Another Voice of Bob Marley

Rare and previously unreleased rehearsal and alternate takes - eMusic has three CD's worth of tracks with this the stand out - these tracks alone are well worth a sign-up to eMusic - WOW!      

You will find lot's of great Reggae, Dub, Ska and everything else... on this page we will highlight a few picks for you to sample... you can listen to 20 to 30 seconds of each song... you get 25 free downloads as a FREE trial and then, you'll pay less than 25 cents a song after that and you can do whatever you want with YOUR music when you use emusic !  

Here's another essential selection of Roots Reggae

 The Promised Land
Artist: Dennis Brown
Label: Blood And Fire / Virtual

Review by Nathan Bush, All Music Guide
Covering the years 1977-1979, The Promised Land explores a particularly productive period in the life of Dennis Emmanuel Brown. Enhancing the original release version are seven bonus cuts and an excellent remastering job.  On the opening "Emmanuel God Is With Us," with its haunting backing vocals, the singer outlines his vision for a world free of sorrow and pain, where god is present. However, as made clear by this song and many that follow, this is only attainable in a world where unity, consciousness, and peace exist as well. The fact that such an environment can seem so far out of reach is precisely what makes the message of songs like "Open Your Eyes," "Together Brothers," and "A Cup of Tea" so vital. Throughout the album, Brown's words are pushed and pulled by rhythms both gentle and tough, executed by musicians as skilled as drummer Sly Dunbar, bassist Errol "Flabba" Holt, and guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont. The result is a marriage of music and lyrics both seductive and instructive. One of Brown's finest album statements.

 At the Apollo '79
Artist: Bob Marley And The Wailers
Label: AMJ-Masters provided by Holyroad / CD Baby

The sound quality could be better but it is better than the tapes we have and it is a historic concert to say the least. 

 East of the River Nile
Artist: Augustus Pablo
Label: Shanachie Entertainment Corp. / The Orchard

Review by Jeff Chang, eMusic
By 1978, reggae keyboardist Horace "Augustus Pablo" Swaby had moved on from the explosive dub deconstructions of his breakthrough album, King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown. East of the River Nile, written and produced completely by Pablo, instead offered an inclusive and far-reaching vision of the possibilities of instrumental reggae. The album unfurls scrolls of sound imprinted with Pablo's trademark "Far East" style, drifting plaintively in minor keys; it seems to play with time itself. The bubbling shuffle of the title track (presented here in three different versions) harks back to Jackie Mittoo's soul-era Jamaican funk excursions. The looping Black Ark-isms of "Unfinished Melody" bear the influence of Pablo's sometime collaborator, Lee "Scratch" Perry. "Africa (1983)" is a scintillating dub version of his futurist roots hit for teen wunderkind Hugh Mundell. "Sounds From Levi" and "Chapter 2" float in the kind of electric-blue liquid space that electro, techno and drum 'n' bass artists would still be striving for decades later.

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Here's a MUST for any serious REGGAE Music Collection - one of the best Roots Rockin' Reggae Albums ever recorded!

 Two Sevens Clash
Artist: Culture
Label: Shanachie Entertainment Corp. / The Orchard

Review by Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide
One of the masterpieces of the roots era, no album better defines its time and place than Two Sevens Clash, which encompasses both the religious fervor of its day and the rich sounds of contemporary Jamaica. Avowed Rastafarians, Culture had formed in 1976, and cut two singles before beginning work on their debut album with producers the Mighty Two (aka Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson). Their second single, "Two Sevens Clash," would title the album and provide its focal point. The song swept across the island like a wildfire, its power fed by the apocalyptic fever that held the island in its clutches throughout late 1976 and into 1977. (Rastafarians believed the apocalypse would begin when the two sevens clashed, with July 7th, 1977, when the four sevens clashed, the most fearsome date of concern.) However, the song itself was fearless, celebrating the impending apocalypse, while simultaneously reminding listeners of a series of prophesies by Marcus Garvey and twinning them to the island's current state. For those of true faith, the end of the world did not spell doom, but release from the misery of life into the eternal and heavenly arms of Jah. Thus, Clash is filled with a sense of joy mixed with deep spirituality, and a belief that historical injustice was soon to be righted. 

 The Complete Upsetter Singles 1970-1972
Artist: Bob Marley And The Wailers
Label: Cleopatra Records / The Orchard

Review by Jeff Chang, eMusic
When the Wailers teamed with original dub master Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican music was at a turning point: rock steady had run its course, ska's first incarnation was fading out and mystical Rastafarianism was gaining prominence. The Wailers and Perry filled this moment of flux with these historic sides, which establish the sound that would become modern reggae.

Their focus and ambition could be summed up in the words they sang over Perry and the Upsetters' "Soul Rebel" riddim: "Run for cover, rebels taking over!" "Small Axe" encapsulated that world-conquering attitude, a sufferer's anthem and a challenge to the island's "Big T'ree" record labels. The strategy was to crush the competition by matching their braggadocio with bigger risks. It was a case of iron sharpening iron.

 Heart Of The Congos
Artist: The Congos
Label: Blood And Fire / Virtual

Review by Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide
Lee Perry is generally acknowledged as a production genius, but on occasion that genius can be destructive, and while there's no disputing his talent, sometimes the results can be less than aurally satisfying. This is especially true when it comes to albums, where Perry's efforts were often erratic. On Heart of the Congos he was brilliant, and across the record's original ten tracks Perry created a masterpiece of music. Many critics consider this 1977 album one of the best roots records of all time, and at the very least, it was Perry's apex -- only Junior Byles' Beat Down Babylon is an equal contender. Which is why it's all the more shocking that the record was turned down by Island, and even back in Jamaica it received only a limited release. It took nearly two decades for Heart of the Congos to reappear, finally reissued with a clutch of period bonus tracks by Blood and Fire.

 Sly And Robbie Gregory Isaacs
Artist: Gregory Isaacs
Label: RAS

Review by Ron Wynn, All Music Guide
Gregory Isaacs has recorded so often and for so many labels, it's both difficult and almost impossible to label anything other than individual compositions as his finest work. But this early-'70s session for Sly And Robbie's Taxi label certainly ranks among his finest full LPs. There were no flimsy soul or pop covers, and Isaacs sang with clarity, depth, verve, and confidence, whether covering "Slave Driver," ripping through "Soon Forward" and "Going Downtown," or embellishing "Motherless Children." There were no unnecessary or exaggerated mannerisms, and his voice and range were at their peak. The CD includes both vocals and versions, and also has a bonus track in the 1987 single "I'm Coming Home."

 Retrospective
Artist: Bunny Wailer
Label: Shanachie Entertainment Corp. / The Orchard

Review by Nathan Bush, All Music Guide
Never as commercially successful as Bob Marley, nor as militant as Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer will probably forever remain the most underappreciated of the original Wailers. Yet, since leaving the group in 1974, the singer has quietly constructed an impressive catalog as a solo artist. By the time Shanachie released Retrospective, Bunny's discography included 12 albums of original material, one live set, and a trio of Marley tributes. Retrospective covers the years 1985-1992, drawing heavily from excellent albums like Roots, Radics, Rockers, Reggae (1987), Liberation (1989), and Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley (1991), while also selecting highlights from the remaining titles. Roots, Radics spawned "Love Fire," an exquisite avowal of Rastafarian faith, as well as "Rockers," a heavy, near instrumental track peppered with dub effects. 

 Scratch Attack!
Artist: Lee "Scratch" Perry
Label: RAS

Review by John Dougan, All Music Guide
Although it suffers a bit from shoddy packaging, ugly graphics, and no liner information to speak of, Scratch Attack is reissue of two excellent and long-unavailable Perry LPs, Chapter One and Blackboard Jungle Dub. The material is weirdly wonderful and represents some of Perry's earliest and most unrestrained efforts at dub madness. Issued on one disc, they ebb and flow seamlessly (set your CD player on "shuffle play" for proof), with tracks like "Jah the Dub Organizer" and "Dub From Africa" especially delicious. This is a great way to dig deep into Perry's unique mindset without spending a ton of money.

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