Bob Marley - Bob Marley

Advantages: Old favourites remixed as "urban duets"
Disadvantages: Not for the purists; this isn't real reggae

...---WHO'S THIS THEN?--- Why, it's Bob Marley: without a doubt the man who single-handedly brought reggae to the attention of the planet. He recorded some 700 tracks and 40 albums between 1965 and 1981. Albums, such as 1984's perfect Legend, are still being issued, and "lost tapes" were still being rescued as recently as 2001. He died in 1981 of lung cancer. ---WHAT'S THIS ALBUM LIKE?--- It's a bizarre concept. The mastertapes of old Marley tracks were handed to various rappers and singers in 1998 to add vocals or remix the tracks in a contemporary style. The results are at once spooky, sacreligious and intriguing. This album was released in 1999 amid a bluster of publicity and the first single release from the album was the Lauryn Hill-assisted "Turn Your Lights Down Low". Lauryn HIll is Bob Marley's daughter... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Fantastic tracks, very listenable album
Disadvantages: Sun is SHining is not on it

...Since seeing The Wailers perform at the London Rise Against Racism festival, it reminded me of how many great songs they have in their repertoire with Bob Marley and decided it was long overdue to buy a Best Of compilation. The album starts off with Is This Love the Marley penned classic from 1978 and the song really needs no introduction. It was taken from the Kaya album, which revolved around the duel themes of love and marijuana, and this instance the song was about love. It is a beautiful song, and certainly at the Rise concert, got the crowd singing. It is followed by No Woman, No Cry originally from the Natty Dread album and is about the struggle of life in the Trenchtown, the rundown part of Kingston, Jamaica where Bob grew up with his mother after his father died. The version of the song on Legend is not from Natty Dread... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: New unseen footage...........
Disadvantages: CD has the usual Bob compilation tracks......

...A truely Excellent documentary on Bob Marley, this is one of the first Bob Marley documentaries on over a decade which includes new never before seen footage of Bob, the film does include clips from other older bob documentaries but most of the content is new. The film gives great insight into Bob Marley and his life, with interviews from his ex-girlfriend Esther Andserson who speaks about her time with bob which was a very happy time for her, she tells us about how the last 3-4 years of his life after he had his toe injury during a football match, how the people around him didn;t care for bob as much as they could of, she explains how the people with him should have given bob more help (one person in particular she was very angry with) and persuaded him to get professional help for his toe wound, his bandages stayed on for several... Read review

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