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Bob Marley and the Wailers - The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers
- “The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers” is the beginning of what would become a world renown band, spreading reggae music, an unknown style before the '70s, around the globe.
Here, are some of his classic songs stripped down to bare bones. You can hear the reggae sound of staccato guitar shuffles, light drums, and not much more. You can barely call this album electric. It sounds more like a bunch of friends jamming in a garage, unplugged.
A well organized song on the album is “Small Axe.” Marley sings allegorically of how a “big tree” - a first world country can be defeated by a “small axe” - the revolutionary power of a third world’s people.
Most of the album follows in this tone. Marley and the people he sings to are the impoverished and abused. He uses his faith, words, and music to spread his message of overcoming oppressive forces.
“Stir It Up” is a version of the song not frequently heard. It is the skeleton of the more recognizable recording. This one, however, serves the listener well with complementing background vocals. “Trenchtown Rock” and “Lively Up Yourself” follow the same uplifting style. “Concrete Jungle” describes Jamaica’s Trenchtown ghetto and the prison sentence it was to live there.
Bob Marley grew from a poor struggling Jamaican to a superstar who would denounce that term (superstar) anytime he heard it. Marley was flesh and bone and he knew that. He called every bluff of vanity, lie, and hype. He was spiritually in tune to the harsh realities of a society divided by classes. He spoke for the people who couldn’t be heard and fought for the people that were already defeated. For that he is a legend.
Reviewer: Stefan Julian
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9.5
Reader's Rating: 1.00
Reader's Votes: 1
Added: 7-Aug-2009
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