The Island Years

If it's hard to pick one Sudio One selection over the other, it's even harder to pick any original Island release out as the one most crucial Marley recording. Every single album has its strengths and, while they're varied in their moods, there aren't a lot of weak spots to drag any of them down. One of the amazing things about Marley was that he operated at such an elevated artistic level for the entire last decade of his earthly manifestation. It's even more amazing when you consider that he was on the road touring almost continuously for the last five years of his life; especially so when you read some of the reports about how disorganized that travelling could be and learn that he was not catered to in the way that many white rock stars take for granted. His Rastafarian diet in particular was not always available leading to poor malnutrition and exhaustion. It has been said that he may not have succumbed to the cancer if he had received better care earlier on and not worked, or been worked, so hard.

Attempting to escape the ups and downs of the Jamaican music industry that they had experienced since1963, Marley and The Wailers signed a deal with CBS through Johnny Nash in 1971 that resulted in a single, "Reggae On Broadway" (to be found on a generally unappetizing posthumous CBS album, Chances Are), but that also eventually left them stranded in London in 1972. Marley then approached Chris Blackwell, London-based head of Island Records and long-time Jamaican music afficionado, distributor and producer, for a deal and finally struck gold. He got an advance of ?4,000 sterling.

Island released ten Marley albums during his lifetime. Despite the excellence of the earlier recordings discussed above, these Island releases, along with his incendiary live shows, are what Marley's international reputation is based upon. While the earlier recordings certainly provided a strong foundation, at the time they were limited in their circulation and were only later discovered by a wider audience. Critical attempts to proclaim them as crucial to Marley's success, while simultaneously finding fault with the Island releases for not being "Jamaican enough," are revisionist and not based on fact.

However, make no mistake. The Island recordings continued the breakthroughs in sound first achieved with the Perry sessions. Over the course of the decade, Marley's reputation was gradually built up release by release until he achieved the distinction of being perhaps the world's biggest touring act in the summer of 1980. The only place where his success was not complete was in the United States, where he never managed to appeal to the black community's musical tastes, a situation that he continually attempted to overcome through tours and shows with established soul acts but without substantial success.

The Island recordings fall into several distinct historical periods, corresponding to events in Marley's artistic and political life.

Catch A Fire And Burnin'

The immediate result of Blackwell's signing Marley was the Catch A Fire album. Historically, this was the first reggae album to be recorded in the luxurious style of rock albums with added instrumentation and overdubs from several well-known but uncredited session musicians. The packaging, the famous Zippo sleeve in the album's first incarnation, was lavish and it was promoted like a rock album far beyond the Jamaican community. And the music? Cool and slinky, unlike anything that had been heard previously. In a way, unlike anything that's been heard since. While not an immediate success, it stands today as the essential cornerstone of Marley's long march from Jamaican musician to world figure.

On the second album, Burnin', Livingston and McIntosh are still present as part of The Wailers. The sound returns to a more traditional and rootsy Jamaican style. Burnin' features I Shot The Sheriff, the song that Eric Clapton scored an international hit with helping to expose Marley to a far larger audience.

Natty Dread, Live! And Rastaman Vibration

Natty Dread, the third album, saw Marley joined by The I-Threes but without his longtime male vocal accompanists. It has the exuberance of an artist beginning to see the full breadth of his art and features his "other" best known song, No Woman, No Cry. By this time, Marley was making serious inroads into the British music market. His burgeoning success is celebrated on the Live! album. Bringing "the Trenchtown experience" to Britain, it's rough and ready, angry and raw, and totally in the groove.

Rastaman Vibration, the next album, is generally considered his real international breakthrough album, cracking the American charts for the first time. Marley hits with Positive Vibration and warns of War and the Rat Race.

At the end of that year, 1976, Marley wanted to celebrate his success and promote peace in Kingston's slums, where a vicious political war was being waged, with a free concert. On the eve of the concert, a gang of gunmen broke into Marley's house and shot him. Fortunately, he was only slightly wounded and he went on to play the concert. However, it was obviously a traumatic event and he left Jamaica for the next eighteen months.

Exodus, Kaya And Babylon By Bus

The next two albums, Exodus and Kaya, were recorded back to back in London but have a surprisingly different sound from each other. Exodus was conceived of as a vinyl LP with a different mood on each side. The first being of a spiritual and reality nature with songs like "Natural Mystic", "So Much Things To Sa"y, and "Exodus". The second side being of a more earth-bound sexual love with "Jamming", "Waiting In Vain", "Three Little Birds", and yet another of his best known songs, "One Love/People Get Ready". It's actually a fascinating integration of political concerns and emotional matters. Exodus was a massive success. It is this writer's favourite Bob Marley album although he remains reluctant to actually be pinned down and have to make a choice.

Kaya, released in 1978, was another success but concentrates on the love songs and the Easy Skanking feel-good vibe. That may make it seem slight but in reality it's as powerful in its atmosphere of relaxation as any of the more militant material is in its arena.

This period of Marley's life was summed up on the Babylon By Bus live double set. Recorded on The Wailers' powerhouse U. S. tour of 1978, the album covers much of his strongest material but not the obvious greatest hits. It's the only place on CD to find his attempt to serve the British Punk community -- "Punky Reggae Party"; it's otherwise only to be found on various singles. The sleeve creatively relocated Santa Cruz to be north of Berkeley. Perhaps that's an indication of just what a busy and crazy time it was for Marley. That same year he returned to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert in front of the Prime Minister, Michael Manley, and the Leader of the Opposition, Edward Seaga. He also received the Medal of Peace from the United Nations and made his first trip to Africa, including visiting Ethiopia, spiritual home of Rastafari. Plus he toured Australia, Japan, and New Zealand!

Survival And Uprising

In his lifetime, Marley made two more full albums for Island, Survival and Uprising, both as fiery and committed, maybe more so, as any of his earlier releases. The trip to Africa must have influenced him greatly because Survival shows a much higher level of panAfrican awareness and nationalism than previously with songs such as Africa Unite and Zimbabwe. However, the whole album is a militant cry to arms that would have the ruling class quaking in their boots if they listened. These are fighting songs, not songs of peace - or at least no peace until there's justice and we'll fight for it if we have to, which seems likely!

Uprising is a return to Marley's usually slightly more poetic and spiritual view of life but underneath it's still as hard as nails. Another massive hit, it includes "Could You Be Loved" and "Coming In From The Cold". The closing track, "Redemption Song", provides a haunting elegiac air that makes it seem as though Marley must have known that he was near the end of this earthly trip although reports are that this was a time of "maximum optimism."