Chart entered : 27 September 1975
Chart peak : 22 ( 8 on reissue in 1981 )
Number of hits : 22
We were even later to the party with this guy who was nearly three quarters of the way through his recording career before he started having hits here.
I'll state from the outset that the distinctions between bluebeat, ska, rocksteady, reggae, lover's rock and dancehall are not very clear to me so I apologise in advance for any mislabelling in what follows.
Robert Marley was born in 1945, the illegitimate son of a white ex-naval officer employed as a plantation overseer and a black teenaged gospel singer. He was one of the guy's numerous bastard offspring so financial support was limited. He and his childhood friend and eventual stepbrother Neville Livingston, later to assume the nickname Bunny Wailer, started singing together in school in the early sixties. This developed into a vocal harmony group with the additions of Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite and Beverley Kelso although Bob also started learning the guitar.
They cut their first single in Jamiaca in 1962 with the simple ska tune "Judge Not" with its self-explanatory message - at this point Bob was a Catholic. From 1964 onwards they started putting out a relentless stream of cheaply-recorded singles in Jamaica. At the end of 1965 producer Clement Dodd picked 12 songs from it to form a first album "The Wailing Wailers " by which time the group had slimmed down to a trio of Bob, Bunny and Peter. Besides ska the album also highlighted the group's interest in American R & B a, doo wop and even British pop with a version of "What's New Pussycat". The most significant songs were an early version of "One Love", "Rude Boy" and "Simmer Down ". The later had been recorded with ska pioneers the Skatalites as the backing band. The figure of Tosh on the cover was the direct inspiration for the 2-Tone logo figure Walt Jabsco,
Shortly after its release Bob adopted the Rastafarian religion which gave him a new source of inspiration for his lyrics and strengthened his pacific world view. The pace of their single releases never let up. Eventually in 1970 they approached producer Lee "Scratch" Perry to work with them on a new album which became "Soul Rebels". Perry's clean sparse production and the slower loping grooves helps an appreciation of Bob's writing on songs like "Soul Rebel" which shows an appreciation of the restraints on personal freedom although the musicianship is sometimes questionable ; they seem to be playing completely out of time on the cover of James Brown's "My Cup". The album, complete with dodgy sexist cover, was the first to be released outside of Jamaica, with Trojan putting it out in the UK.
The band stuck with Perry for the following year's "Soul Revolution" a short-ish slight set with four covers and a re-working of "Soul Rebel". "Fussing and Fighting", "Stand Alone" and "Sun Is Shining" have some vim but otherwise it's a pretty dull plod. A dub version was released shortly afterwards.
Bob's star started ascending in 1972 when Johnny Nash covered four of his songs on his "I Can See Clearly Now" LP and "Sir It Up " ( originally a Wailers single in 1967 ) became a Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Bob re-located to London living in a flat in Bloomsbury and the band went on a UK tour supporting Nash in 1971. While in the UK they asked for a meeting with Chris Blackwell to discuss royalties for some Jamaican releases he had licensed in the hope of obtaining the air fare home. Instead Blackwell surprised them with an advance to record an album. Bob had already signed with CBS but after a spat Blackwell bought out his contract and signed them to Island.
The resulting album was "Catch A Fire " which benefits from the state of the art production values; the mixing process took six months of negotiating between Bob and Blackwell with the latter anxious to maximise the crossover potential of his new capture. It's also a much stronger set of songs, all originals ( two written by Tosh ) veering between politics ("Slave Driver ") and romance ( "Baby We've Got A Date " ) and all benefiting from the tight playing of the rhythm section , Aston and Carlton Barrett. It didn't sell particularly well but was a huge critical success.
It was quickly followed up by "Burnin' " later in the year. Although it featured some re-recordings of earlier songs on side two the new material was very strong and more politically-focussed such as "Get Up Stand Up" and "I Shot The Sheriff". The latter raised his profile another notch when covered by Eric Clapton and taken to number one in the US ( 9 here ).
At this point Tosh and Livingston decided to quit. In 1973 Tosh had had a serious car accident in which his girlfriend was killed and he suffered a fractured skull which had a detrimental effect on his personality. His main reason for leaving was Blackwell's lack of interest in his projected solo album and he would afterwards refer to the producer as "Whiteworst" . Livingston claimed that Blackwell's tour schedule offended against his Rastafarian beliefs but he was really just homesick. Unlike Tosh he remained on the label for his first two solo releases but rarely ventured outside Jamaica. Both maintained a career in music but never achieved solid international success.
Whatever the truth of the matter, neither Bob nor Blackwell seemed to mourn their departure. The Wailers became "Bob Marley and the Wailers " with the latter now comprising the Barrett brothers and guitarist Al Anderson. Bob's wife Rita and two other singers Marcia ( of Bob and... fame ) Griffiths and Judy Mowat did backing vocals and had a separate name, the I-Threes. This was the line-up for 1974's "Natty Dread" . Because of an ongoing dispute with his music publishers Bob attributed most of the credits to family members and friends although in reality he wrote every song. It's another strong set , not obviously the weaker for Tosh and Livingston's departures although some of the lyrics are questionable. Lines like "I feel like bombin' a church" ( "Talkin Blues ") and "Kill, cramp and paralyze all weak at conception" ("Revolution" ) don't do his reputation any favours.
And the album contained the first released version of "No Woman No Cry", an account of his teen years growing up in Trenchtown. Bob started working on it in 1973 and there is an early version featuring some input from Tosh. When it came to releasing it on the album Bob credited it to Vincent Ford a man who'd provided him with food and lodging when times were tough. The title is slightly puzzling ; I presume he's saying you shouldn't mope about your woman leaving when it's not as bad as being young and hungry.
On the album it's let down slightly by a tinny Bontempi percussion track so the live version recorded at the Lyceum in July 1975 has become definitive. By this time the band had expanded further with the additions of Tyrone Downie on keyboards and Alvin Patterson on percussion who remedied the problem. Downie's rich Hammond contribution is another plus point for this version. To say it's reggae's Stairway To Heaven I've always been slightly underwhelmed by it, preferring his more energetic material. It reached its peak position on re-release in the immediate aftermath of his death.
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