Album Review: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus (1977)

Legend by Bob Marley & The Wailers is, as far as I'm concerned at least, the best hits compilation album ever made.  And by an easy margin, too.  Playing the album from start to finish, there's just something remarkable about how the album flows.  I've just started to listen to this fine record again after a while, and I'm loving every moment of it.  It has also led me to write a review for one of their studio albums.  I've already done Catch a Fire, and that was a pearler of a record, so now I've decided to write a review of Exodus.  An album with an interesting pedigree, this album was recorded whilst Bob Marley was in self-imposed exile in London after an assassination attempt.  I was expecting something good out of this album, and I wasn't disappointed.  A few favorites are here, such as "One Love/People Get Ready", "Exodus" and "Jammin'", and there's a couple more here too - "Natural Mystic" and "So Much Things to Say" are among the better songs on the album, and that's a difficult assessment to make, because the album on the whole is excellent.  But for brevity's sake, I won't go on about all of them - and I could easily do that - but needless to say this album is an essential for an respectable reggae music collection and mandatory for any Bob Marley/The Wailers fans out there.  Definitely give this album a chance is what I would like to say.  A-

Album Review: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Catch A Fire (1973)

Ask anybody if they know of, or have heard an album by Bob Marley & The Wailers, and many are likely to tell you that they've listened to the posthumous hits compilation Legend.  Of course, it's easily the best starting point for getting into the music of Bob Marley and his group, and is easily one of the best hits records ever made.  On the other hand, if you don't want to delve too much into his music, then it's pretty much everything you will need as far as his music is concerned.  But if you're over listening to Legend and want to try one of the studio recordings for a change, then you can't go wrong with Catch a Fire.  A great album, one that you won't regret setting aside time to listen to.  The middle of the album is the sweet spot here - "Stop That Train" is my favorite here, except for the legendary "Stir It up", which sounded great on Legend and sounds just as great on the original album.  "Stir It Up" sits two tracks down, immediately after "Baby We've Got A Date (Rock It Baby), completing the central hat trick of top songs.  But it doesn't end there - indeed the album finishes with "Midnight Ravers", concluding the album on a better note than when it first started.  I checked this album out expecting great things, and I walked away from it not even slightly disappointed.  I hope you find yourself coming to the same conclusion.  A

(Note: The Spotify album is the deluxe version of the album.  CD 2 contains the original recordings, and not the "Jamaican" versions, so if you want the originals, jump directly to track #12).

Album Review: Bob Marley and The Wailers - Legend (1984)

"Greatest Hits" albums are some of the best things to come out of the music industry, in my opinion. If you're like me - broke and with an annual operating budget equivalent to that of Zimbabwe, or just tight as a fish's asshole with money, then one of these babies is a bargain. Or if you're reluctant to try new things because you don't know what they're going to be like, then again these suckers are right up your alley. But however, if you're constantly buying these types of albums and keep telling others 'so and so's latest best of compilation is just the cat's cornhole', then it probably gives them the impression you've got a music collection as great as the Rain Man's - very limited. And probably full of scratched records too, because Rain Man loves broken records.

However, were you to say Bob Marley & The Wailer's Legend is f***ing legendary in the middle of Kingston town, you'll instantly be elected prime minister and bathed in goat's milk, with a harem consisting of three toothless she-male prostitutes and the town bum. Because Bob was practically a national hero in Jamaica, and quite rightly so. Each song on this album with the exception of "I Shot The Sheriff" (Eric Clapton's version is better) brings out Marley's genius with the poetic proficiency of Lewis Carroll on the gravy stroke. Classics like "Buffalo Soldier", "Stir It Up" and "One Love" are guaranteed to turn your front lawn into a makeshift reggae festival, with lesser known (but just as good) tracks like "Waiting In Vain", "Exodus" and "Jamming" keeping your freeloading audience quiet. "Redemption Song" and "Get Up Stand Up" aren't so good as the others and will send some of them home faster than a psychopathic school principal with a bommy knocker who's forgotten to take his medication.

All up, this album is without a doubt the best hits compilation ever made. If you're a music snob, you should own this album. If you don't, you're not a music snob at all, in fact you know about as much about music as Helen Keller. A+