Ian McCann - Bob Marley: The Complete Guide To His Music

Copyright 2004 Omnibus Press
This edition 2011 Omnibus Press
(A Division of Music Sales Limited, 14-15 Berners Street, London W1T 3LJ)

EISBN: 978-0-85712-735-8

The Author hereby asserts his / her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with Sections 77 to 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages.

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A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

Cover and book designed by Chlo Alexander
Picture research by Sarah Bacon

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to 2004 edition

W HEN I AN M cCANN STARTED WORK ON THIS BOOK OVER A DECADE AGO he asked if I would be able to help him out a little. I think if I had realised the enormity of the task that lay ahead I would have found some very good excuses not to get involved. When I was asked to update the new edition of this book it was immediately obvious that a track by track run down on the plethora of posthumous Bob Marley & The Wailers albums would prove to be far too much information. It would have turned a CD-sized book into something that was closer in size to a small library so instead we decided to give a brief synopsis of each new album.

The book now lists all the long playing records released in Bobs lifetime and includes the tracks added to the new updated editions and the posthumous albums that contain previously unreleased tracks, rare recordings and remixing projects. Many committed and dedicated (perhaps that should be livicated) champions of the music and the legacy of Bob Marley & The Wailers have worked tirelessly to put together comprehensive, intelligent and sympathetic releases of Bobs music and it is these compilations that we have concentrated on here.

Most people rarely seem to look any further than the Island/Tuff Gong albums made when Bob was treading the road to world superstardom but he was a star in Jamaica for a decade before Catch A Fire was released and it is his work from this time that makes up the greater part of all the new CDs and LPs. Unfortunately the amount of different and indifferent CDs available that feature the same old selection from the Beverleys, Upsetter and JAD catalogues is really quite staggering. Yes, theres no denying that the majority of the music is good but they really do tend to undervalue Bobs memory. All are inevitably very attractively priced but it must be almost impossible for the casual consumer to tell them apart as they all look so similar. Having purchased them many must be very disappointed when the music does not sound like Bob Marley & The Wailers on the Legend album.

The sound of mid-Seventies roots reggae is now familiar all over the world and, of course, this is due to the popularity of Bob Marley & The Wailers, yet ska, rocksteady and early reggae are still considered to be the sole preserve of musical scholars. There are rarely any obvious reference points for the casual consumer and the Bob Marley & The Wailers section in most record shops can resemble a musical minefield.

We trust that this book will be a help to guide you through.

Harry Hawke, December 2003

to 1993 edition

W HEN O MNIBUS ASKED ME TO WRITE THIS BOOK, APART FROM BEING flattered, I was filled with a decidedly un-natty dread. Getting a handle on Bob Marleys catalogue is a mammoth task, never mind attempting to say something about it. However, someone has to do it, and it might as well be me. Marley is the major international artist in reggae, and one of maybe half a dozen rock acts to whom you can always return and find the music as fresh as ever. On some occasions, one or other of his albums may sound terrible. In a different mood, youll understand it. Theres always at least one Marley album that can move your soul: youve just got to select the rightone. Hopefully, this book will help you choose.

Apart from listing the albums, Ive tried to clear up some of the mysteries that have bewildered Marley fans and collectors for years. Undoubtedly, in doing so, some of the information contained in this book will contradict the information to be found in others. Inaccurate information that appeared once in one newspaper has been reprinted repeatedly in others. Where possible, I have tried to clarify these stories as best I can. The Soul Revolution II album is a case-in-point: just why did the vocal album come out in what appears to be the sleeve of the dub LP? Its a small mystery to collectors, which redoubles when you consider that the dub album probably didnt actually have a sleeve in the first place other queries, such as where the tracks from Trojans In The Beginning LP really come from, whatever the sleeve note might say, are also, hopefully, definitively answered. And just what was the Tuff Set label anyway? Collectors will, I hope, be fascinated. If youre not a Marley obsessive, but own one of the many compilations and are looking for guidance towards more of the same, this book is for you too.

Release dates. As anyone who looks into reggae history at even the slightest depth can testify, its a far more complicated business than the rock world. Labels come and go, artists record for hundreds of them over a long career, and, even when youre face to face with someone who was there at the time, that doesnt mean that theyre going to remember what came out when. Maybe theyd recorded for three different companies that month. Maybe theyd recorded the same song for three different companies that month. Months turn into years, and, without the constant nudging of an A&R department or a press office that constantly reminds a rock artist just where he is in his career, firm information about a reggae act gets forgotten. In the end, all we, and they, can do is guess.

One thing I would say, however, is that some discographies place records at altogether too early a date. Hence were sometimes led to believe that rocksteady records were recorded in 1965 (impossible) or that Bobs ska was two years ahead of anyone elses. It is also often said that UK single releases of Bobs Sixties material can be up to two years behind the Jamaican releases. They may be six months behind in some cases, but otherwise the idea is laughable: the people in the UK reggae record business were, by and large, fully conversant with the scene in Jamaica, and many of them (such as Rita & Benny King, who ran the Ska Beat label) also owned popular record shops. Records were being imported into the UK from Jamaica then much as they are today. Can we really expect the owners of a shop to not release a popular record in the UK for years, long after the demand for it has dried up on import? Of course not.

Dates, where Ive been able to mention them, are merely guesses, but they are informed guesses, comparing the sound of the records with other records released at the time. They are, of course, double-checked as much as possible with higher authorities, such as those present at the time, other books and magazines, and a bunch of experts in England. They may not all be right, but they are as right as I can get them.