a great place to start because you get to hear Peter and Bunny too!

exodus has been quoted as the greatest album of all time by some publications, but many roots reggae fans claim catch a fire deserves that spot. but honestly... every album catch a fire on deserves some attention, they're all incredibly strong & take his music in a new direction, building on the portrayal painted with each subsequent album. one of the strongest bodies of work of any artist in the world

i know that's never the answer newer fans are looking for, everyone just ones that "one essential album" to add to their collection, but this is music that deserves & requires a great amount of attention, learning, discovery, & just letting your soul soak in as much as you can. there's a reason he's a legend, his music breathes such a freshness, messages of such purity, as if they were written for the world just this morning. don't look at searching through his catelogue as task, but more as a personal journey through a musical landscape incomparable to any other, enjoy it mate

ah thank you both. I'll start google searchin now. gracias!

[Pat k]

Bump!

I was listening to "Simmer Down" from 1964, and I just had to bring a Marley thread to the front page again. In a person's life, one inevitably comes to crossroads. Do I keep listening to Thrice or do I buy Catch a Fire and enter adulthood? Make the right choice.

qHYe_ULBLHk

[El_Jeffe]

Oh I love that early sound soo much. It's crazy to think Bob started working at Studio One in his teens as a talent scout. I've often wondered when that exact moment is that Coxsone realized that his talent scout had the gift to become on of the worlds biggest talents, & he'd been right there in front of him the whole time. I also love that song because many members of The Skatalites were floating round the studio at the time & you can hear them jamming on this track.

[cshadows2887]

I know Legend is the easy starting place, but are any of his studio albums worth looking into?

[El_Jeffe]

I know Legend is the easy starting place, but are any of his studio albums worth looking into?

Hell yes! Everything from Catch A Fire onwards is absolute brilliance. Bob quite possibly has the strongest musical catalogue of any artist in history. Exodus is the big one that most are familiar with, but there's no album I wouldn't suggest to you. So soo strong, much beyond the album singles too, well worth digging around into. In my view The Wailers are the worlds most important band.

[cshadows2887]

Hell yes! Everything from Catch A Fire onwards is absolute brilliance. Bob quite possibly has the strongest musical catalogue of any artist in history. Exodus is the big one that most are familiar with, but there's no album I wouldn't suggest to you. So soo strong, much beyond the album singles too, well worth digging around into. In my view The Wailers are the worlds most important band.

Damn. High praise from the guy who originated some of the threads for a lot of my favorite bands. Haha. My experience with reggae is virtually nil. Matisyahu and Legend is about all I know. Big gap in my musical knowledge. Time to fix that.

[El_Jeffe]

Damn. High praise from the guy who originated some of the threads for a lot of my favorite bands. Haha. My experience with reggae is virtually nil. Matisyahu and Legend is about all I know. Big gap in my musical knowledge. Time to fix that.

Original traditional ska (from the 60's) is my absolute musical passion, which ska obviously ventures off into reggae & soul, etc. Ska & reggae have played an incredible roles throughout history & changed music as we know it in countless ways throughout the decades. The world has many beyond gifted musical artists, but I struggle to find one that has such an incredibly strong back catalogue as The Wailers, & the really sad part was Bob was just starting to hit his prime when he passed... an absolute legend in every sense of the word.

Also, any future reggae/traditional ska needs, either musical recc's or just a yarn about the music, it's history, importance, etc, hit me up anytime mate, always keen. Not sure if you remember the "best bands/albums ever" chats some members had in the music forum about a year back? Had some good reggae chats in there, it was pretty much ap & The Beatles vs me & The Wailers (in a friendly discussion manner obviously haha). A lot of great insight came from it though.

[cshadows2887]

Original traditional ska (from the 60's) is my absolute musical passion, which ska obviously ventures off into reggae & soul, etc. Ska & reggae have played an incredible roles throughout history & changed music as we know it in countless ways throughout the decades. The world has many beyond gifted musical artists, but I struggle to find one that has such an incredibly strong back catalogue as The Wailers, & the really sad part was Bob was just starting to hit his prime when he passed... an absolute legend in every sense of the word.

Also, any future reggae/traditional ska needs, either musical recc's or just a yarn about the music, it's history, importance, etc, hit me up anytime mate, always keen. Not sure if you remember the "best bands/albums ever" chats some members had in the music forum about a year back? Had some good reggae chats in there, it was pretty much ap & The Beatles vs me & The Wailers (in a friendly discussion manner obviously haha). A lot of great insight came from it though.

No matter how much I end up loving reggae/ska, I don't think anyone will top The Beatles on the greatness front for me. But I grew up adoring them.

Who's a band from that era of ska?

[Jaimehere]

Witnessed Ziggy perform here in my country last year, reminds me so much of his great father

[El_Jeffe]

No matter how much I end up loving reggae/ska, I don't think anyone will top The Beatles on the greatness front for me. But I grew up adoring them.

Who's a band from that era of ska?

For me it's not so much about the definitive end answer, more about the individual perspective shared. We all undertake different musical journeys & discover things in our time & desire, with no rhyme or reason. We all hear the exact same music & perceive it in a completely different way. Part of what makes it all so exciting, & why no one way of thought if any better or worse than another.

One of the big players that forever changed music... The Skatalites (http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=254154). Their 90's releases (which are often 60's recorded material given a light in modern times) are often the best for new fans, as the production is modern too. Albums like Hi-Bop Ska are a great starting point.

[cshadows2887]

For me it's not so much about the definitive end answer, more about the individual perspective shared. We all undertake different musical journeys & discover things in our time & desire, with no rhyme or reason. We all hear the exact same music & perceive it in a completely different way. Part of what makes it all so exciting, & why no one way of thought if any better or worse than another.

One of the big players that forever changed music... The Skatalites (http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=254154). Their 90's releases (which are often 60's recorded material given a light in modern times) are often the best for new fans, as the production is modern too. Albums like Hi-Bop Ska are a great starting point.

Nice. They're going on my "to listen" list. Which keeps getting longer and longer the more time I spend on this site...

[Pat k]

What is the best Skatalites record with the old sound? I don't want anything too polished. I like that warm analog "Simmer Down" sound we've been praising on this page.

[El_Jeffe]

What is the best Skatalites record with the old sound? I don't want anything too polished. I like that warm analog "Simmer Down" sound we've been praising on this page.

Their first two albums, Ska Authentic & Ska Authentic Vol. 2. Both of which are very tricky to track down, but from what I've seen from you around ap, I'd say you're the type of music fan who will come across such treasures. They also have a collection from the early years titled Foundation Ska, which seems to be easier for most people to find.

[Pat k]

Their first two albums, Ska Authentic & Ska Authentic Vol. 2. Both of which are very tricky to track down, but from what I've seen from you around ap, I'd say you're the type of music fan who will come across such treasures. They also have a collection from the early years titled Foundation Ska, which seems to be easier for most people to find.

Google blogsearch never lets me down- I found Volume 1 in a jiffy. I look forward to enjoying it tomorrow. Thanks for the rec.

[Pat k]

I think one can argue that Marley quotes "Simmer Down" in the lyrics for "Kinky Reggae." It's a simple line- "I'm leaving you today." The way he sings it suggests that he consciously borrowed from himself. I'm not sure when Kinky Reggae was actually written, but it could be that there was a ten year gap between songs! I'm guessing her wrote Kinky Reggae much earlier and re-recorded it during the Catch a Fire sessions.

[El_Jeffe]

Quite probably. Bob borrowed from himself a lot actually haha. The most famous example (although most people don't have the slightest idea about it) is the classic "Could You Be Loved". When the gorgeous I-threes chime in from the background with their verse "the road of life is rocky; & you may stumble too. So while you point a finger, someone else is judging you...", this is actually a verse from Bob's first ever single "Judge Not".

[Pat k]

Quite probably. Bob borrowed from himself a lot actually haha. The most famous example (although most people don't have the slightest idea about it) is the classic "Could You Be Loved". When the gorgeous I-threes chime in from the background with their verse "the road of life is rocky; & you may stumble too. So while you point a finger, someone else is judging you...", this is actually a verse from Bob's first ever single "Judge Not".

Yeah! That kicks ass. I thought "Simmer Down" was his first single, but it was the first Wailers single. I'm listening to "Judge Not" for the first time. It's raw, and Bob sounds really young. Good song, and it goes to show how far Bob came as an artist in not that much time. Also shows how important Peter and Bunny were in his development.

[El_Jeffe]

Nicely picked up. I'm not sure of the exact date of the recording of "Judge Not", but I have a feeling it was when Bob was working as a talent scout of Studio One Records during his teenage years. Agreed about Peter & Bunny really helping shape Bob, but he had a lot of help from a great deal of artists whose circles he was a frequent guest of in some manner.

I love Bunny's early voice too, so very Curtis Mayfield inspired, tunes like " Hallelujah Time" really showcases not only what a gorgeous tenor voice Bunny had, but just how influential Mayfield was on the international music front.

[Pat k]

Hallelujah Time is a great song. Bunny nailed it on Burnin'. Maybe he felt sorry for not doing more on Catch a Fire, I dunno. Have you heard his solo record, Roots Radics Rockers Reggae? Luckily for you, if you haven't, I've ripped it and zipped it in my blog.

http://sunchildspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/05/did-you-hear-bunny-wailer-roots-radics.html

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend it to you if I didn't already listen to it frequently. It's good.

[oddwithoutend]

Rise up this morning
Smile with the rising sun
Three little birds pitch by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true
Singing this is my message to you

My favourite song from Exodus, and one of the most uplifting songs I've ever heard.

[cshadows2887]

Man, I slept on Catch a Fire for a long time, but that record is damn near perfect. "Concrete Jungle" is such a jam.

[TomWhaley]

If you don't like Bob Marley, you were born without a soul.

[El_Jeffe]

The guitar solo on "Concrete Jungle" is one of my favourites of all times, soo pure.

[cshadows2887]

Just heard Exodus for the first time. Not quite as good as Natty Dread or Catch a Fire, but it has a bunch of really essential, all-time-great songs. The rest sounds a bit tired/weary for him, but that makes sense since he was recovering from being shot and in exile.