Bob Marley & the Wailers: Island/Tuff Gong Studio Albums Poll

Natty Dread, but I could vote for any of those first three.

Exodus

catch a fire for me, though i feel like i need to devote some time to the others. uprising is really good, it kind of has a heavy sad vibe to it that strikes a strong contrast with some of the happier more upbeat marley stuff out there

i'm not super familiar with 'rastaman' through 'survival' so i'm going to devote the next few weeks to those missing links

'put it on' 'small axe' and 'duppy conqueror' are three of my favorite bmw tracks ever so i'm tempted to go with Burnin'. however i prefer the earlier versions of all three iirc.

that's kind of how i've felt about those tracks too, i like burnin but i prefer the earlier versions

first disc of this remains far and away my favorite collection of marley songs ever.

ever. EVER.

Yeah but first disc is all pre-Island...

Voting Burnin' because best songs even if as noted above better of most of the songs exist.

man...this is impossible

Burnin', probably, but side 2 of Exodus is so so so so good

Catch a Fire though

Yep Burnin for best songs

Kinda dont care for much of the post-Tosh/Wailer stuff

Natty Dread, although I've not heard Kaya or Survival.

Would have said Burnin' but never heard Jamaican version of Catch a Fire until today, so right now a tie. Like the later stuff more than Shakey does though, and didn't actually mind original release of Catch a Fire with Wayne Perkins solos.

i love survival in the same it's-late-in-the-game-but-jesus-there-are-some-great-songs-here way that i love roxy music's flesh and blood. (and if that were a poll, i'd vote for survival, easy.) "top rankin'," "one drop" and "zimbabwe" are among the killers.

Too bad you don't allow any of the Upsetter Records material which is by far my favorite era for them. If i could have only one single Wailers album, it would easily be the '73 bootleg of them at the Record Plant in Sausalito.

As far as the Island material goes, the first three are the only ones that i can enjoy in their entirety; with the remainder of the catalog being hit-n-miss for me.

In the end, i'll vote for Burnin' because it lacks so much of the overdubs that Blackwell put in Catch a Fire. Natty Dread has the best cover art.

Did you listen to Catch a Fire without the overdubs?

not enough love for exodus here tho

"wait in vain" was life changing for me

My dad was conservative, in the general sense, but also musically. He was really into Frank Sinatra, I want to say Glenn Miller, stuff like that. When we were younger we took a trip to Jamaica, and my parents being my parents and my dad being my dad, there was no way we were staying on some resort. So we went out and about a lot, to see all the country had to offer, which included taking some horrible train through the mountains (I remember someone jumping the train and being whipped bloody with a switch by the conductor) where my dad was beset by dudes selling him drugs, to which he would respond he was with the DEA, which did the trick. Anyway, despite liking Sinatra et al. and pretty much just that, as far as music with words went, he was also oddly really into reggae. But he didn't know much about the specifics, just a few names he caught here and there. Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, and of course Bob Marley. So I vividly recall going with him to all these random record stores in dubious back alley locations, where he would stock up on Bob Marley cassettes. "Natty Dread" was his favorite, and to this day I remember its not quite legit art/cassette color. Good album!

Great story!

Feel like it's kind of a pity that Marley is often viewed as kind of an Icon Of Reggae For People Who Don't Really Like Reggae Or Even R & B or Something For Partiers Of a Certain Stripe to Listen To Between The Dead and Jimmy Buffett. If nothing else you've got the Barrett Brothers, one of the all time great rhythm sections. But there is plenty else, the original vocal trio for one thing, love those "Gypsy Woman" backing vocals on "Baby We've Got A Date ( Rock It Baby)"
/simmer_down

Marley is one of those figures who is easy to dismiss due to the association of his biggest fans. Because let's face it his biggest fans are basically really annoying people.

Right. Which reminds me I really need to give Frank Zappa another chance. Oh wait.

If nothing else you've got the Barrett Brothers, one of the all time great rhythm sections.

seriously, these guys were all time, aston especially.

also as much as i agree with the sentiment, i'm pretty tired hearing about "but all marley's terrible fans ruin it for me." fuck that. i'm 30 years old, high school and college were a long time ago, i'm over that shit.

basically any really famous musician is going to have loads of terrible fans

also great story josh! my dad also really liked bob marley, so does my father-in-law, neither of who are really into music despite having a lot of music, most of it fairly conservative.

Only actually know Catch a Fire, Exodus, and Kaya. I'd probably pick Catch a Fire out of those, but have a feeling I'd really like Survival, based on the songs I know from it.

Listening to that '73 Record Plant show this morning. Excellent find, thanks for the tip.

yeah I mean Marley's artistry is consummate. he was also very ambitious, but behind the ambition lay an incredible harmonic sense and an incredible feel for delivering a lyric.

Did you listen to Catch a Fire without the overdubs?

― Teenage Idol With the Golden Head (James Redd and the Blecchs)

I have listened to it, yes, and like it very much; but it's not included in the list of options.

Listening to that '73 Record Plant show this morning. Excellent find, thanks for the tip.

― A Perfect Ratio of Choogle to Jam (Dan Peterson)

How can they play both tightly and loosely at the same time? So good.

the 2012 marley documentary is really good btw

my wife and i have been watching it the past couple nights, like a half-hour or an hour at time

was bummed though at how little of a presence peter tosh has. i know he died a long time ago, but there has to be a lot of footage that they could have shown. so far we just hear his voice for a few seconds saying why he left the wailers.

bunny was a joy to see in the film though. scratch too

so this is not included in the poll as i mentioned, but i checked out this collection from the library last week: The Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967–1972 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Bob_Marley_%26_the_Wailers_1967%E2%80%931972

i've heard a lot of this stuff before on other compilations, but to have it all in one place is great. it's pretty spectacular. includes all the lee perry stuff, leslie kong and johnny nash productions, lots of dubs and alternate versions, a few tunes with toasters (u-roy is on one of them, though admittedly it's not the best he's ever done), and the original version of "concrete jungle", which is just out of this world.

The "Gypsy Woman" backing vocals in "Baby, We've Got A Date (Rock It Baby)" never fail to pleasantly surpise.

Surprise even

that whole album has wonderful harmonies

Sure does, but that one is the only one I recognize as a quote from something else, which gives it that little extra push over the cliff.

i haven't really listen to exodus that much apart from the legend songs until lately, but shit it's really stunning. there are so many album cuts across all these records that are just really heavy and rootsy, i've been enjoying these a lot more than the hits. i could listen to minor key reggae forever.

here is "guiltiness" from exodus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP3VsZ7QD08

and "forever loving jah" from uprising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY5_Q9azOm0

A bunch of you need to know that extra disc of the Catch A Fire reissue is "The Unreleased Jamaican Version" that's more stripped down, and adds "High Tide or Low Tide" and "All Day All Night." Awesome.

^bears repeating

yea the jamaican version is very good. though i don't think it's better or worse than the standard version.

lots of you have seen this but i'm still gonna post it because it's pretty awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAYNXSv6wmw

and this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE3WaSETf8k
both from the old grey whistle test

aston barrett rules so hard

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure there was a Tory MP, Teddy Taylor, who was an enthusiastic Marley fan. He was also a fan of corporal and capital punishment and Margaret Thatcher, so it didn't seem a natural choice of listening

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

(Xp) sure that wasn't a David Peace character?

fairly decent spread. feel like i could've voted for any of these really, they are remarkably consistent